Simon stove

[Ahjno]

Does anyone of you guys (and girls! ) got some experience with the Simon stove? Saw it in the store last weekend, and I must say it looks very interesting - think it fits nicely underneath my SnowPeak 900 pot ):

Some pics - so you know what I'm talking about:

The stove runs on denatured alcohol - is this the same as the "meths" for the Trangia?

Site with more info & specifications (boils a pint of water in less then 4.5 minutes).

:wave:

 

[TheViking]

Wow, that looks interesting. :shock:

 

[Paganwolf]

looks good Johan, where from :?: how much :?:

 

[Ahjno]

JP:

The stove costs €27.50 (£19.34) - and I saw it at my local outdoorshop Bever - catalogue only in dutch (select "Keuken" on the left & "download PDF").

When you run "Simon stove" trough Google, you will find some hits in English (and German ... and Norwegian - but mine is a bit rusty ) & a few online stores.

Did you had a look on this site? There are some specifications about the stove on it.

:wave:

 

[masongary44]

Alcohol is Ethanol.... De-natured Alcohol has had Methanol added to it to make it un-useable / un-fit for consumption. It is generally very hard to buy pure alcohol because of tax and duty on the stuff... people would probably kill themselves with it too... Even when I worked in a research laboratory a few years ago, you had to measure what you needed, justify its use and sign for it.....

Meths / Methylated Spirits / De-Natured Alcohol, is Ethanol with a very low percentage (~5%) of Methanol added (and usually a trace of blue dye - with possibly a few other trace nasties?? - it depends on the source and the intended use). It is generally very hard to buy pure alcohol because of tax and duty on the stuff... people would probably kill themselves with it too... Even when I worked in a research laboratory a few years ago, you had to measure what you needed, justify its use and sign for it.....

Just for the record, Methanol is really quite nasty if ingested, a very small amount in your blood can cause blindness amongst other things!!

Chemically they are both very similar with Methanol having a similar but lower boiling point and burning slightly cleaner.

 

[PC2K]

the box they come in feels heavy, i skipped the simon and went for the trangia stove. Cost less too. Haven't seen one burn, though

 

[Ahjno]

the box they come in feels heavy, i skipped the simon and went for the trangia stove. Cost less too. Haven't seen one burn, though

Yes PC2K - quite heavy, over 200 grams if I remember correctly ... Although not a enormous burden, but lighter would be nice, wouldn't it?
Had a good look at the Trangia stove too though! But because I've already got a windscreen & pot - this stove looks more interesting at the moment.


Masongary44: thanks for (m)ethanol / denatured - alcohol info, cristal clear now!! :You_Rock_

Think I'm gonna save up some money, buy the stove and give it a good test (for a review?) - since nobody got experience with this thingy :roll: - still looks very good to me.

:wave:

 

[leon-1]

Johan, I have seen on the net a homemade version of this stove, if I can find the link tonight I will post it here.

You will find the homemade version will be considerably lighter as they tend to be made by people who do things like mountain marathons.

I have just finished a homemade stove (adapted photon stove design) and used it on the tracking course I attended this weekend, it outperforms the commercial trangia and weighs nothing.

 

[Martyn]

I have just finished a homemade stove (adapted photon stove design) and used it on the tracking course I attended this weekend, it outperforms the commercial trangia and weighs nothing.

I want pictures and data Leon. ):

Just in the process of building my fourth this weekend. All with slight variations, this one I'm hoping will be the simplest and best. It's another variant of the photon, but made from Red Bull cans - it's tiny.

 

[Martyn]

Oh, and in case no one has seen this before Zen's Stoves is the best homebuild archive I've found to date. Better than Wings stove archives IMO.

 

[leon-1]

I want pictures and data Leon. ):

Just in the process of building my fourth this weekend. All with slight variations, this one I'm hoping will be the simplest and best. It's another variant of the photon, but made from Red Bull cans - it's tiny.

