I saw this idea back in October at one of the BCUK Sussex meets, Monkey Boy showed me the burner, hence the title of this post, like many i think he wanted a better more economical way to use the Crusader Burner unit than using Green Heat or Hexi blocks.
The idea is incredibly simple and i really don't know why i never thought of it myself, now I've made no secret over the years about how carp the Crusader Cooker unit is and this fact is even backed up by the guy who designed it i believe?, but when I'm out and about and don't want to take a Trangia, Hobo stove or even have a small fire, i do use my Crusader Cooker unit, after all I'm not cooking anything on it, I'm just warming up some water that I've bought from home for a cup of tea or coffee, but in the colder months stuff like Green Heat just doesn't cut the mustard, i know some of the stove guys will say it never cuts the mustard, that's their choice, but i choose to use it.
This little burner unit though is so simple and so effective it's unreal and best of all, it's made from junk, the burner as you will see from the picture is a small Vaseline Lip Balm tin, which is filled with glass fibre loft insulation which in turn is kept in place by the wire mesh from a cheapo tea strainer, the whole thing weighs less than a gnats privates and sits in the burner tray of the Crusader cooker a treat, which coincidentally is where it lives when stored as well, as it's low enough to not interfere with the bottom of the metal mug when it's all packed away.
I cant store meths/alcohol in the burner though as the tin was prone to forming a vacuum, so i had to pierce a small hole in the lid in order to get it off, I've noticed the newer tins have a better design, so the hole is not necessary.
In use i filled the burner with meths so it was just starting to pool on the surface of the fibreglass, lit it and then put the mug, containing 500ml of cold water on the unit and put the lid on and in not too long a time the water was at a rolling boil, with fuel left in the burner.
I don't know how long it took to boil, as i don't work by the clock when I'm cooking or warming things up when I'm out and about, I've always worked to the ethos of "it's done when it's done", after all whats the rush, you are out there to enjoy yourself, there are just too many variables to consider when cooking outdoors, so i don't bother considering them.
So thanks to Monkey Boy for sharing the idea with me, personally i think it's brilliant
The idea is incredibly simple and i really don't know why i never thought of it myself, now I've made no secret over the years about how carp the Crusader Cooker unit is and this fact is even backed up by the guy who designed it i believe?, but when I'm out and about and don't want to take a Trangia, Hobo stove or even have a small fire, i do use my Crusader Cooker unit, after all I'm not cooking anything on it, I'm just warming up some water that I've bought from home for a cup of tea or coffee, but in the colder months stuff like Green Heat just doesn't cut the mustard, i know some of the stove guys will say it never cuts the mustard, that's their choice, but i choose to use it.
This little burner unit though is so simple and so effective it's unreal and best of all, it's made from junk, the burner as you will see from the picture is a small Vaseline Lip Balm tin, which is filled with glass fibre loft insulation which in turn is kept in place by the wire mesh from a cheapo tea strainer, the whole thing weighs less than a gnats privates and sits in the burner tray of the Crusader cooker a treat, which coincidentally is where it lives when stored as well, as it's low enough to not interfere with the bottom of the metal mug when it's all packed away.
I cant store meths/alcohol in the burner though as the tin was prone to forming a vacuum, so i had to pierce a small hole in the lid in order to get it off, I've noticed the newer tins have a better design, so the hole is not necessary.
In use i filled the burner with meths so it was just starting to pool on the surface of the fibreglass, lit it and then put the mug, containing 500ml of cold water on the unit and put the lid on and in not too long a time the water was at a rolling boil, with fuel left in the burner.
I don't know how long it took to boil, as i don't work by the clock when I'm cooking or warming things up when I'm out and about, I've always worked to the ethos of "it's done when it's done", after all whats the rush, you are out there to enjoy yourself, there are just too many variables to consider when cooking outdoors, so i don't bother considering them.
So thanks to Monkey Boy for sharing the idea with me, personally i think it's brilliant
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