This is a quick test of 'Zip Military Cooking Fuel' which is being sold through various bushcraft and camping channels. It is an attempt to replace the smelly and hard to light hexamine blocks that have been cursed by generations of soldiers, cadets, scouts and campers.
My setup was a Crusader cup and stove, the Heavy Cover lid (good kit, but pricey and they are not kidding about it being heavy), 500 ml of water and the fuel. The conditions were a comfortable tshirt evening in my back yard with no breeze.
Simple instructions and a bit of technical info:
The cubes are individually wrapped:
The instructions say 'Just light the wrapper' but what really happens is that you light the cube through the wrapper. The wrapper doesnt sustain a flame by itself but it burns through instantly exposing the cube. I lit it easily with a match, this was much easier than lighting a hexamine block.
The fuel burned with a bright yellow/orange flame, some black smoke and a slight generic burning smell. This was nothing like the strong fishy pong you get from hexamine, or the strange smell you get from Greenheat gel.
The 500 ml of water was brought to a full rolling boil in eight minutes. I took the lid off and let it carry on, the Zip fuel kept it boiling for a further six minutes, with the heat tapering off only in the last minute or so. This is unlike hexamine which steadily reduces in heat output as the size of the block shrinks.
Here is a quick video clip:
[video=youtube;sgE_r1ZqOW0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgE_r1ZqOW0[/video]
After the boiling stopped there was another minute or so of flame from the remains of the cube:
This is what was left:
I poked the residue with a stick and it crumbled away. There was a little blob of unburned fuel inside:
A blast from a turboflame lighter ignited this blob, so if you are being a good bushcrafter you might want to do this before dumping the ash.
Just look at the state of my cup! It was completely coated in powdery black soot:
A wipe of a fingertip got it off the stainless steel:
And all over my finger!
A quick wash with Fairy liquid under the tap cleaned it up well enough to pack away but it will need something abrasive to get it shiny again.
Summary:
Pro - lights easily, puts out lots of heat for a long time. One cube can do serious work.
Con - bright flame, extremely sooty.
I paid £3.95 for 8 cubes, putting it in the same cost bracket as Esbit, Trioxane and Greenheat. Cheap hexi can be had cheaper than that, but it isnt in individually wrapped blocks at the cheaper price points.
Of these fuels, I rate them as follows:
1. Trioxane
2. Greenheat
3. Zip
4. Esbit
5. Generic bulk hexamine
My setup was a Crusader cup and stove, the Heavy Cover lid (good kit, but pricey and they are not kidding about it being heavy), 500 ml of water and the fuel. The conditions were a comfortable tshirt evening in my back yard with no breeze.
Simple instructions and a bit of technical info:
The cubes are individually wrapped:
The instructions say 'Just light the wrapper' but what really happens is that you light the cube through the wrapper. The wrapper doesnt sustain a flame by itself but it burns through instantly exposing the cube. I lit it easily with a match, this was much easier than lighting a hexamine block.
The fuel burned with a bright yellow/orange flame, some black smoke and a slight generic burning smell. This was nothing like the strong fishy pong you get from hexamine, or the strange smell you get from Greenheat gel.
The 500 ml of water was brought to a full rolling boil in eight minutes. I took the lid off and let it carry on, the Zip fuel kept it boiling for a further six minutes, with the heat tapering off only in the last minute or so. This is unlike hexamine which steadily reduces in heat output as the size of the block shrinks.
Here is a quick video clip:
[video=youtube;sgE_r1ZqOW0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgE_r1ZqOW0[/video]
After the boiling stopped there was another minute or so of flame from the remains of the cube:
This is what was left:
I poked the residue with a stick and it crumbled away. There was a little blob of unburned fuel inside:
A blast from a turboflame lighter ignited this blob, so if you are being a good bushcrafter you might want to do this before dumping the ash.
Just look at the state of my cup! It was completely coated in powdery black soot:
A wipe of a fingertip got it off the stainless steel:
And all over my finger!
A quick wash with Fairy liquid under the tap cleaned it up well enough to pack away but it will need something abrasive to get it shiny again.
Summary:
Pro - lights easily, puts out lots of heat for a long time. One cube can do serious work.
Con - bright flame, extremely sooty.
I paid £3.95 for 8 cubes, putting it in the same cost bracket as Esbit, Trioxane and Greenheat. Cheap hexi can be had cheaper than that, but it isnt in individually wrapped blocks at the cheaper price points.
Of these fuels, I rate them as follows:
1. Trioxane
2. Greenheat
3. Zip
4. Esbit
5. Generic bulk hexamine
