“Would you care to be a bit more precise in your data presentation, since others seem to have difficulty in matching your results? What weather conditions, altitude, wind, temp, size of pan, type, covered? with what? And at 0 degrees -sitting on what kind of insulation, windscreen? etc.”

Sorry about thread drift, but back to alcy:

Good question. I’ll explain 2 stoves. Both stoves are sitting on a ~ 2.5”x2.5” aluminum gutter foil (to reflect heat back up). In the cold this foil also sits on a little ¼” thick CCF. That way the heat won’t be drained out the bottom of the stove. I’ve rested the stove on rock or hard packed snow.
Temperature: 0F
Altitude: Sea level and 12,000 ft (easier at high level for alcy stoves)
Wind: Behind wind blocks like pine trees or boulders so wind could probably be <5mph.
Lighting the stove: At 0F the flame must touch the alcy. At warmer temps only the vapors need to be lit.
Fuel: HEET yellow bottle. I like HEET because it gives constant results no matter where I buy it. Denatured alcohol gives different results every time I use it like burn time and yellow flame instead of blue. With Denatured I have a hard time gauging how much to bring.

Stove 1:
White Box stove, Aluminum wind guard, 1.2L Titanium pot (~6” diameter).
Flare/blossom time: 90seconds in the cold.
Notes: Some people prime this stove by putting a little alcy on the base pad to speed up blossom time. I do not.

Stove2:
Pepsi Stove, Aluminum wind guard, hardware cloth pot stand. 3C Anodized Aluminum Pot from Anti Gravity Gear.
Flare/blossom time: 60 seconds in the cold.

The open jet pepsi stoves work nice at 0F. If they don’t work, I could offer some help on why they’re not working if you can give me pictures and dimensions.
Some tips:
1. Make sure pepsi stove is 1” tall.
2. Make sure pot is 1” above stove
3. Make sure pot is >4.75” dia
4. Try 12 1/8” holes on top instead of 32 pin holes. I have 4 stoves like this that I use all the time with my family in the cold.
5. Make sure inside wall (these stoves are double-walled remember) is tight.

Other fun tidbits: I melt snow with the white box stove since it can hold more alcy and so I can do a continuous stream/supply of melting snow in one sitting; usually about 15 minutes worth. I like cooking with the pepsi stove because of its faster blossoming time. I have several hiking buddies, scouts, and cousins that use this stove in the cold so I am always surprised when someone claims they can’t get it to work. Stay away from titanium stoves in the cold. They are a heat sink in and of themselves and thus kill boil times in the cold.

Hopefully I remembered all the critical details.
Happy cooking,
-Barry