Some kind of heat-resistant pad

The soda can stove, the aluminum beer bottle stove, the coffee can/toilet paper stove, and more.

Your vehicle is stuck in the snow, no damage, just stuck. And night is falling and there's no one around. Stay till morning and deal with it in daylight. The wife and kids are kind of nervous.

(We won't point out that you're rubbing your hands together in glee, FINALLY able to use some of your gear, and justify your buying sprees to your wife.)

You pull out your trusty bug-home bag and plan to use the little stove to heat some water for cocoa and occasionally to warm up the car (fool, you let the gas tank run low, so you don't want to use the car heater to do that).

But what do you put the stove on? I'm sure at least part of it will be hot, maybe all of it (the beer bottle stove review guy said it does). I can see a square of plywood that fits the armrest thing between the front seats, but wood burns. What do you put on top of the wood and under the stove?

Sue

You might have something already in the vehicle that could be used. Some jacks have a metal base that you could use, or perhaps a hubcap, if it's metal. (We made a small fire in a hubcap for tailgating "back in the day".) On an older car, the metal cover that goes over the air filter mounted atop the carb would be a nice (although possibly dirty) base.

Of course, you could bring a dedicated item for this purpose, but, just thought you might want to consider things on your vehicle that would do the trick rather than extra kit. Think about how you'd improvise before you need to...

I'm not familiar with the "Beer Bottle Stove", but wood would be safe as a base up to about 400deg. Unless the entire stove got that hot I don't think you would have a problem.

What about a piece of silicone cooking mat? We use them all the time to set just-sterilized instruments on until they cool....

Here ya go...

If it is sticking with the car, a small piece of plywood works fine. Doesn't have to be huge, you just have to not mind it that will be a little scorched looking after a few uses.

Hmm, just to go back to the original scenario: I'm not sure it would be wise to use anything but a couple of candles to warm the interior of a vehicle. Too much flammable stuff in there, and not enough air. You would need to crack a window for ventilation anyway; the more smoke generated, the more ventilation needed, so you'd lose the extra heat. Stoves belong outside. I'd put a tarp off one side of the car, bottom enclosed with snow, for a stove (and/or bathroom) nook out of the wind. That's my take.

But back to the question:

If you were serious about the plywood, you could staple/tack a layer or two of aluminum on top of it, shiny side out. This will reflect the IR and conduct heat away from the wood. Free sources: pop cans, scraps of flashing from construction.

The beer can stove won;t set the wood on fire, just scorch it. I'm going out in the shop right now and burn an ounce on a piece of mahogany (an ounce IN the stove). Give me ten minutes.

Ok.
Base: 3/4" x 7.5" x 4" piece of Honduras Mahogany.
Stove: modified beer can.
Fuel: .67 ounce of 100% denatured alcohol
Burn-Time: 9 minutes, 15 seconds
Damage: none. no scorching. barely warm to the touch under the can.
Pictures: tomorrow

I'm thinking I'll try plastic as a base. The flooring carpet shouldn;t even scorch (that sounds dangerous though ). The aluminum cans get too hot to handle, of course, but not really hot enough (ESPECIALLY at the bottom of the can) to scorch or burn things. THe biggest threat would be from spillage or something over the top....like hair.

Ok Sue. Here's the skinny. All this time, and I never thought of doing this before......

You can literally burn the beer can stove on your hand!! I did it and, while it's certainly not safe because of spillage, it proved to me that the bottom of the can stays cool. The sides are of course too hot to handle while burning, but the fuel in the can, because it burns from the top and through the sides (interior walls), keeps the bottom cool.

So..... nearly ANY surface, as long as it's level and stable, can serve as a base for the stove. Now, at the very end of the burn, the last minute or less, the bottom gets very warm, becasue the fuel is burning at its lowest level....at the bottom. But it's still not too hot to touch.

No pictures becasue I can;t find where my daughter has the camera! Maybe tomorrow night...after dark.

Thanks, Stretch!

I did wonder if most of the heat was near the top because what was burning was the vapors rather than the liquid.

But what scorched the plywood, the last minute or two of fuel?

ETS scientific testing at its best!

Sue

An upside down cookie sheet works well!! The bottom sheet is raised off the ground, floor, table 1/2 inch or so because of the sides of the cookie sheet and allow any heat to safely dissipate!!

SD

An old license plate works well for any backpacking type stove on the snow. Don't know how much effect the cold of the snow has on the temp of the plate tho. Plastic blade of a show shovel works well too...

No, Sue, no scorching of wood. I think Ironraven said there might be some scorching of plywood, and I initially posted that it would scorch wood....but no such thing occurred! Today (I have pictures but haven;t uploaded to photobucket yet) I burned two ounces on a blue paper shop towel. The towel wasn;t even warm underneath the stove immediately after the flame went out. So you can literally hold the stove in the palm of your hand, from start to finish (I mean, as far as bottom temperature goes).

Stretch, thank you for the testing done in the name of Science! I do appreciate it.

Sue

I wouldn't try that with an Esbit solid-fuel tab stove.

Thanks Brangdon! I actually don't do it with an alcohol stove either (but I tried it *after* assuring myself that the bottom doesn;t get too hot for that feat), I just mention it to show that it stays cool. I mean, IF you dared burn an alcohol stove in the palm of your hand, it would leave you with certain assurances about where you would feel safe burning the stove. As Sue's question centered around burning a stove in the car and what might be suitable as a base, I centered my experiments around that. I held the can with some tongs - not so much for fear of heat (I was already assured it wouldn;t be too hot by that time), but more because if I faltered and it tipped, it could get toasty all around the shop!

I know the Esbit stoves get !hot! so I wouldn;t want to try burning one say, for example, on the rear floorboard carpet of a station wagon. But I think even those you might be able to burn on a piece of hardwood or plywood.

Hmmmm. Time for another experiment!

Here are a couple of photos of the Pepsi-can stove burning atop a blue paper shop towel. As soon as the stove goes out, I pushed it aside and put my palm down on the shop towel. Not even warm! I would have no problem burning it on the carpeted (or rubber mat) floorboard of a car.