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Ok, I'm sure most of us have played with the ubiquitous alcohol camping stove. Not the most efficient means of cooking if the alcohol is just sitting there. I've found a way to get it to pressurize and cook as well as profane or natural gas.
These chaffing lamps that can be found at dollar tree called Fancy Heat use a wick and methanol. Once the methanol is used up, they're just empty cans. I've pulled to wick head off, hammered three pin sized holes into the raised lip surrounding the cap head. Then I made three larger holes next to those to insert a cotton wick and penny nails into. The wick is meant to absorb the cotton and the nails are meant to 1. be used as a heat sink to help boil the alcohol and 2. act as a seal against most of the alcohol vapors, giving just one exit.
The lit alcohol slowly heats both the cap head and the heatsink nails, causing the alcohol to slowly boil in the can. Within two-three minutes, the flames are comparable to a gas stove on the grid.
I make sure that each cooking session the can is 90% full. This is about 6 oz of 91% isopropyl and 99% ethanol (IE; HEET in the yellow bottle) Non-continuous cook time is six hours on six oz, or 3.5 continuous hours on a full can.
alcohol stove.jpg
My aluminum cookware is having a hard time with this because the flames are too hot and are slowly boiling away at the aluminum. Stainless and cast hold up just fine. To extinguish, just blow out or if you don't have the lung capacity, a spray bottle with water and a couple of squirts.
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The next item is an alcohol candle. Simple and effective.
For this, I just used a set of dollar store salt and pepper shakers glass/metal, 50 ft cotton clothesline (use nylon and you've created a grenade) a 2"x1" piece of aluminum foil.
Take a decent sized nail, punch through the center hole on the salt shaker grating, then fold the 2"x1" aluminum piece and place on the inside of the grate where you screw in the glass reservoir, press it into the inside of the grate so as to get a flush fit. Push a second hole with the nail from the inside of the grate through the aluminum into the same hole on the grate. Now, take a five inch section of clothesline and place through the hole, once you've done so, fill the reservoir with 91% isopropyl, cap the shaker and let the alcohol soak into the wick.
alcohol candle.jpg
Useful and decorative. Filled to the beveled edge (2 oz), the candle lasts for six hours continuous.
My next trick is going to be a flat panel radiator that can heat a 10x15 bedroom using one liter of alcohol.
These chaffing lamps that can be found at dollar tree called Fancy Heat use a wick and methanol. Once the methanol is used up, they're just empty cans. I've pulled to wick head off, hammered three pin sized holes into the raised lip surrounding the cap head. Then I made three larger holes next to those to insert a cotton wick and penny nails into. The wick is meant to absorb the cotton and the nails are meant to 1. be used as a heat sink to help boil the alcohol and 2. act as a seal against most of the alcohol vapors, giving just one exit.
The lit alcohol slowly heats both the cap head and the heatsink nails, causing the alcohol to slowly boil in the can. Within two-three minutes, the flames are comparable to a gas stove on the grid.
I make sure that each cooking session the can is 90% full. This is about 6 oz of 91% isopropyl and 99% ethanol (IE; HEET in the yellow bottle) Non-continuous cook time is six hours on six oz, or 3.5 continuous hours on a full can.
alcohol stove.jpg
My aluminum cookware is having a hard time with this because the flames are too hot and are slowly boiling away at the aluminum. Stainless and cast hold up just fine. To extinguish, just blow out or if you don't have the lung capacity, a spray bottle with water and a couple of squirts.
____________________
The next item is an alcohol candle. Simple and effective.
For this, I just used a set of dollar store salt and pepper shakers glass/metal, 50 ft cotton clothesline (use nylon and you've created a grenade) a 2"x1" piece of aluminum foil.
Take a decent sized nail, punch through the center hole on the salt shaker grating, then fold the 2"x1" aluminum piece and place on the inside of the grate where you screw in the glass reservoir, press it into the inside of the grate so as to get a flush fit. Push a second hole with the nail from the inside of the grate through the aluminum into the same hole on the grate. Now, take a five inch section of clothesline and place through the hole, once you've done so, fill the reservoir with 91% isopropyl, cap the shaker and let the alcohol soak into the wick.
alcohol candle.jpg
Useful and decorative. Filled to the beveled edge (2 oz), the candle lasts for six hours continuous.
My next trick is going to be a flat panel radiator that can heat a 10x15 bedroom using one liter of alcohol.
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