Esbit Stove Mod

[lannyman8]

Having just done a review on the Esbit solid fuel stove i found out that its quite poor as is, so i decided to mess around and do some changes. The original lit is below

i didn’t want to mess around drilling holes or messing up the pot stand which is the problem area, the pot its self is fine, the stand soaks away all the heat from the pot, the vents are too low and the heat does not hit the pot when it comes out of the pot stand.

Whats needed is the heat to hit the pot and the vents higher, the vents cant be moves as they are cut into the alley, what needs to be done is to close the holes and move the pot higher up so the heat flows around the sides and bottom of the pot at the same time.

I found a tin that would fit just inside the stand, this would allow me to close the holes without messing around, the pot would need to fit on top but needed lifting, to do this i just used JB weld to glue some self tapping screws to the lip of the tin, due to the design of the pot its self this is enough to allow the heat to roll up the sides of the pot which is what we wanted.



Thats basically it, very simple to do and has increased the efficiency of the stove by around 100%, i have not tested burn times as yet but am sure a 5 min boil will now be on the cards. (just tried it and got a good rolling boil for 7 mins burn time)


Hope this is of some use to people as i love the idea of this stove and think the size is perfect for me, just right for a brew or heating rations on a walk.

 

[drewdunnrespect]

thanks for posting chris that sounds like an ausome mod for the stove

 

[Hammock_man]

Neat, cheap, easy to carry out and with worthwhile return on effort, Nice One.

 

[Andy BB]

Nice mod, but it does make you wonder why they didn't design it like this in the first place! Don't they actually test their prototypes?

Personally not a big fan of esbit/hexi/greenheat. For probably less weight, a simple Nivea stove would probably fit, or even a bit of carbon felt cut to size with a dribble of meths on it.

 

[Dannytsg]

Thanks for posting this! Good find.

 

[Retired Member southey]

Nice mod, but it does make you wonder why they didn't design it like this in the first place! Don't they actually test their prototypes?

Personally not a big fan of esbit/hexi/greenheat. For probably less weight, a simple Nivea stove would probably fit, or even a bit of carbon felt cut to size with a dribble of meths on it.

They are designed to be used with an Esbit solid fuel block, not home made meths burners,


Brilliant mod Chris!! I wonder if you cut matching slots in your ring, and added a little handle, weather you could turn the ring and use it to open the vents and maybe spil the heat, would it give enough of a reduction for a simmer simmer?

 

[treelore]

Brilliant !!!! cheers for sharing that lanny

 

[ged]

That's great Chris, just shows what you can do with a little bit of thought and engineering.

 

[Andy BB]

Originally Posted by Andy BB
Nice mod, but it does make you wonder why they didn't design it like this in the first place! Don't they actually test their prototypes?

Personally not a big fan of esbit/hexi/greenheat. For probably less weight, a simple Nivea stove would probably fit, or even a bit of carbon felt cut to size with a dribble of meths on it.

They are designed to be used with an Esbit solid fuel block, not home made meths burners,

Thanks for pointing that out - i'd never have guessed otherwise

However, the army hexi stove is also made to work with hexi blocks, and that also works much better with meths - see Nivea stove for example, or the various "continuous flow" stoves like the Minibull Design with a bird-feeder. As I said in my post, I've never gotten on with hexi/esbit/greenheat, finding it slow and inefficient, but thats just a personal opinion. Judging by the substantial number of posts on here and elsewhere looking at replacing hexi in the Crusader system, I'm guessing I'm not alone however.
​

 

[Shambling Shaman]

Was in two minds to get one, but looks like with the mod it work very well

Thanks

 

[Retired Member southey]

Hehehee I thought the obviousness of the name would give it away, I really like esbit blocks, cant stand meths though, so I guess its horses for courses, one and a half of the little blocks for a minuets boiling time in my little stove

I love my little stove, keep thinking about new one, then i use it an think "Naaaaaaah"

 

[Paul_B]

You can get the universal trivet from BPL-UK that I think does the same for other types of stove. Might fit the esbit too. It is a cross shape that sits on top and lifts the pot up a bit to allow the flame to impact on the pot's base in a more efficient way. Reckon with a light foil fixed to the outside of the vents and this trivet (only a few grams) it could do the same thing if it fits that is.

Its always good to keep looking at things to improve. Never assume the as bought product is the real deal its only a stage in the process. Perhaps I should practise that more than I do.

 

[toilet digger]

i'm lusting after the larger dual fuel. for nigh on 40 beans its not cheap but am a recent enthusiastic convert to meths.

http://www.expeditionfoods.com/expe...it-hard-anodized-aluminium-985ml-cookset.html

chris if you cast your experianced eye over this, will i encounter the same problems?

 

[lannyman8]

hey up all, am back from the outer limits and have some time to check in....

i did look at that stove and TBH felt it was a waist looking at the other stove i got, its quite allot of money for things that can be made for free at home, my stove is used with the vasaline tin and boot polish tin stoves which cost nothing, the only main difference is the pot size, so if you need a bigger pot more often then go for it, if not then go for the smaller less expensive stove.

as another person said, horses for courses, what works for me wont for some others, the only thing you can do is buy and try and prey to god you make a good choice, but threads like this always help though....

good luck Jamie, we can have a brew off if you get 1 ...

chris.

