Esbit fuel is good for some applications. It won't spill and won't go bang if you mistakenly expose it to too much heat. However, esbit is not the most efficient way of delivering heat to food. That is where the rocket stove concept would help increase the efficiency of an esbit stove. I wish to have/make a stove where I would throw in a few esbit cubes, a few coals, a few twigs and the stove will give me a wonderful lunch !!

I have looked at several u-tubes, but it was either a esbit stove or rocket stove. Even when I happily saw the "pocket rocket " stove , it turned out to be a gas stove.

Can anyone help with links to any existing esbit/rocket stove otr where to steal some ideas for making one.

Thanks

My gut reaction is that a
Bushbuddy stove or something similar should work just fine for what you describe. At least I see no reason why not. My understanding is that the Bushbuddy is a "rocket stove" with secondary combustion.

Or you could make your own, here's one description that seems promising:
Penny wood gas backpacking stove


As soon as I get my greasy fingers on some esbit cubes I plan to test them in my "survival cup" (just a stainless double walled cup that I've cut apart to create a minimalistic wood burning stove. Inner layer is the cooking / drinking part, outer shell is the stove part). No secondary combustion, but it works quite OK for what it is. I'll let you know how the Esbit experiment plays out, but with current trends it might take a few weeks or so.

You might want to check out The Sportsmans guide.I purchased 2 Swiss Volcano stoves for 20 bucks.They weigh 14oz,Made entirely of Aluminum,each comes with an aluminum bottle(aprox.20oz) with a cork.With a Hardwood tinder fire,It boiled that bottle full of water in about 7 minutes for me.I used Fatwood slivers to get the oakwood going.I'm thinking of Modifying 1 & Keeping the other intact.Good luck,& I have No Affiliation with Sportsmans Guide!

i have one and wondered why they would put a cork in the flask rather than a modern canteen cap.on another site a fellow from across the pond said they did that so the Swiss Gi's could not blow up the flask by heating something with a screw cap.

That is Funny! I also wondered why the cork? Man! That almost sounds Polish,lol!

*BUMP* (and rather OT, sorry)

I just googled "Swiss Volcano Stove" and came up with an old ETS thread that's awesome. Craziest liquid-fuel stoves I've ever seen. How did I miss this in '08?

http://forums.equipped.org/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=119291

Heres an interesting one (look, a fibonacci spiral)
http://worldstove.com/products/the-beaner-backpacking-stove/

http://worldstove.com/products/fan-free-bi-fuel-pupstove/
http://worldstove.com/wp-content/uploads/download/beaner_instructions.pdf
http://worldstove.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/EverythingNice_Stove_Instructions.pdf

CRAZY is the operative word, I think...

I almost bought one (ebay), but backed out... if the price had been lower I would have gone for it, but my google-fu revealed some really interesting descriptions of this stove.

Lighting the stove involves holding the stove upside down while unscrewing the valve / burner head just a little, let some fuel drops starts to drip out and lit them up. After a few seconds the heat has heated the burner head and the fuel tank, and the flames turn blue (pressurized release of vapor, not liquid white gaz). Now flip it over and start cooking.

My impression is that if you do this EXACTLY right (which requires guts, accurately timing and LOTS of practice) you can do the initial pre-heat without spilling burning liquid white gaz everywhere. It also requires due attention while going: The pressure buildup due to the unit getting warmer means that you must turn it down or face the flames of doom. It has earned its nick name "Borde boomb" for a reason. Not to ignore that the way to regulate the flame is to turn the glowing hot burner head, so don't misplace that tool (or the heat tempering of your multi-tool pliers will be gone forever).


Even though I have a pyromaniac tendency and would LOVE this stove I have to admit that this design has some serious limitations. If only someone would make a stove with similar form factor but slightly more conventional operating procedures...

The EtaPower pots would help improve the heat transfer from the Esbit Hexamine by quite a margin. Hexamine gives roughly the same heat output per gram as alcohol methylated spirit fuel. The only problem with using the EtaPower pots is the residue left by the esbit tablets, which would make cleaning up a tricky prospect due to heat exchanger fins.

Esbit tablets are best used for very lightweight stoves with limited time duration, i.e. less than a couple of days use or for an emergency backup stove where storing liquid or gas fuel is troublesome. As with any alcohol stove a wind shield is quite critical.





