Burner

Using the Alcohol Burner

This is a marvelous little creation that I discovered when browsing the Internet one day, while looking for hiking gear and such.

For the cost of about 20¢ you too can build this alcohol burner that is lightweight, efficient and is better than canister stoves because it has NO MOVING PARTS to wear out!

But building this item will be the topic of another day. At this printing, I am assuming that you already have one of these wonderful creations, and NOW...you want to know how to use it.

Read on...

First, determine which TYPE of burner you have.

This is a Type A...notice the burner-holes are facing outwards.

This model will allow you to rest your cooking vessel DIRECTLY atop of the burner.

This is a Type B...notice that the burner-holes are facing upwards.

This model of burner requires some sort of external support for your cooking vessel.There are many plans for Pot-Stands available on the Internet. Choose one that best fits your backpack and requirements!

To use, first obtain a 4" foil pie-pan as shown.

Place burner in pie-pan. The pie pan will help to reflect the heat towards your cooking vessel, as well as towards the stove itself, in order to vaporize the fuel within.

Carefully add about 1 oz. of Methyl Hydrate or Denatured Alcohol directly into the burner. At this point I might also spill a few drops into the pie pan to help boost the vaporization rate.

Isopropyl (rubbing) Alcohol will work, but contains more water, therefore the flame will not be as hot.

Light the alcohol. Any fuel in the pie pan should be ignited at the same time as well.

Be careful when using this applicance outdoors, the purer the alcohol the more INVISIBLE the flame becomes! The room was made DARK in order to take these pictures; under regular lighting (with FLASH assist) the flames were NOT visible in the finished photo.

This is how it should look shortly after ignition.

As the heat from the flame begins to heat the burner itself, the fuel within the burner is vaporized and all the burner ports should be lit as well. This is where the use of the pie-pan becomes obvious.

This burner WILL function without the pie pan, but will take much longer to stabilize and therefore will waste more fuel, not a good idea considering that the weight of the pie-pan is nominal when compared to the weight of the extra fuel you would require.

When burner-flames are well established, you can rest your pot DIRECTLY atop of this Type A burner...it will support UP TO ten pounds (one gallon) of weight. Note that you SHOULD use some sort of Windscreen with this (and all other) alcohol burner(s).

Now, depending upon the altitude, water temperature and other variables, you should be able to boil a half-liter of water within 6 to 7 minutes. The last burner I tested (complete with windscreen) boiled at Four and a half minutes.

Both models are equally efficient (to within a few percent) and both have their own pro's and con's. The Type B style will "simmer" better, simply by covering a few of the burner-holes with a piece of foil or tin can. The Type A will NOT function properly if its burner-holes are plugged or covered...but unlike the other it doesn't require a pot stand!

I hope you enjoy it!

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This is a Type A...notice the burner-holes are facing outwards. This model will allow you to rest your cooking vessel DIRECTLY atop of the burner.
This is a Type B...notice that the burner-holes are facing upwards. This model of burner requires some sort of external support for your cooking vessel.There are many plans for Pot-Stands available on the Internet. Choose one that best fits your backpack and requirements!
To use, first obtain a 4" foil pie-pan as shown.
Place burner in pie-pan. The pie pan will help to reflect the heat towards your cooking vessel, as well as towards the stove itself, in order to vaporize the fuel within.
Carefully add about 1 oz. of Methyl Hydrate or Denatured Alcohol directly into the burner. At this point I might also spill a few drops into the pie pan to help boost the vaporization rate. Isopropyl (rubbing) Alcohol will work, but contains more water, therefore the flame will not be as hot.
Light the alcohol. Any fuel in the pie pan should be ignited at the same time as well.
Be careful when using this applicance outdoors, the purer the alcohol the more INVISIBLE the flame becomes! The room was made DARK in order to take these pictures; under regular lighting (with FLASH assist) the flames were NOT visible in the finished photo. This is how it should look shortly after ignition.
As the heat from the flame begins to heat the burner itself, the fuel within the burner is vaporized and all the burner ports should be lit as well. This is where the use of the pie-pan becomes obvious. This burner WILL function without the pie pan, but will take much longer to stabilize and therefore will waste more fuel, not a good idea considering that the weight of the pie-pan is nominal when compared to the weight of the extra fuel you would require.
When burner-flames are well established, you can rest your pot DIRECTLY atop of this Type A burner...it will support UP TO ten pounds (one gallon) of weight. Note that you SHOULD use some sort of Windscreen with this (and all other) alcohol burner(s).