Umm, I see your advice concerning aluminium pots, and I raise you with "don't put jam on a magnet".



Well, Sterno's FAQ says that Sterno itself won't freeze. I don't know how well it will perform in sub-freezing temperatures.

The temperature has soared to a toasty -2 degrees C here, so it's too warm to do a useful test. I will wait for -5 or -6 degrees again.

A

If you used food grade ethanol (everclear) you could keep a trangia burner in your coat pocket to keep it above freezing. Its also helpful to remember that trangia alcohol stoves come from sweden, where it gets pretty darn cold.

Good Thread. I hope you guys find some alcohol solutions.

Use blackened aluminum pots. They will naturally blacken
over a wood fire; clean the excess blackening, but leave a
light black coating (hard finish) on the pot.

I thought kerosene had about 50% more calories than alcohol,
and would therefor be better for survival purposes.

Have you searched for DIY kerosene stoves.
One primitive stove is the tuna can with a spiral cardboard
insert, which acts as a (huge) wick.


Also, I question: do you really need to boil the water?
Would 170 degrees F be OK?

Since I hate the smell of kerosene myself, I would prefer
alcohol for inside a tent or vehicle. IMO alcohol is a
little safer in a closed space.

Also, cover the cooking pot with a lid. This helps hold in the heat

Thanks all for the advice, and I'm glad that this thread is helping out more than just me . One trick I learned years ago with isopro was that, if it was cold out, put the canister UNLIT into a shallow pan of water-the water, naturally, will be at least 32*, whereas the liquid fuel could be considerably colder. Its important that the water is NOT hot-this can cause a little boom, resulting in potential fire & puncture damage to your person. The one time I tried this method, I used water I kept inside my sleeping bag overnight, and it worked fine. I also insulated the canister from the ground when lighting it, and all the other stuff. There was significant reduced output-IIRC, it took almost 3 times as long to boil water. Mind you,this was on the shore of a pond, in Feb, with the temps hovering around 0F.
I dont plan on doing any winter hiking anytime soon, but am starting to regret getting rid of my old MSR white gas stove, as fiddly as I had to be with it.

In identical CAT (alcohol) stoves constructed of aluminum vs. steel, the steel stoves required twice as long to boil water as the aluminum. All other variables were held constant. This is evidently due to the superior heat transfer abilities of aluminum.

Anecdotally, some are disappointed with the performance of titanium alcohol stoves in cold weather. Titanium also does not conduct heat nearly as well as aluminum.

Brass, as in most Trangia stoves, does conduct heat about the same as aluminum, I believe.

"One primitive stove is the tuna can with a spiral cardboard
insert, which acts as a (huge) wick".

I used these all the time as a scout in Indiana, but now I'm older
(I refuse to grow up)not so much. man I miss childhood LOL. The main trouble I had was keeping my hands from shaking while trying to light it.

Mike

I think that is a dangerous practice. Burning flames generate carbon monoxide. The more inefficient the burning, the more CO. That nice yellow flame you often see, whatever the source, is an inefficient flame putting poison into the atmosphere. It is sneaky deadly.

I don't know about sub-zero, but I can tell you my home-made alcohol stove works fine at 15*F.

I made a Super-Cat stove this fall and tested recently in my backyard. I put 14oz of water in my stainless steel bottle cup (enough to rehydrate a small freeze-dried meal packet plus make a cup of coffee, tea or broth). I then dug a hole in the snow and mounded the circumference to act as a wind screen. The stove went in the hole and I added 1 measured ounce of Everclear (food-grade 90% grain alcohol), then dripped some around the rim of the stove to help heat the can.

I lit it with sparks from a firesteel. I held the cup over the stove for about 30 seconds until the stove and alcohol heated up, then sat the cup directly on top of the stove. I did not use a lid.

Results:

In 4 minutes the water was steaming and developing bubbles, hot enough to make tea, coffee or soup.
In 5.5 minutes I had a rapid boil.
The stove continued to burn until just after the 7 minute mark.

The water came from my BOB in the truck. It was cold enough that ice was starting to form in the bottle. The stove and alcohol were at ambient outdoor temperature.

While this might not be indicative of how it will perform below 0*F, my research indicates good probability that it will work. Adding a reflective wind shield and a lid, or switching to a Ti cup with lid, would improve performance. Carrying the stove and fuel in your pocket would also help.

If it gets down near or below 0 I'll try it again. I also want to see if I can start with snow and wind up with boiling water at that temperature. I'll try to post my results.

Good point. Good Ventilation is required in tents, cabins,
and vehicles. "Closed spaces" must be opened to some degree.