Supercat alcohol stove - how much water boiled?

Posted by: Steadman

Supercat alcohol stove - how much water boiled? - 08/19/11 10:12 PM

How much water (volume) should I expect a supercat stove to boil in one go?

Reason I'm asking is that I'm trying to cheaply lighten my load for no kids trips, and the MSR Dragonfly I haul for group cooking is a bit much for one.

I figure I need to boil about 3 cups/24ozs of water for one meal (drinks and dried food). If a supercat can get me from here to there in East coast conditions. and adjusted properly, then I'm in.

I obviously intend to test this out, but want to know if I'm on the right track.
Posted by: lori

Re: Supercat alcohol stove - how much water boiled? - 08/19/11 11:13 PM

I use a .9 liter Evernew pot with the Supercat. An ounce of fuel will get it to a good boil.
Posted by: Pika

Re: Supercat alcohol stove - how much water boiled? - 08/20/11 09:30 AM

My Supercat will bring two cups of water to a rolling boil in 4-6 minutes depending on water temperature and wind. It will do this using between 0.75 and 1.0 oz of denatured ethanol depending, again, on water temperature and wind. In theory you might plan on getting two cups of water boiling in 4 minutes with 3/4 oz of fuel; in practice, I would plan on 2 cups in six minutes using a full oz. And, I would carry a bit of extra fuel.
Posted by: Samoset

Re: Supercat alcohol stove - how much water boiled? - 08/20/11 03:06 PM

with proper windscreen use. I never have a problem getting suppercat two boil 24oz in snowpeak trek 900TI. or fosters can.
its one of my favorite stoves. built properly it has vertualluy zero prime time.
Posted by: Steadman

Re: Supercat alcohol stove - how much water boiled? - 08/20/11 07:02 PM

Outstanding. Now that I know it can work, I'll figure out how to do it in practice.

Thank you one and all.
Posted by: ShadeDog

Re: Supercat alcohol stove - how much water boiled? - 08/23/11 11:49 AM

Just a thought...
It is best to test out the stove before you are in the wild.
Measure an oz of fuel and 2 cups of water..room temp water.
Do this outside with a bit of wind..emulate real conditions so your windscreen plan has to work too.
If it is your first time with the stove you may need some practice so as to not waste fuel.
Posted by: Steadman

Re: Supercat alcohol stove - how much water boiled? - 08/27/11 02:13 PM

Oh, I went and tested it on my stoop a week or so back. Worked well, even in my too heavy pot.

The reason I was questioning how well it would work is because I ran my first test with a steel cup (no lid) we got from the Douthat camp cookery demonstration (which was great fun) and I ran into trouble with getting a real boil. I did better with a 1.5 lidded cup pot, but it was too small to get me a cup of tea and dinner in one boil. So I thought I'd seek someone else's experience before I went further.

I can go a weekend with one bottle of heat and this thing, have excess reagents, and refine further. I'll test some more between now and then as well.