Does anyone have an idea what the optimum distance is between the top of a homemade soda can stove and the bottom of the cup you're heating your water in?

I am assuming denatured alcohol as the fuel and the windscreen/pot holder (rack) is perforated.

Thanks for any info.

Sue

Some of the designs (cat can stove) the pot sits on the top of the burner so no rack is required. Look here

http://zenstoves.net/

Bill

Yes, I've seen that, but it doesn't seem very stable to me. I would like to provide a wider base for the water container, but I don't want to choke off the oxygen.

Sue

Susan.. my Trangia store bought reaches about 2 1/2 inches to the bottom of my Swiss volcano stove cup... the Trangia really roars in the surplus stove, much better than a couple of the penny stoves I tried to build...my testing of the penny stoves was with isopropyl alcohol, which unfortunately the Trangia does not run well on either... I gave up on the penny stoves before buying denatured alcohol for fuel, as I considered them too flimsy for what I was looking.... weight was not a consideration

I'm not sure that there is one right answer.

However, having said that, I have seen numbers published before on ultralight backpacking sites. The numbers vary a bit, but generally about 1.25" is the number I've seen.

Also, flame size and shape and pot width will make a difference. A smaller flame will need to have the pot closer. A larger flame will need to have the pot farther away. Basically, you want to avoid having flames going up the side of the pot which is quite inefficient.

HJ