Alcohol Stove

I bought a Vargo titanium alcohol stove from MEC. So far so good, but I can see it may take some getting used to compared to my butane model. Obviously a guy has to be careful not to spill any alcohol and cause a fire where he doesn’t want one. The other problem seems to be the fact that I cannot see the flame. It was hard to tell if it was going or not, except by placing my hand over it. It seemed to take about 10 minutes to boil 2 cups of water, which to me seems slow, but I kind of expected that. It is extremely light at about 1 oz and that is a bonus. Perhaps some of you might be kind enough to give me some tips or advice on the operation of my new toy? Many thanks.

Howie

Windscreen always. Use denatured alc. Enjoy. Zenstoves.com

Ten minutes doesn't sound too bad, especially depending how cold the water was to start. With alky stoves I don't think you'll ever do much better than seven minutes...while on the trail I wouldn't sweat the additional three minutes or so.

Alky stoves are great for heating water for reconstituting dehydrated food. They're a particularly good piece of gear for freezer bag cooking. If you're doing that, remember that you don't need a rolling boil to prepare hot FBC meals. In fact, my water never achieves boiling. Through kitchen testing, I pretty much know how much alky it takes to bring the water to near-boil (about 195°). Adding a bit more to allow for colder water, wind, etc., my stove burns out just as steam starts coming from the kettle. With those initial water temps, meals placed in a cozy reconsitute within 10-15 minutes and are piping hot.

It saves a lot of fuel (and some little bit of time) not trying for that 'rolling boil.'

FB

My refectrix cozy is round (fits my pot) instead of flat, so it is very efficient on holding the heat for freezer bag cooking. Like Fiddleback, my food is still too hot to eat after 20-30 minutes, so 212 degree water is not needed for the food, just leave the food with the almost boiling water in the bag for a few more minutes i.e. 15 minutes instead of 10.

Just pass your hand over the stove to check for the invisible flame. As you gain familiarity, cooking with the stove gets easier. I like not having to watch it, since I'm not cooking in the pot. Heating only water is so much cleaner for Arizona trips where the water is sparse.

-Use a windscreen
-Try heating less water at a time. With my Brasslite it is quicker to heat first the freezer bag food water, then the drink water.
-The proper size pot can make a lot of difference.

You might also want to try some other types of alcohol stoves. The Vargo Triad is a very poor performer compared to almost all others. See some reviews here for alcohol stoves:

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/...20%2D%20Alcohol

Many of us make are own stoves—"Pepsi can" stove and the "Cat Stove" are two popular ones.

Good luck and have fun.

Steve

Buy a Antigravity Gear stove form Tin Man. Boils 4 cups of water in 7 minutes including rice and bean mix. Basically a blow torch. Pot sets right down on rim of stove.

Vargo titanium is more like a tea candle.

<img src="/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> My favorite stove! I have others but don't feel the need or the motivation to use 'em. However, the 'four cups in seven minutes' is a bit 'optimistic.' <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> The AntiGravity listing claims two cups in five minutes and a few seconds and I think that rating is a best case. But there's no question that the stove is great...it's light, stable, and perfect for a kettle like the Primus.

If someone is achieving a boil of four cups in seven minutes I hope they post their technique...and the starting temp of the water. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

FB

Good comments below on not needing rolling boil to reconstitute FBC meals.

I’ve also noticed titanium brings subpar performance in alcy stoves. It won’t start in the cold (35F and below). It has to be all the way full to light (which is too bad). My theory is-- there is too much mass in the stove.

My hiking buddy has a Vargo Triad stove. If he fills it half full, he eliminates the lighting problem by firing up a tea-candle stove (real small stove) and sliding it under the vargo stove; i.e., priming it.

Also, if you can cook in the woods, the shading sort of helps see the flames. Otherwise, cooking at dusk or dawn will help see the flames.

Welcome to clean, easy, lightweight cooking; but I think you’re doing it with the trickiest alcy stove out there.

-Barry

I am not very impressed with my Vargo. Today I conducted a test. I filled the stove and heated up one and a half cups of water in an enamel mug. It took seven minutes to get it hot enough for tea, so I would never be stuck in that department. However, it ran out of fuel before it came to a boil. Just what does one do if he runs out of fuel before things are finished? How would I ever cook porridge with the thing?

I took out my folding River Trail stove. This stove I have had for a while. It is very compact and fairly light. (They likely don’t even make them anymore). I connected it to the isobutane MSR cylinder and put a match to it. Under the same conditions the water was very hot after only two minutes, and fifteen seconds later it came to a rolling boil. No mess, no fuss, very little fuel used.

I am a guy who likes things hot. Hot coffee or tea. Hot oatmeal for breakfast. I know there are more efficient alcohol stoves out there, but I cannot imagine anything better than my butane stove. It doesn’t even weigh very much. The only thing I don’t like about butane is having to pack a spare cylinder, but now perhaps I will just pack my Vargo and a little alcohol for a back up.

Howie

I should mention the fact that the Vargo isn't all bad. It is quite light, very compact and seems to be very sturdy as well as stable. It does work too, just not as well as I hoped. It has folding legs that support it, and three more that support the pot. My wife made a nice little bag for it and so I can keep it tucked away inside the lid of my backpack. It should last a long time. Thanks to all who replied to my post.

Howie

Bringing two stoves isn't terribly efficient.

I can't comment on your particular stove, but after I ditched a Svea "Climber," I relied mainly on a Trangia for ten years. The thing is effective for extremely simple cooking for one person. Other than that, I used other stoves.

To compare the average alcohol stove with butane or white gas is possibly to miss the point, which is, for me anyway, to sacrifice performance for simplicity and light weight. On longer trips, fuel requirements would probably cancel the weight advantage, although relative ease of fuel resupply might be another consideration.

In past 7-8 years, my personal preference is almost exclusively cannister stove. Am keeping Trangia for trips (in Latin America?) that are mainly hotel/hut/hostel based, but which might include minimal backpacking side excursions. My particular Trangia kit with pot and windscreen weighs 11 ounces. The pot continues to see lots of use.

Howie,

I own a Vargo Triad XE alky/fuel tab combo stove. It came with a tiny alcohol burner can so I called the company and Mr. Vargo said he'd make a larger alky burner can. He did and sent me one of the larger burner cans free of charge as soon as he made the change.

So I tried it - and tried it. Finally I quit in frustration after realizing alcohol was not as hot as ESBIT or FireLite fuel tabs. Plus, for more than a three day trip I might as well carry a Vargo JetTi burner & canister gas considering how much alcohol I'd have to carry

. Now I leave the alky burner can at home and use fuel tabs in the XE's base. Works MUCH better above 8,000 ft. than alcohol (and better below 8,000 ft. for that matter). Usually I begin with two fuel tabs side-by-side. When the water boils or I'm done cooking spaghetti, etc. I just blow out the fuel tabs and save them for the next meal, where I usually need to only add one tab.

Yeah, there's the residue on the pan bottom from ESBIT tabs but it washes off. No big deal considering the faster boil times and lighter fuel weight on 5 to 7 day trips.

So I still use my Vargo XE but only the base. And until someone figures out how to "pep up" alcohol's BTUs I'll be leaving the alky burner can at home.

Eric

Thanks for the info Eric. I would like to use Esbit but it doesn't seem available where I live (BC, Canada). Phat has promised to mail me some to try. I can always get it online too. It seems to me that if the Esbit is running low a guy can always add more to the stove. When the alcohol stove runs dry a guy has to start all over. At least that is my perception.

Howie