Plumber's stove.

langston302

langston302

Joined
Apr 25, 2007
Messages
990
I saw this on the Zen Stove site...and said WTF i can make that.

so here is what i did,

material.
one 8 oz paint, varnish, or finish can empty and cleaned.
cotton balls or steel wool for filler in the can ( use as much to fill it to the top and pack it moderatly tight, not to tight.
section of sheet metal about the same height of the stove can.
adjustable metal hose clamp (large)
HEET or similar alcohol based item


Building

1.Clean the can thouroghly with paint thinner and fill with the "wick" of your choice. replace lid to stove.
2. fit your sheet metal shield top to the can making sure to leave an opening on the side about 1-2 inches wide so you can light the stove. After getting the fitment and opening set make 4-6 v notches in the top of the shield.
3. fit your hose clamp to the top of the can around the steel shield and tighten down. ( its tough stuff, it can handle some torque so make sure its tight enough to hold your food and cookware)
4. fill with the burning agent of your choice and light it.
5. enjoy your plumbers stove.

I have found my model to burn on one filling of 6 oz of heat for almost 52 minutes. It also brought 16 oz of water to boil in under 4 minutes. I like this design and i like to move the shield down when i am not using it. makes a great back up or even primary light weight cooker for hiking, camping or a BOB. It can be resealed like a paint can so keeping fuel in it is no problem.
remember to keep th lid for storage and flame snufffing.
 

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Wow, thanks for sharing, that thing looks great. Now I have to go and build one :D.

Have you also tried making those little alchohol burners out of coke cans?
 
i just made a wood gas stove i would post pics but my camera is not working i used a bean can and a coffe can and it will boild on liter of water in 9 minutes. Just yesterday i made my coffe and lunch with it and it worked like a charm.
 
Those stoves work great for the winter where you are cooking inside a tent. For summer/spring/fall I have started to use a little wood burner that I made out of a coffee can.
 
So you just leave the lid off and light the whole can?

And the notched sheet metal holds a full 2quart pot of water?

Do you have a link to the original tutorial? I could figure it out from yours, I'm just interested to know more about it.
 
jlouis976 said:
Those stoves work great for the winter where you are cooking inside a tent. For summer/spring/fall I have started to use a little wood burner that I made out of a coffee can.
Click to expand...

You cook inside your tent? Now I know why they make tents fireproof, always wondered how you would catch your tent on fire. Now I know...

Forget fire, what if you spilled a pot of boiling water? You'd get everything soaking wet, and that wouldn't lead to a good nights sleep.
 
stingray4540 said:
So you just leave the lid off and light the whole can?

And the notched sheet metal holds a full 2quart pot of water?

Do you have a link to the original tutorial? I could figure it out from yours, I'm just interested to know more about it.
Click to expand...

hmmm...2qt not sure...would have to try that one but based on current size...no i wouldnt think so

here is the thread

http://www.backpacking.net/makegear.html
 
Thanks for the link.

One more question. Is that steel wool you used? The link says to use cotton balls, but I would think that they would burn up with the alcohol, and the steel wool would be a better choice if it will work.
 
yeah steel wool....i have to make another to see if the cotton burns hotter or longer than the steel wool.
 
Made one of these years ago and it does work rather well.

Used cotton balls(actual cotton ones! not synthetic) and denatured alch for fuel.

Works rather well.
 
thanks for the input.

add: i just boiled 4 cups of water in a coleman exponent pot...took a little over 13 minutes to bring to boil.

the shield held up great
 
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