The Vault Regulars

Thursday, August 29, 2013

My quick stove test - for what it’s worth.

 Well i have had a good number of hits on my 12-10 type stove post. Not too many comments coming from the hits though. But one comment from fellow blogger Martin Rye got me thinking. Now Martin’s views are worthy of listening too and he recon’d that his Flat Cat stove was the best with superb efficiency.
So i thought i would make one, give it a try and see how the results turned out.
Now the genuine Flat Cat stove has 24 outlets whereas mine had only 20 so in theory my stove would not be as quick as the genuine stove but the fuel should last longer. Agree?

Anyway here’s a photo.

Quite well made even if i say so myself. 65mm diameter and 13mm tall

 So anyway without going into depth of statistics. It was nowhere near as good as my 12-10 type stove.
The fuel lasted longer than the 12-10 when i had the pan approximately 1/2” above the stove but when i had it positioned higher the fuel burnt away much faster. But even at 1/2” above the stove as recommended by Flat Cat designer it took almost 8 minutes to boil 400ml of water which was straight from the tap.
My homemade stove against my purchased 12-10 stove.

 This was just a quick test for my own purposes so i don’t expect readers to take it any more seriously than that. Maybe a deeper and wider stove would be better. I might try that next.
Just thought i would share my thoughts and see what reactions i got. Thanks.

11 comments:

  1. I wrote: No priming and superb efficient performance" and it is. But any meths stove will use about the same to boil 800ml of water. 25/30ml of fuel. I never said it was the best fuel efficient. Just superb efficient. But the Flatcat works so well, as I said no priming, and its configured to work with the wind shield.

    But there is a ace. My esbit burner for it can simmer for 40 min on a 14g tab - nothing beats that. If I get the simmer ring for the meths burner it will take the stove to new levels. I expect 20/25 min simmers no trouble. Look at the dry baking side to them and see the fuel efficient thinking. keep playing. In the end you will still use 25/30ml of meths on the hills to boil a pot of water.

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  2. Great stuff Martin. I took your words in the wrong way. I thought you meant it was the most efficient. Sorry about that. I agree about the meths principal as I said in my reply on the earlier stove post. I had fun making the Flat Can stove anyway and without your comment I wouldn't have been soured on to try it. Cheers.
    I'm not an esbit fan. The smell makes me feel sick. I have tried it a few times and I know it works well. Weight for burn time.

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  3. Soured should read spurred on. Auto edit is on. Darn it.

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  4. Soured should read spurred on. Auto edit is on. Darn it.

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  5. Esbit is disgusting, but for the weight nothing touches it. Gas will be 8g to 14g per 1L depending on stoves used etc, and then there is the empty canister weight. Meths is good on a short trip. .8g per mil. Do the math if you boil a pan morning and evening. Then add mug of coco for bed it all adds up.

    Interesting stuff Alan. But the big weight savings are found on: us, pack,shelter and sleeping mat and bag. Stoves is small gains and what matters more is good food and warm drinks when its cold and wet. I would rather have more meths to have a extra brew to be honest.

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  6. My interest in different stoves is finding the right balance between efficiency, pack size, reliability, safety in use and weight is important but not blindly so.
    I have Bobs Ti pocket stove I will try and get it to take the 12-10 next I think. Just an experiment.
    I found with this stove that trivets are needed with whatever fuel is used. I think they should come with the stove. But I am digressing now. Thanks for your thoughts Martin.

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  7. Hi Alan
    Were/are you an engineer? The workmanship on that stove looks excellent. I used to always use gas, but I'm a Caldera convert! I use both Meths and Esbit, The smell doesn't bother me really so win win.

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  8. Hi Al, Once an engineer always an engineer. It's ingrained. But to be honest the Flat Can stove looks more difficult to make than it actually is. It's probably the easiest of all the MYOG meths stoves to make. Have a go.

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  9. Hi Al, Once an engineer always an engineer. It's ingrained. But to be honest the Flat Can stove looks more difficult to make than it actually is. It's probably the easiest of all the MYOG meths stoves to make. Have a go.

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    Replies
    1. Alan,

      Nice job on the stove. This is Jon form FLAT CAT GEAR. I suspect that your boil times are a little long because you are testing it without a windscreen. The stove is designed to work as a system and we have a finely tuned windscreen that makes the stove run hot. Using our windscreen the time to boil is reduced by 90 seconds. Also, there are a lot of "tricks" to tweak the efficiency. We boil 2 cups of 70 F water using 15 ml on a day to day basis. Best regards - Jon

      jon@flatcatgear.com

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    2. Hi Jon,
      Nice stove btw. I did use a windshield but it was one i just threw together. Not specific but just enough to hold the pan about 1/2 − 1” above the burner. I have not played around with it and have only lit it twice. It burns really nice. I will put a photo of it burning on the blog soon.
      I will check out your windshield but will it suit a 600ml pan? I was thinking maybe their wasn’t enough oxygen inside the screen.
      Thanks ever so much for your comment.

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