Total Weight is around 300gms including a small titanium or aluminium sheet windshield (not shown). Each esbit tab (Total of 12) can bring to the boil around 400ml of cold water (enough for Mountain House freeze dried meal etc). This cooking system does have its limitations though and is only really any good at heating water. Cooking may prove to be difficult unless its a very simple meal such as noodles, rice, soups or pasta etc and so is very much a compromise of weight versus performance.

I haven't tried all the stoves but I have tried (and bought) a Bushbuddy. (I am not connected to selling them).

They are easy to light and don't required special fire starting fuels or consideration. They can burn anything (wet pine cones lying around, wet twigs) and they are fantastically efficient.

I can boil a small pot of water in less than 5 minutes (from the time I light a match). I have conventional fuel stoves (white gas) that can't do that. They produce almost no smoke (once up to temperature... say after 90 seconds or so) and the container doesn't get hot enough to scorch anything touching it. This includes leather gloves etc.

I've cooked up dinner in places where I would NEVER consider starting a normal fire -no matter how small. This is because the fire is totally contained (with only the danger of sparks depending on the wood you use) and the actual amount of burning material at any one time is tiny. This allows the location of the stove in areas where a fire would not be practical (or where a fireproof campfire base could not be established and there is a risk of forest loam catching fire).

Other perks are 1) It is incredibly light.
2) It fits perfectly in a titanium container (see their website).
3) The container can be inverted to snuff the fire out or create charcoal for future use.
4) It can be used in areas that prohibit campfires but permit the use of stoves. (Which includes setting it on my back deck and preparing a cup of tea).
5) Once the fuel is consumed the coals will still provide intense heat for 5 minutes or so. Perfect for 'cave man TV'. Looks just like staring into the coals of a campfire (obviously).
6) There is almost TOTAL consumption of the material. All that is left is ash (fine white powder). I was most surprised by this. I would never expect that I could scoop up and feed wet pine cones and the stray leaves on my deck and achieve 100% combustion.

I give this stove an A+. Perfect for emergencies, camping and survival camping (when you need to be sneaky and keep smells, smoke, and visible fire to a min.)

Again, I don't have anything to benefit by endorsing them. It is just rare that I'm impressed by a product.

-NIM

Thanks for the informative posts

I made my own rocket stove out of cookie can ( 10 inches high by 6 inch diameter ). It's Ok for a first timer.

Main problem I saw is that the sides heat up alot. That is unsafe to touch and also wastes energy , so the nest step is to find another bigger can and make a double wall stove with some insulation in between. Now, what on Earth can be poured in there that can withstand the heat and gives good insulation ? Weight is not a problem because the whoile thing is not that big.

I thought about cement or mud. Does anyone know enough about making mud sticky enough to be poured there and just left to dry and stay in one piece ? Is it better to pout the mud or cement and leave it to dry naturally or should I fire up the stove to dry the mud/cement quickly ?

Thanks

One way to increase heat transfer is to put the pot 'deeper' in the stove and force the heat/smoke to touch the pot sides as well as the bottom. ( Although you have to clean a bigger area in that case LOL. )

The pot rests on a platform that is few inches below the stove top. The sides of the stove act like a tight wind shield. In such a design, stove emissions going up MUST touch the pot sides on their way. That way you can use normal pots and cleaning is easier.

Oh, another thing. In my stove I am not only going to use esbit cubes , but some BBQ coals as well. I think they burn longer and more effiecintly. The two fuels can work side by side. One starts the other, and the other stays longer.


It will be interesting to see if the combination of heat insulation ( means higher temp ) plus the added heat from coals will burn the esbit soot and residue to smoke !!

Do not pour cement or mud, it wouldn't work (it would rob heat) and you need insulation.
You would have to make insulative ceramic (fire/refractory brick).

This detailed design guide
http://www.rocketstove.org/images/stories/design-principles-for-wood-burning-cook-stoves.pdf
explains how to make insulative brick.


You're basically making the version from this video http://rocketstoves.org/ so use dry, ashes or vermiculite/perlite from garden/hardware store, and cap off with lid.

Here is an oil barrel version, with insulative brick elbow
http://www.appropedia.org/CCAT_rocket_stove
and DRY vermiculite fill


Also see
http://www.aprovecho.org/web-content/publications/pub1.htm


IIRC, some reports (re)posted on www.bioenergylists.org say the tin-can version will rust after you fire it within a year (6months even), longer if you use black stovepipe. The ceramic elbows last longer.

Thanks EMP

My can started rusting already LOL

I'll check the links . Thanks