Ion stove (and alcohol stoves in general)

[leithp]

I built an altoids stove -- boiled a pint in 8 minutes. Probably uses too much alcohol -- I could smell the waste as it burned! But I do appreciate it's simplicity. I like simple, effective things. Still, I pressed on.

I built an Ion. For one thing, it is two ounces lighter than the altoids stove.

As advertised, 12 minutes to a boil with ~50-60 degree water. And I'm thinking there's got to be a way to be nearly as efficient, but boil water a bit faster.

So -- I got to wondering

What is the difference between making a 5.5 oz can stove and a 12?

could you burn more alcohol per unit time with similar efficiency in a
larger double-walled stove? (say, use a coke can?)

With my first Ion:

-- One burner hole in mine seems to be a bit of a bum hole. It consistently puts out a less efficient flame (smaller and with orange/yellow flame). Doesn't really look any different, so I wonder if there's something going on inside... fiberglass too close/too far away too dense right there....

What kinds of things might I look for to be the problem?

-- With the fiberglass, is less more? In other words, do we want more air space -- extremely loose but evenly spread? Mine wasn't more than 1/4" thick and it filled the space well without packing too much.

-- would it help to file off the metal sticking out inside from the push-pin holes?

-- what are the advantages/disadvantages of bigger or smaller holes? What kinds of problems crop up when they get too big or too small?

I realize that with smaller holes you probably want more holes, and bigger holes it would seem you would want fewer. Mine has 6, as designed.

I am going to build another here, and I wanted some tips on things to look out for. I imagine I'll be experimenting with soda cans as well, and I'm just looking for a little advice from someone who's done a lot of this on what variations tend to produce what differences before I get started. This stuff intrigues the heck out of me.

Thanks

Phil

[Scout]

I have no advice or help to offer but just want to offer my encouragement towards all your experiments with this!

[Streamweaver]

I would try diferent windscreens with the stoves the way they already are. My altoids stove with a simple heavy aluminum(from an oven liner)windscreen,will boil a pint of cold water in about 6 minutes using 3/4 oz of fuel. The windscreen that you are using can make a huge diference! Streamweaver

[skysappr]

Phil
I built one of the ION generation 1's out of a juice can last summer. Actually got a decent boil time but did not note all contributing factors. It was a fun project since I had only did the more relatively easy designs prior to that.

I built my stove from this site which was a variation of the original burner plan.
http://www.datasync.com/~wksmith/newdesign.html

Good luck and intriguing is only the beginning, addictive might be a more accurate description.

Skysappr

[scooterman]

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