Equipped To Survive Equipped To Survive® Presents
The Survival Forum
Where do you want to go on ETS?

Topic Options
#265966 - 12/20/13 07:44 PM Chaffing Fuel.
Am_Fear_Liath_Mor Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 08/03/07
Posts: 3078
Ethanol Chaffing fuel and Sterno (same thing) are notoriously difficult and time consuming to get to water to a rolling boil and for cooking, but the fuel is relatively cheap to purchase and is reasonably safe to store and use for home use inside.

So time for boiling time test of 500 ml (2 cups) of cold water using the following stove and kettle.

Stove - Wild Woodgas stove.
http://wildstoves.co.uk/wood-cooking-stoves/wood-gas-camping-stoves/wild-wood-gas-stove/

Kettle - Vango PowerEx Kettle
http://www.outdoormegastore.co.uk/vango-powerex-kettle.html

Fuel - Genheat 200gm Ethanol Chafing Fuel

Time to boil = 13 minutes for a full rolling boil. Not too bad considering typical time using a typical sterno stove is 20+ minutes






Edited by Am_Fear_Liath_Mor (12/20/13 07:59 PM)

Top
#265968 - 12/20/13 08:58 PM Re: Chaffing Fuel. [Re: Am_Fear_Liath_Mor]
hikermor Offline
Geezer in Chief
Geezer

Registered: 08/26/06
Posts: 7705
Loc: southern Cal
My preference is any of several varieties of alcohol and a Trangia stove. there are numerous alternative stoves available, some of which are cheaper, lighter, and faster. My Trangia will bring 500 ml of water to a boil in somewhere around 4 to 5 minutes.

Even faster are any of a growing number of cartridge stoves, typically burning some type of isobutane. Boil times are usually four minutes or less. The gas containers store safely with minimal precautions.
_________________________
Geezer in Chief

Top
#265969 - 12/20/13 11:00 PM Re: Chaffing Fuel. [Re: hikermor]
Am_Fear_Liath_Mor Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 08/03/07
Posts: 3078
A little update on the fuel efficiency of the Genheat/Sterno fuel used with the Vango Kettle and Wild Wood gas stove. Boiling 500ml consumed just over 20 grams, which would allow a total of 4.5 Litres of water to boil for a single 200 gram can. So efficiency is pretty good especially where other commercial Sterno stoves may take 25-30 minutes and burn 45-50 grams of fuel for the same result.

Typically a can of the Genheat 200gm Ethanol Chafing Fuel will cost £0.75 in the UK, which will cost around half to one third the price of methylated spirits for the Trangia stove (I have also tried a Trangia and it works well but the Genheat seems to burn somewhat cleaner in the Wild Woodgas Stove). The Trangia is certainly quicker though. There is not really any weight penalty using the Genheat fuel over the Trangia burner along with the Wild Woodgas Stove.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prN0gspTIPA

Using the Genheat/sterno inside a home or residence will have the advantage of greater safety over liquid alcohol stoves.

With a gas cartridge stove once the fuel runs out, it becomes useless, this is where the Wild wood gas stove begins to shine, especially if you have some Sterno, Methylated Spirits, Hexamine, Firedragon, Fatwood or even Zip Fuel blocks lying around. wink

Is 12-13 minutes to much of an inconvenience to wait to boil half a litre of cold water?



Edited by Am_Fear_Liath_Mor (12/20/13 11:05 PM)

Top
#265970 - 12/20/13 11:36 PM Re: Chaffing Fuel. [Re: Am_Fear_Liath_Mor]
hikermor Offline
Geezer in Chief
Geezer

Registered: 08/26/06
Posts: 7705
Loc: southern Cal
Is 12-13 minutes to much of an inconvenience to wait to boil half a litre of cold water?


