I used to be a regular winter hiker, but have slowly turned into more of a warm weather one (I think getting older did that to me!!). When I used to hike, climb, etc, in the winter, we used strictly white gas stoves. I have long since sold or given mine away, and currently have only isopro stoves, that dont work well in below freezing temps, or alcohol stoves, which I have no FIRST HAND experience with.
All research online indicates they are capable of working around greezing temps. My issue is, being in New England, we often have sub zero weather in the colder months. I am wondering if, for instance, I WERE to go camping in the insanely cold weather, would an alcohol bring water to a boil? I understand that it would need more fuel, but, has anyone used one in 0 degree weather? If so, what were your experiences? Does keeping the alcohol warm make a difference? I am looking for personal experiences with this. I have only been playing with alcohol stoves for a couple years, and still have a hard time separating myself from my gear-centric stoves

Not really sure on the Alcohol stove winter heating ability but my first thought would be to make my iso stove work instead.
Why not attach a toe heater pad to the tank, insulate the base
from the ground and use a heat reflector/wind screen to help heat your grub And the fuel tank?

Here is the best review i have found on differnt stoves in freezing weather.

And is short the alcohol stove works but is not optimal

http://forums.outdoorsdirectory.com/showthread.php?t=25042&highlight=Stove

Perhaps with a full Trangia 25 or 27 set you might be able to work get the alcohol stove working successfully at temperatures less then 10C in a moderate i.e less than 5-10mph wind. But then again a full Trangia kit and fuel is heavier than a white gas liquid stove.

Alcohol fuel by its very nature does not give enough heat to heat water is very cold conditions simply due the heat lost by the water and pan in very cold conditions.

Here is a review of the Triad Stove I carried out 3-4 months back

http://forums.equipped.org/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=187706

I really really wouldn't want to bet my life on such an unreliable stobe fuel/technology in sub +10C temperatures. Even then alcohol stoves take forever to bring to boil even small quantites of water.

Its just below freezing right now outside with very little wind blowing about, I'll get back to you soon (hopefully with some photo's) and test the triad stove out again.

Another Triad Stove Field test,

Now this could have been another complete disaster using this titanium alcohol stove, but this time a hexamine tablet came to the rescue.

Ok, I set this little Triad titanium stove up in the back garden, where the temperature was just below freezing i.e. about -1 to -2 C. I could not get the alcohol fuel to light in the stove even with the alcohol fuel warmed by body heat under my jacket. The stove needs preheating with a little alcohol gel. The gel took alight and some of the liquid alcohol sitting in the top of the stove depression. Ahah success I thought, the stove appears to be taking hold, only for it to go out about 30 seconds later as shown below. Back to square one.


Gel fuel primer residue is visible after the stove went out.

Hexamine tablet comes to rescue.

Ok I thought a Hexamine tablet set alight under this stove might getting it working. And so it proved. Success at last.

Here is the video showing the little triad alight. (5.2 Meg)

http://www.amfearliathmor.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/CIMG0177.avi

This allowed me to boil (yes boil) around 400ml of water (still took around 10-12 minutes though), enough for a Cappuccino


The Double walled Titanium Cup keeps the contents warm for a considerable time even when resting in the snow. (Recommended)

The main conclusion though, was that it was quicker, less fiddly, more reliable, less smelly, using a lighter weight fuel, and far less susceptible to actually extinguishing itself due to drafts, would be to use Hexamine tablets rather than liquid alcohol fuel.


Boil time for the Hexamine tablets was similar to the alcohol fuel but will have many advantages over alcohol fuel in a survival situation.

The Traid Titanium Stove - only a complete fool would actually risk his life trying to get a hot drink in sub zero temperatures (or in any windy conditions) just using alcohol fuel with this stove.

I have always used a Svea or MSR when the temperatures plunged, although I really like a Trangia in more moderate to warm conditions.

I am a fan of lightweight equipment, but the extra weight of a liquid fuel stove, relative to its potential utility in really cold conditions, makes for a no-brainer decision - carry the heavier stove.

Another benefit is that the gasoline/kerosene fuel makes a sure fire igniter if you go to a wood fire in tough conditions - use with extreme care!

Funny thing, with advancing age, I, too, am going out less in really cold conditions.

Well, methanol won't freeze until it's -144 degrees F (-97 degrees C), so no worries there. You might have to warm the stove a little (body heat is ok) to get some vapour to light.

The triad stove is a bit gimmicky IMHO. The Right Answer for alcohol stoves is the Trangia. Here are a bunch of very positive reviews, including reports of good performance at low temperatures. The key is to insulate the stove from the ground with a piece of wood or something, and to use a wind screen if it's windy.

http://www.thebackpacker.com/gear/stoves/trangia_alcohol_stove.php

Right now it is -21 degrees F (-6 degrees C) here with no wind so I could nip outside and try to boil a cup of water as a test. Would that be useful/helpful?

A

Well, that would be useful data.

I have fond memories of "frozen Chosen." Arrived in early January - saw no liquid water outdoors until late March.

This thread brings back moldy memories of reading something, somewhere, at some point in time, that gave the advice to only use aluminum pots with alcohol.

True? False? Maybe?

If true, is it because it would allow the contents to heat faster, or is there some other issue?

Also, do these problems with alcohol and cold also apply to Sterno?

Sue

a few years ago we had some real sub zero weather,12 below during the day and 20 below at night.i decided to do some stove testing and went down to the Mississippi river gorge in Minneapolis where i knew i would find open water from springs and ran three stoves.a Coleman Peak which i take on canoe trips,a Primus kerosene roaring burner and a Trangia alcohol burner in a cook kit with a wind screen.the Coleman after a good pre heat with fire gel lit and ran fine.the Primus even with several pre heats was very cranky but the Trangia lit and ran hot and boiled tea water just as fast as the Coleman.i assume the windscreen and the way the pot nested in it ran the heat up the sides added to the amount getting to the water and not just going off in the air..so i would say with the kit made for the Trangia burner you could cook down to the 12-15 below--at least--that i was testing in.