I've been meaning to build another photon stove because the holes in my original are too big and it burns fuel too fast as a result. But I haven't bothered yet as it's not a critical piece of gear. But I had a chance to field test in live circumstances last week while at scout summer camp.

I and three of the boys in out troop participated in a backpacking outpost overnight while at camp. The outpost is normally run by one of the camp's guides, but they were all off with crews up in Manistee National Forest on treks. So the High Adventure Director broke away from her many other duties and filled in on short notice. She's an experienced backpacker but failed to bring two items; matches (which she knew and asked if I had some) and extra fuel for the stove. There would be only one meal so and extra fuel canister would not be needed, but in her haste she didn't check the stove to see how much fuel was in it. (In her defense, the camp has significantly reduced staff and they have taken on extra duties. She not only runs the program, which includes hiking/canoeing treks, plus about 10 outposts for weekly summer camp scouts. They are stretched pretty thin.)

Come dinner time, we burn though all but two of my matches in my coughlin's match safe before we come to the realization that the stove is out of fuel. On a whim, I had brought my photon stove to make instant coffee in the morning. Now it became our primary stove. The larger holes required a refill for a second burn to bring the water to boil (5 portions of dehydrated chicken & rice), but it did work and we all ate a warm meal because of it.

Oh, we also ran out of matches so I had to pop open my PSK and use up my lifeboat matches too. On a side note, I had sandwiched the matches in a tab of duct tape folded over to prevent them from rubbing as I have no vacuum packing equipment. One of the matches was unusable because the varnish and head stuck to the tape. Good to learn under non-emergency conditions.

Willie,

I've recently made two different versions of the pop can stove. One has a double wall, and the other is a single wall model that supposedly doesn't need a pot support. I'll have to try them out and give you a review on burn times, refilling, etc.


Scott Henderson Pepsi Can Stove


Alternate Pop Can Stove