Homemade sterno can?

[Rick]

You can add 10% water to your alcohol to cut down on soot. Alcohol does like to soot things up.

[Sourdough]

You can add 10% water to your alcohol to cut down on soot. Alcohol does like to soot things up.

Alcohol with water back, please, bartender

[srtmedic]

i to have been experimenting with various fuels to use in a survival pack type stove. my latest has been using the french cook stove and germ-x hand sanitizer which is 63% gelled alcohol.

http://www.omahas.com/product_info.p...3rvp3ehejtgf74 this is what the stove looks like. i found with this stove, i can pour in 1.5 ounces of germ-x and get a very bluish flame going which only lasts about 6 minutes. no quite long enough to boil water and i was trying to boil 2 cups during these test. did get the water very hot however.

alcohol is my main fuel source and it is of the rubbing alcohol that can be found anywhere (70%-90%). the next thing i would like to do is to turn this alcohol into a gel kinda like sterno. i do have sterno and have found that the sterno name brand folding stove places the flame further away from the pot or pan that your using.

i know the gelled alcohol that the military was using in those murphy saying pouches burn very well with these french stoves lasting about 12 minutes, but not getting the water hot enough to boil water.

[paracordist]

how about a buddy burner? rolled cardboard in the can, then wax filled?

[kyratshooter]

Really Crash? just like that pour alcohol into the can and light? Will 70% percent work? Do I need a wick? Sorry for the stupid questions , I am really new at this. Where can I learn about esbit stoves? Thank You so much!!

Rubbing alcahol, Denatured alcahol(paint thinner), Gas additive or Fuel treatment will all work.

The one that everyone misses is HAND SANITIZER. It is closer to sterno than anything else.

Only the rubbing alcahol makes soot, the other forms burn clean.

A tuna can with holes punched around the edge, a couple of squirts of hand sanitizer and the bennie-weinees are warm.

1/4" in the bottom of the can will boil a liter of water in about 3 minutes.

A squirt of sanitizer on a cotton ball or piece of tissue will fire up with even a weak spark from a battery or flit striker.

Remember that alcahol burns with no flame. In the dark you will see a glow but in daylight there will be no indication of burning except for the heat.

[Rick]

Sterno is not designed to boil water. It is designed to maintain a constant safe temperature to keep food warm. Depending on the product you buy that's between 175°F and 195°F. Foods have to be kept above 140°F or bacteria will begin to develop.

If I'm going to carry a stove and fuel then I want it to be something I can actually boil water with. That gives me another option to sterilize water if I need it. Since your design is for a survival pack that might be something to take into consideration.

[JPGreco]

You can use a sterno can to pasterize water though. It will bring the water to a temp that will kill most common bacteria (above 150 degrees). Though I agree. If I was worried about temporary cooking I would keep something like a coleman cooker around and some propane. A large propane bottle for a grill would suffice or a few of the small ones for the camper grills. That or a regular grill and some charcoal (though I know thats more outdoors). I wouldn't be averse to using a small propane grill inside by an open window. I'm not sure about the tablets that you can buy, but I would want to be able to control it as much as possible, which I can with propane.