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Alcohol Stove

My alcohol stove is a modification of the popular Cat Stove by Roy Robinson. I chose this starting point because it seemed to be the fastest stove out there and I make big meals, usually requiring boiling over a liter of water just for myself. My primary modification is the stand: it is a three-point wire stand which positions the pot over the stove, holds the stove off the ground, and lets me use the stove in places where there isn't even a flat rock to put it on. I also used a soda can for the fuel cup and held it in place by leaving part of the lid on the outer can, and I didn't use any fiberglass insulation, seems to me the alcohol produces plenty of fumes without that.
Weight: At 3.7 oz, this stove is not very light. The majority of this weight is the stand, at 2.3 oz. I think this could be decreased quite a bit with thinner wire and a smaller overall size, but I haven't tried yet. The burner could also be made lighter if a cat food can were substituted for the tuna can (as in the "Cat Stove").

	The finished stove and stand. Ignore the screw poking out the top: this was from a failed attempt at a simmering cover. The cover actually just made the alcohol hotter, which turned the stove into a massive fireball!
	Bottom view of the stove, showing how the fuel cup is held in place, and how the stand hooks into the burner.
	The fuel cup: Just the bottom 1.5" of a soda can with six small triangular cutouts, and the bottom dented in for more volume.
	The pot stand: made out of 1/8" aluminum wire. It is 3.25" tall, holds the pot 1.5" above the burner, and the stove .25" above the ground. The top segments are 5" long, designed to fit snugly inside my 2-L pot.

2001 Alex Johnson. Back to Alex's Main Page