playing with fire

[heath]

Well I thought I'd do a bit of experimenting this evening and things got a little bit out of control. I've got a few little stoveset ups and i thought I'd experiment and time them to see how long it took to boil 500ml of water.

First go was my Ikea drainer and home made billy can. Filed it up with wood chippings and the lid was rattling at 7mins. Not bad

Then it was my meths burner set up. I was a bit stingy with the meths so it ran out before I could get the lid rattling. Still it was going for a while and the water was definitely hot enough for a brew.

Then came my gas stove

I used an aluminium windshield around it and the pastic bit at the bottom didn't like it too much. Not very impressed really, still it gives me an excuse to get the giga power stove I was looking at recently.

 

[jon r]

wow, you're lucky that didnt blow up!

 

[sxmolloy]

Could have been nasty but all is well that ends well, apart from the stove that is

 

[rik_uk3]

Could have been worse mate, but now you can ditch the gas and get a real stove, a Nova or an Omnifuel 7 minutes for a mug of boiling water will be a thing of the past

 

[heath]

Well I must confess that I have drooled over some of the high end multifuel stoves in the past but tonights events did get me thinking a bit. I must admit I was worried when it caught fire and prayed sharpish that it wouldn't explode. This definitely made me think about whether i want to be standing over something that has the potential to be so dangerous. Then I thought, is 7 mins really that long to wait for water to boil? I can't really imagine a scenario when I'm going to need to boil something really fast. Don't get me wrong I know that gas stoves and petrol stoves have loads of advantages. But do I really need them?
The answer is I don't know,I'm really just a beginner to all this hence the experiment and I guess time and experience will help me to discover what kind of set up is best for me. At the moment however 7 mins sounds great and I get to sit by a proper fire. Bonus.

 

[TimB]

If you want boiling water is quick time try JetBoil...
1ltr in 2 mins.. :O)

Of course its never as good as sitting round a propper fire... but for a quick brew or boil in the bag rat pack its fine! I've even warmed tins of food up in it!!

www.jetboil.com

 

[capacious]

It's because you used a windshield and had it totally enclosed. As long as you NEVER EVER EVER EVER EVER do that then you'll be fine.

 

[Wayland]

Seven minutes is great time for a boil up.

Start the stove up with a few pine cones and then put your tarp up.

By the time you've finished the water should be ready for a cup of tea.

Perfect.

 

[benp1]

Can you go into more detail about your ikea stove? I have one that I'm trying to modify to work a bit better

Where is your billy from? it looks a good size.
What is it sitting on? looks good for protecting the ground
What did you make the 'rack' from, i'm using bit of coat hanger at the moment

 

[heath]

My Billy can was a £1 tea can from poundland with a coathanger handle.
All I've done to the ikea thing is put some legs on it to protect the ground. Just four bolts that I've screwed on. I'm also using two bits of a coathanger as a stand for the billy. But I'm working on a few ideas now to spruce it up a bit.

I know it's not the smallest set up or the most efficient. But fuel is cheap and plentiful and it's the most fun to use.

 

[Wayland]

I'm not sure how Heath has done his but mine has a feeding hole cut out on the far side and four small holes drilled near the top which I can slide skewers through to stand the billy on. The stand looks like an interesting idea, I usually just use stones.

The billy in the picture above is a zebra 10cm on an ikea cuttlery drainer but I've recently changed my set up to this.

More details in this thread

 

[Wayland]

My Billy can was a £1 tea can from poundland with a coathanger handle.
All I've done to the ikea thing is put some legs on it to protect the ground. Just four bolts that I've screwed on. I'm also using two bits of a coathanger as a stand for the billy. But I'm working on a few ideas now to spruce it up a bit.

I know it's not the smallest set up or the most efficient. But fuel is cheap and plentiful and it's the most fun to use.

Ha. Beat me to it.

I agree about the fun thing. It's so much better than a gas stove in my opinion and very often you can use fuel that makes no significant impact on the area you are using.

At the Delamere meet most of us were cooking with pine cones and there were still thousands of them lying around when we left.

 

[heath]

That's a great set up Wayland.
I think I might work on something similar myself to make my set up versatile and as compact as possible.

 

[rik_uk3]

If you want boiling water is quick time try JetBoil...
1ltr in 2 mins.. :O)

Of course its never as good as sitting round a propper fire... but for a quick brew or boil in the bag rat pack its fine! I've even warmed tins of food up in it!!

www.jetboil.com

The Jetboil is a good tea/coffee/noodle cooker, but you need a more versatile stove when you want to cook a good meal for more than one(and the JB is not that hot in the cold). When I evaluated a JB I never got anywhere near 2 mins for a litre, nearer 3 for me? I do like the look of the new JB and Primus cook sets though, they look very efficient Must get me hands on some

 

[benp1]

Wayland - I can only aspire to your cookset, its awesome

Heath - thanks for the help

Thanks to another member I have now got a set up using a tea/coffee/sugar pot (was a pack of 3). Its good enough for now but ideally i'd like a bigger/wider one that fits a bit better. I'll keep my eye out for one. The ikea drainer is also a bit heavy but its pretty damn solid.

You're so right about it being fun, it really is good fun using it