 

[toilet digger]

cheers chris, think its on my birthday list (dropped enough hints!)

 

[lannyman8]

cheers chris, think its on my birthday list (dropped enough hints!)

lol.....

 

[Bucephalas]

Brilliant. Thanks for sharing.
As Paul_B said, I was going to try the universal trivet to raise it up. I've noticed on this and similar stoves that you meed a clearance to allow the flame to "breath" and not snuff the heat.
I had a crack at a home made wood stove which I posted on another forum. The results were interesting and confirm the op's findings.

A bit lengthy but this was it;

I read Al's post here and realised I had one of these things under the kitchen sink and wondered how it would compare to my wood gas stove.
So i dug out the Dremel and knocked one up. Hope you don't mind Al; they do say imitation is the best form of flattery

Once completed I set about testing it on different fuels and compared the results. Some of these tests I re-ran as I was surprised by the results.

Here's the completed burner to begin with. The only addition I made was to hammer flat a couple of angled tent pegs and cut/file to make a clip together base. In all test I used a pint of tap water in a 12cm Zebra. I tried to keep the test constant by filling a large Jerry can with water hoping that the starting temp would be about the same.



I started off with a hexi tab;



Small bubbles appeared at 3 mins, 6 mins it was hot and at 8 mins the hexi tab expired. At this point the water was hot enough for a cuppa but it didn't reach a boil.

Next off I tried an Army Trangia which fitted into the pot nicely;



The Trangia produced a few bubbles at 9 mins 30 sec's but then i took it off. The flame simply couldn't get enough air to work and every time I lifted the billy it raged into life, but the seal of the billy on the cooker was choking it.

I then put the peg supports into the 3rd hole from the base and used the regular trangia.



A rolling boil was reached at 10:45

I decided to drop the peg supports down to the second holes (from the base) to see if that would improve it;



A rolling boil was reached in 10:00, some 45 seconds quicker.

At this point I decided that the seal between the billy and cooker rim was stifling the flame too much and I decided to make a pot support to give a half inch gap at the top of the cooker and try again;



I used the trangia again and set the pot support pegs on the 3rd hole and achieved a rolling boil at 5:36, a major improvement!
With the support pegs in 2nd hole, rolling boil was achieved at 4:37; a much improved time again


I'm not a big fan of hexi burners but thought I would try another tablet with the pot stand;



Amazingly a rolling boil was acheived in 5:34! When I removed the billy the tab went on to burn a further 7 mins; some 4.5 mins longer than before.

Time to light a fire! I used the same weight of wood in all tests and the same amount of cotton buds to start off;



This time I would compare it to my wood-gas burner too;





I was amazed to find a rolling boil was achieved in 3:55 with very little smoke and only a small amount of extra fuel was added once it was alight.

In comparison, my wood gas burner produced much more smoke and produced a rolling boil in 5:37



It may not have looked pretty by the time I finished but it all worked a treat.



In conclusion;
Hexi without pot stand - No boil achieved
Hexi with pot stand - 5:34
Trangia without pot stand 2nd hole - 10:00
Trangia without pot stand 3rd hole - 10:45
Trangia with pot stand 2nd hole - 4:37
Trangia with pot stand 3rd hole - 5:36
Wood burn - 3:55

 

[toilet digger]

got the bad boy today filled the pot to the 900ml mark, with a hexy half block and then another, it took 20 minutes to reach a simmer. will do a timed test with the meths burner and let you know.
did notice that the hexy's output diminished once a layer of carbon developed and accumulated. was the first time i'd sat over a hexy burn in 20 years, even with a hangover the memories came flooding back from the smells

 

[240zrb]

Hi

I just thought I'd share some of the mods I made to this stove (the Esbit cookset).

I made a door for that big opening. The large opening caused the flame from the esbit block to be drawn to only the back half of the pot bottom. Closing of the opening made the flame to hit senter part of the pot bottom.

The esbit tray was removed, and slits cut along the dents under the tray. This introduses more air directly to the fuel block, and increases the heat.

Then I made a screen (windscreen type), but the main purpose of this screen is to make use of the hot gases rising, and directing them along the sides of the pot. This screen was made of an old paint can (and so was the door), and when fliped it fits completely around the pot. I made the screen slide further up after taking these pictures, to heat even more of the pots sides.

I made several tests with these mods:

Test 4: 500ml water (6 celsius), outside -10 celsius, 14gr esbit. Mods listed above. Water boiled at 9.5 min, boiled for 4 min, esbit gone by 14.5 min
Test 5: 500ml water (6 celsius), outside -11 celsius, 14gr esbit. Added a 3mm X stand under the fuel cube, Water boiled at 8.5 min, esbit gone by 10.5 min

Originally I was not able to make 500ml of 6 celsius water boil with an 14gr fuel cube, even if the cube burned for 14 min.

Svein

 

[240zrb]

Does pictures show this time?

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