Hi,
I've tried making the penny stove as described:
http://www.csun.edu/~mjurey/penny.html

I'm not getting anywhere near the performance described. I haven't even got to boil any water, not to mention simmer it for any length of time. For example >30ml of alcohol, I get burn time of about 6 minutes (the site has results of 6 min for 20 ml). And have yet to boil any water (tried 500 ml and 1 L with 30mL fuel and 60 mL fuel respectively). The pot is about 1.5" above the stove. The support is a round sheet of aluminum that acts as a wind screen with some vents to let air in. I'm using methyl hydrate as fuel.

So what am I doing wrong? Anyone with experience like this when you made your alcohol stove? What are the common mistakes?


Edited by Budric (08/03/09 05:55 PM)