Help lighting penny stove

[Dannytsg]

Hi all,

I recently got myself a penny stove for when I go out hiking and dont want to lug a larger stove with me.

I wanted to try it out yetserday and did as I was supposed to. I primed the stove to about half full with white spirit, put the penny on top and covered with a little more white spirit. I then put spirit on the ground surrounding it and tried to light it but couldnt for the life of me get a flame to take.

Can someone please talk me through how to use it?

Regards

 

[Bucephalas]

Don't use white spirit, use methalated spirits. One is for cleaning paint brushes the other has a higher alcohol content and can be used as fuel.

 

[lannyman8]

as above mate, methanol or rubbing alcohol work too....

 

[Dannytsg]

Aha that may be the problem. For some reason I have always had it in my head that they were the same thing.

Am I right in saying that the way I went about lighting the penny stove was correct though?

 

[mrcharly]

totally and utterly different. White spirit is a petroleum product. Meths is an alcohol.

 

[Bucephalas]

Your doing it right.
Methanol is harder to find and needs to be virgin 99.5%+ purity but does produce soot and a wilder flame so I would stick to meths myself.

 

[Ogri the trog]

Some minor words of caution, to emphasize the advice already given....

White Spirit,as we've seen, is an oil derived "thinner" - used as a paint solvent and sometimes as a fuel.

Methylated Spirit is the purple fuel that many people carry as a stove fuel, often abbreviated to "Meths"

Not to be confused with...

White gas - a petrol like substance used in specific stoves, lanterns and racing engines.

Methanol - an alcohol derived solvent used as an industrial cleaner or fuel boosting additive.

Get them confused and the consequences could be dangerous.

Ogri the trog

 

[Dannytsg]

Thanks for the advice.

I am going to go and get some methylated spirit from B&Q later and then I will try and relight it to see if I can get it right for this weekend.

Cheers

Dan

 

[swright81076]

It also depends on the construction of the stove. I make a side jet stove based on one from zenstoves (no affiliation) if the inner chamber is sealed top and bottom (with bottom feed holes) it doesn't need a primer.
Put in a tablespoon of meths, light it, leave 30 seconds then blow onto it so jets ignite. Any pan you use won't act as a heat sink and put out the flames.
I carry a couple with me always.

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[Andy BB]

Be careful - alcohol stoves are addictive!

And once the bug bites, you'll find it a lot more economical to buy your fuel in bulk. Meths is probably the safest (being mainly Ethyl Alcohol with some anti-drink contents and normally a bit of methanol (5% or so?)). You can also use methanol which burns pretty much just as well and you can buy in bulk for much less than meths. However, it is very nasty stuff - DON'T ingest, it'll blind you or kill you - just 30ml will do the job......It's where the expression "blind drunk" came from, as home-made stills often used to bring over methyl alcohol along with the "good stuff" - ethyl alcohol.

 

[Dannytsg]

The penny stove I have got has top jet holes not side jet holes so I was informed that it needed priming prior to trying to ignite the fumes?

Is this correct?

 

[swright81076]

Most penny stoves need priming. Do you have a picture of it?

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[Teepee]

A note about meths;

B&Q and the major diy chains charge a hell of a lot for meths. I'e found the cheapest are Nisa corner shops or little diy stores at less than half B&Q charge.

I buy mine in 5l containers form my decorators merchant for about £14, the equivalent volume from B&Q is around £30.

 

[Dannytsg]

Well as a start im going to be buying just a 500ml bottle until I get my feet with using it and actually try it out.

@ swright81076 - here is the picture of what I have purchased and also how it should look.

 

[bikething]

I then put spirit on the ground surrounding it and tried to light it

you did what??!!!

I've never heard of pouring fuel on the ground around the stove. It's more usual to use a small dish, something like an inverted jam jar lid, under the stove and put a little fuel in that.

 

[swright81076]

Unfortunately you won't be able to blow into these. They'll be fine when you get some meths mate. Experiment before you take them out though.
Priming them is just heating up the outer chamber so the gas ignites. There's hundreds of ways you could do this. They are very fuel efficient

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[Dannytsg]

So once I have primed the stove around the outside I should just be able to ignite the gases ommitted through the holes at the top?

Thanks again for the advice, like I said i've never used on of these before.

 

[swright81076]

As longs as you don't get the stove too hot before you put fuel in it'll be right.

The other way would be to put fuel in. Put the coin over the hole, then put fuel on top of coin, and light the fuel. It'll burn and warm up the stove enough to ignite the fuel inside. Just have a play before you use it in the field.

Just don't get the can too hot before you put fuel in. That'll be bad. And never refill when its burning or when its just gone out. Let it cool a bit first.

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