Maybe "burner pops out" doesnt accurately describe whats going on, but its not quite an explosion. I tried a new burner and wind screen setup for my penny stove the other day, and about 66% of the time when i try to light the priming fuel covering the penny, the stove will come apart and send the penny and burner a few feet into the air, and spray burning alcohol all over myself and everything else. Although my experience with alcohol stoves is a little limited (im halfway thru my second ever bottle of heet) i havent had this issue until my recent modifications, and i was hoping you folks can help me pinpoint the culprit.

im trying to use a tin can as my windscreen, since its the perfect size for my fosters pot and tin coffee cup to nestle down in there



my lighting procedure is as follows: ill pour about an ounce of fuel in the stove, then put the penny over the filler holes and add enough fuel to cover the penny. sometimes ill put a few drops of fuel in the priming dish beneath the stove before putting the whole setup in the tin can. if i light the priming dish, the flames will reach the stove and light the fuel covering the penny, the stove heats up, jets light, etc and everything works how its supposed to.

if i bypass the priming dish, and try to let the fuel covering the penny prime the stove, thats when the combustion happens. at first, i thought there was vapor building up in my windscreen, but if the stove is coming apart, i would imagine the combustion must be happening inside the stove.

what i tried to do with the burner on this stove is have three jets on the outside, and three jets on the inside to serve as a center burner.



aside from needing another three jets on the outside, when the stove lights it works really well. i read on the zen stoves site that, if the filler holes arent covered or plugged, lighting the stove can cause an internal combustion issue, and im pretty sure at this point that my inner jets are causing the same situation. which is a bummer, because it seems like more even heat distribution, and i had planned on making a simmer ring to cover the outer jets and leave the inner jets lit.

worst of all, i cant make another until i get a new charger for my drill. torture!
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