Martyn, you and I are on the same wavelength, I am using red rooster cans from somerfield (they are the same size as red bull, but they are made out of recycleable steel) and a tomato puree can. The tomato puree can gives you a higher fuel capacity and more rigidity to the sides (a little more robust).

The filler hole is one of the threaded rivet nut type, size M5 or M6 seems best.

The new potstand and windshield are from the disposable bar-b-que trays, so the whole thing is pretty much recycled .

I haven't put a clock on it yet, but Neil 1 was using a normal Trangia burner in his setup, I started the homemade about five minutes after he started his and it had boiled enough water to fill a metal mug (1 pint) in what we reckon was less than 4 minutes, it had done it before the normal trangia had managed to get to the boil ):.

The initial flames that come off it are absolutely ferocious :yikes: and a 200ml container holds enough fuel for 5 or 6 fills of the stove, I think this is slightly over filling the stove to be honest, but they are truly amazing when they get going :biggthump

 

[leon-1]

Here is the link that I was thinking of.

This is very much like the site that Martyn recomended and has a lot of different stove combinations. I hope that any or all will come in handy

 

[Martyn]

Had a disaster with the stove leon. I got this far...

Top half drilled etc. I was using a red bull can for both halves, so planned to stretch the top half a little (top half was gonna be the outer half). I was gonna warm up the top half with a butane torch and slide it over the bottom of the other can, which was greased up with fairy liquid. I put the torch flame onto the can and it shriveled up under the heat. I then discovered red bull cans are made of exceedingly thin aluminium, not steel. Doof!

As you can see, I was even taking pics to show off my L337 stove skillz! ):

Gonna try again tomorrow with steel cans this time. :roll:

Does the puree can fit inside or outside the red rooster can? Some good can info here Leon.

 

[leon-1]

Sorry to hear about the failure Martyn, I have tried using two of the steel red rooster cans, I had one major issue and that was that I kept on splitting the outer tin, hence now using the puree tin.

I have also put the holes further up on the rim, that way the JB Weld has a good area to fill and set. I'll look at getting some pictures up of it when I get a chance with some detailed info, burn times and the like. I'll also be building another one soon so I'll get some detailed instructions done.

 

[Martyn]

My variant doesnt use the "top lip" method. So the can with the burner holes is the outer can. I'm relying on a priming dish to get the stove up to temp. I take it the rooster can fits inside the puree can?

 

[Martyn]

oh yeah, how many burner holes are you using? I put 24 on the red bull above. It's untested though. My last stove was a pepsi/caffreys combination with double walls, like a trangis. Works well, but I really wanted to try out a mini pressurised stove.

 

[leon-1]

oh yeah, how many burner holes are you using? I put 24 on the red bull above. It's untested though. My last stove was a pepsi/caffreys combination with double walls, like a trangis. Works well, but I really wanted to try out a mini pressurised stove.

Currently there are only sixteen jets in the burner, 8 on the rim and 8 on the inside of the rim, I may well increase this to 20 overall as when it fires up it can be a little frightening :yikes:.

I had used sixteen to increase the pressure in the stove, I don't think that I require quite that much though .

 

[Martyn]

Currently there are only sixteen jets in the burner, 8 on the rim and 8 on the inside of the rim, I may well increase this to 20 overall as when it fires up it can be a little frightening :yikes:.

I had used sixteen to increase the pressure in the stove, I don't think that I require quite that much though .

Yeah, there is something :yikes: about setting fire to boiling, pressurised ethanol.

How do you spell bomb? ):

 

[leon-1]

Yeah, there is something :yikes: about setting fire to boiling, pressurised ethanol.

How do you spell bomb? ):

Well it certainly goes like one as the bottom of my pans can verify ):

 

[Ahjno]

Leon & Martyn:

Looks super!! :super: Thanks for the info and links! :You_Rock_
I will certainly give it a go to make my own stove out of old cans - though it looks a bit explosive :yikes: ):

I think it's good fun to try, and it's part of bushcraft isn't it? Improvising kit you haven't got, or which is too expensive :biggthump

Keep me posted about the progess you guys make with the stoves already underconstruction!