Question on alcohol stove in Swedish mess kit...

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x39

Joined
Dec 27, 1999
Messages
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How much alcohol does one put in one of these? What is the proper level of fluid?
 
I fill mine so that the fluid level is about even with the top of the main body of the burner.
 
I usually use 1oz. to 1 1/2 oz. of denatured alcohol or heat gas line anti freeze (yellow bottle) to bring a US GI canteen cup of water to a rolling boil burn time of fuel and time to boil will vary with outside air temp and whether or not you use the wind screen. military trangia (svea) stove will hold more fuel testing will determin burn times for fuel used testing will also tell you how long you need to keep it burning for each item you are heating
 
x39 said:
How much alcohol does one put in one of these? What is the proper level of fluid?
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Hi x39. I do use this style of stove alot, it works great in arizona. Most of arizona is lower than other states, so alcohol works great most of the time and year. I use rubbing alcohol 70% or 91% from Drug stores, and yes it works on the other alcohols talked about on the upper part of this post. Its easy, just add until its level. Than light, you may need to hold the match a little longer to get it burning good, after it starts, just let it heat up for about 4 mins or so until it starts to burning blue in the fire ports, just like a gas stove at home. I have 4 swedish army style and one camping style tranaia #25 with add ons, one of the army style stoves is made of stanless steel, all the others are not steel. The steel one is just more pounds than i like for backpacking, but great for the car camp. Just wanted to tell you, it is a good stove for the money, but not my only stove, i have like 15 others for the style of camping and backpacking im doing that day or week. Your friend at the post, Donald S.
 
Thanks again Donald and Mike (very interesting link). I'm using denatured alcohol. I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly this little rig boiled water. I've been working up a few quick and easy dishes around this stove's parameters. Best one so far, fried Spam with instant pork gravy, instant mashed potatoes. and canned peas, The spam is cut into chunks and browned in the smaller pot, then set aside. Then the mashed potatoes are prepared in the larger pot. When they are done I dump the can of peas (drained) into them and mix them in, which heats them. I then make the gravy in the small pot, dump the Spam back in and dinner is served. By virtue of the canned goods, not a super light backpacker's meal, but weight wasn't as big a consideration for me.
 
I take a 35mm film canister (and if anyone doesn't know what that is...) and trim it so it is flush in the fuel well. Fill that to just shy of being full, say an 1/8th of an inch down. One shot for heating water, and shot and half to two for actual cooking.
 
Isopropyl burns dirty, leaving messy soot on your pot. This black stuff quickly transfers itself all over the place, getting all over your clothese and stuff.

Use Methanol or Ethanol instead.
 
MIKE MACINTOSH said:
Hey guy's
I dont want to start a war but I dont recomend isopropyl alcohol for these stoves, while it will work if nothing else is available it burns with an oily black soot that gets on your pot's and winds up on every thing in your pack and it's a PITA to get off
http://zenstoves.net/HowToUse.htm#Howtouse Check out FAQ at bottom of page
http://zenstoves.net/Stoves.htm#Fuels
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Hi Mike, you are so right, it burns black on the pots and pans. But i still use it from time to time, the only reason i do, is i can buy it two for one dollar, in the stores in phoenix arizona. And most of the time, i can buy 91%. I know its not the best stuff to burn, but, hay its a good deal for a car camping trip. But if i had to say to a friend what to buy, i may say denatured alcohol and not isopropyl alcohol. The reason is, denatured is what is used on most boats and some ships with a small kitchen. Any way, thank you all for you ear. Your friend at the post Donald S.
 
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