All too often, yes. If I need to go to a wood fire, which does happen occasionally, I have always been able to boil water over an open campfire - cost and weight essentially nothing. This does presume conditions which prevail in western North America. I could believe that the situation is different on your side of the Pond.
_________________________
Geezer in Chief

Top
#265977 - 12/21/13 03:52 AM Re: Chaffing Fuel. [Re: Am_Fear_Liath_Mor]
LesSnyder Offline
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 07/11/10
Posts: 1680
Loc: New Port Richey, Fla
the tapered shape of the cup with the Swiss Ranger stove helps to transfer heat... but as AFLM commented, the heat content of the jellied alcohol doesn't match that of denatured methanol burning in a Trangia... I chose the Sterno, however, for its ease of transport when looking for an inexpensive water heater for my remain overnight bag... you can still use it with it's intended twig fuel source if necessary...the price for a pair of the new old surplus stoves was about $20



the Trangia can be lowered with a wire, the Sterno won't fit from the top





Edited by LesSnyder (12/21/13 03:56 AM)

Top
#265979 - 12/21/13 06:56 AM Re: Chaffing Fuel is for chafing [Re: Am_Fear_Liath_Mor]
EMPnotImplyNuclear Offline
Enthusiast

Registered: 09/10/08
Posts: 382
Originally Posted By: Am_Fear_Liath_Mor
Ethanol Chaffing fuel and Sterno (same thing) are notoriously difficult and time consuming to get to water to a rolling boil and for cooking,

smile I'll bet if you use TWO cans of sterno the water would boil even quicker smile
Originally Posted By: Am_Fear_Liath_Mor
but the fuel is relatively cheap to purchase and is reasonably safe to store and use for home use inside.

since you're using a "wood gas" stove , wood pellets are even cheaper (10 times) ... and the stoves are easy to improvise


Edited by EMPnotImplyNuclear (12/21/13 06:58 AM)

Top
#265983 - 12/21/13 03:25 PM Re: Chaffing Fuel is for chafing [Re: EMPnotImplyNuclear]
hikermor Offline
Geezer in Chief
Geezer

Registered: 08/26/06
Posts: 7705
Loc: southern Cal
If safety and cost are concerns, one should consider Esbit fuel tabs. They are hot and safe - cost may vary from one place to another. In emergency situations, or even relatively moderate recreational use, fuel cost is a fairly trivial item in the overall scheme of things.

Incidentally, look around your house carefully - there are all sorts of things that will burn very capably. My favorite is alcohol based hand sanitizer - Purell is 62% ethanol. It burns much hotter than Sterno.
_________________________
Geezer in Chief

Top
#265993 - 12/22/13 04:20 AM Re: Chaffing Fuel is for chafing [Re: Am_Fear_Liath_Mor]
chaosmagnet Offline
Sheriff
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 12/03/09
Posts: 3819
Loc: USA
What I like about Esbit tabs is shelf life (infinite?) ease of use, compactness, and they can be used as a sole source of cooking fire or to start a fire if you have fuel wood. They're hard to beat for BOB use.

Top
#265994 - 12/22/13 06:45 AM Re: Chaffing Fuel is for chafing [Re: Am_Fear_Liath_Mor]
Phaedrus Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 04/28/10
Posts: 3148
Loc: Big Sky Country
I really love ESBIT! But to be fair I use if as a firestarter more often than as a stove fuel.
_________________________
“I'd rather have questions that cannot be answered than answers that can't be questioned.” —Richard Feynman

Top



Moderator:  Alan_Romania, Blast, cliff, Hikin_Jim 
March
Su M Tu W Th F Sa
1 2
3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16
17 18 19 20 21 22 23
24 25 26 27 28 29 30
31
Who's Online
0 registered (), 456 Guests and 71 Spiders online.
Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
Newest Members
GallenR, Jeebo, NicholasMarshall, Yadav, BenFoakes
5367 Registered Users
Newest Posts
What did you do today to prepare?
by dougwalkabout
03/27/24 11:21 PM
Zippo Butane Inserts
by dougwalkabout
03/27/24 11:11 PM
Question about a "Backyard Mutitool"
by Ren
03/17/24 01:00 AM
Problem in my WhatsApp configuration
by Chisel
03/09/24 01:55 PM
New Madrid Seismic Zone
by Jeanette_Isabelle
03/04/24 02:44 PM
EDC Reduction
by EchoingLaugh
03/02/24 04:12 PM
Newest Images
Tiny knife / wrench
Handmade knives
2"x2" Glass Signal Mirror, Retroreflective Mesh
Trade School Tool Kit
My Pocket Kit
Glossary
Test

WARNING & DISCLAIMER: SELECT AND USE OUTDOORS AND SURVIVAL EQUIPMENT, SUPPLIES AND TECHNIQUES AT YOUR OWN RISK. Information posted on this forum is not reviewed for accuracy and may not be reliable, use at your own risk. Please review the full WARNING & DISCLAIMER about information on this site.