Product Review: Esbit Stove and Fuel
Today, I received my Esbit small and large stove along with 30 fuel tabs. These are all actual Esbit brand made in Germany. Not any of the knock offs or milsurp variants. This whole purchase came about after discovering a milsurp variant I previously had was found rusted. Here is a link to that thread.
http://www.wilderness-survival.net/f...ighlight=esbit
I have looked over both the small and large stoves. Both seem to be sturdier than my previous milsurp. The metal is electrolytic galvanized steel. Not sure how that differs from other galvanized steel, but it does seem sturdy and can tell that rust is not in the near future. I have not used the large stove yet, but I did do a run with the small stove. I place a canteen cup with two cups of water on it and burned one fuel tab. This was done indoors on my range without any issues since it is non-toxic and smoke free. Indoor temp was about 72*F and wind was not a factor. The water lightly bubbled at the 8 minute mark and using a meat thermometer, the temp was 205*F. The temp stayed the same until the 11 minute mark when the fuel tab started to die down and the temp slowly started to decrease. The fuel tab completely burned out at the 13 minute mark and the water never came to a rolling boil. Only the light bubble. Either case, water would be purified and food would be cooked. I am sure if two tabs were used simultaneously a rolling boil would be achieved. I was impressed with the zero smoke and that the stove was relatively okay to touch five minutes after fuel died. Also, the stove was okay to quickly touch during the height of the burn. I was also impressed with the amount of soot on the bottom of the cup which was about the size of an old Eisenhower dollar coin and washed off with little effort.
All in all, I good purchase. Both stoves and fuel were about $35 dollars and worth it so far. I will update this with more info as I play with them more.
Fuel comparisons by BTU/weight
Natetot your comparison of Esbit to denatured alcohol fuel was helpful. For many years, many people have criticized alcohol as being an excessively bulky fuel for anything more than a short weekend trip due to a low BTU content per volume and weight.
Ethanol, (ethyl alcohol), contains approximately 11,570 - 12,500 BTU of heat per pound
Methanol, (methyl alcohol), contains 8400 - 10,000 BTU of heat per pound
White gas contains approximately 18,000 - 20,000 BTU per pound
Propane, Butane or Isobutane 19,000 - 25,000 BTU/pound not including pressurized vessel.
Various solid fuels like Esbit ( Hexamethylenetetramine) approx 13,300 BTU of heat per pound
These fuels often contain many different impurities depending on who made them and which batch, how old, moisture content, country of origin etc so the exact BTU can vary by a lot.
Being a scientist I was trained to start with theory, make a hypothesis then design an experiment to test it. Then base my practical field work around that.
So it would be interesting to cut a Coghlan's tablet and weigh to get about the same mass and size as one from Esbit then boil about the same amount of water. See which is more efficient. Several local stores sell 24 of the small tablets for only $3, so price is fairly low. It is also easier to use this to start a wood (biomass) fire with than alcohol or even with many liquid fuels like white gas, naphtha or kerosene. Probably possible to make your own solid fuel tablets but I have never tried. These from Coghlan's, StanSport and Weber are very cheap.
One of several sources of basic scientific information that may NOT be accurate:
http://zenstoves.net/Fuels.htm#Solid
Edit: an advantage of alcohol and these solid fuels over propane or isobutane is that they do better at very cold temperatures. White gas as well but it requires a more complicated stove so some people (myself) prefer it for longer trips.
Soot can be good, problems with alcohol/open fuel in general
Quote:
Originally Posted by
natertot
91 percent Isopropyl is the same price point as denatured and times and temps are similar. Extremely high soot, really offensive smell and having to use in an "open" chamfer style stove increasing the chances for out of control fire set this as the last means necessary.
I still want to experiment with HEET and off brand variants as well as some other liquid fuels. I also want to do a run with Coghlan's fuel tabs. I will post more info as I play.
Back in the 1970's when I was a kid, cheap open burner alcohol stoves with "rubbing alcohol" 91% if we were lucky was all we had most of the time. And a metal food can as a pot. Surprising that my friends and I have not died of cancer by now. By punching holes in the upper sides of a tuna/pet food can a person can make a "stove" that requires no additional pot stand since the flames come out of these side holes and the "pot" sits on top. Then whatever fuel (hand sanitizer mixed with sand, Benghazi burner/cooker or rubbing alcohol etc or petrol/diesel fuel mixed with sand or whatever cooks food in metal food can clay pot or whatever, these methods are crazy. One of my friends was severely burned and spent months recovering and his legs have massive scars 40 years later. So don't be an idiot!) But if in a difficult survivor situation think outside the box.
Also some soot can actually improve the efficiency of an aluminum/metal pot when used with wood/biomass therefore may not be all that bad just a nuisance when packing up due to low quality alcohols (Isopropyl).
Some park rangers during burn ban do not like open alcohol stoves because they can spill and the flame is transparent in daylight. My mother put out a fire in a guest's room when some British folks were using one to heat up water for their afternoon tea. She was like "just ask the maid to heat some water in the kitchen and don't burn down my house, thank you very much!!!" She has a low tolerance for foolishness.
