Boonies thread on fuel consumption sparked a bunch of thoughts. And I do use them some (alky stoves, the thoughts are just there like weather), mostly just for the knowledge.
Often hear comments about specific stoves and brands particularly the "best, most efficient" so on. Does anyone do real home comparisons? How fast is fast in comparisons, how efficient? Could some of the claims just be attributed to common sense in use or application.
Questions arose because I wasted some time today with 2 of my test alky stove mules.

After several pots-O-boiled water using,
Alocs al. 1 liter pot and cover
16oz water from tap 70 degrees, garage temp 60
1 oz Sunnyside marine stove fuel

DIY FanceeFeest boiled in 5 1/2 min and kept a boil till 14 min burn out

white can second from left, DIY starlyte boiled in 6 min burnout at 13 min

several different boils with consistently same results.

These figures seem to be in the ranges of the best results I have seen in reviews, reflecting a bunch of designs. Can it be less a difference in style of stove and windscreen, or does the design even make much difference at all?

butthead

PS: Or maybe I'm slipping into "tinkerers dementia"! bh

The only alcohol stove I have any experience with is a Trangia. Once it gets going it vaporizes fuel through a few jets around the rim, kind of like a gasifier stick stove. These designs really crank out the heat. Have never timed getting water to a boil.

I have a home made stick stove that isn't as efficient as the manufactured ones - I now own 2 manufactured models partly because of Boonie's thread. Wondering if this same phenomena is at work with home made vs manufactured alcohol stoves. How do the home made designs operate and perform compared to a Trangia for example?

That is my curiosity! I do not own a manufactured burner just DIY's. Still they seem very competitive. Even the few semi-pressurized alky burners like a penny stove and either side/interior jetted burners. Quit playing with jetted because the FF and Starlyte work so well, yet simpler to make. Another thing I have not proven with DIY's are cone shaped windscreens such as the Caldera Cone, no real measurable advantage to a straight side screen. Good air control and close fit being the optimum in my experiments. I'm thinking it is better to match the pot diameter to the flame front, and enough draft to burn well. I get better results with a 1-2 inch opening using the paneled screens, than closed. Another discovery is that the screen height is better 2/3rds to near the top of the pot.
The fastest boiler I have with the listed Alocs pot is a DIY Starlyte 4 inch diameter about 5 minutes to full boil, pot stand height at 3/4 inch above the burner. Have no idea how long a burn as it can hold several oz of fuel, but 1 oz will normally burn for 9-10 minutes. I use carbon fiber wool mats for the wicking on both FF and Starlyte style burners.

Need to fart with twig stoves some. I think there a cone may be better as the flame front/heat will be concentrated to a more even column.

butthead

PS: The jetted stove on the right in the earlier photo is a SS double wall mug, burns hot, but takes a lot of fuel to heat up for any decent flame bloom (like an ounce and 1/2), it is way too big!. bh

One of the stick stoves I bought- FireBox - is designed to accommodate Trangias as an alternative heat source. In one of their videos they mentioned that the top of the stove where a cook pot/pan sits is exactly the right height to optimize heat delivery from the burner below.

Flame height and shape is the key. I got the feeling that this is a key factor in maximizing efficient use of alcohol stoves. Not sure how they learned the right height but the rest of the stove is well engineered so I would bet they are right.

Below are some links to a couple of reviews of Trail Designs new alcohol stove, as well as a link to the Trail Designs website. They are the makers of the Caldera Cone System; their Ti-Tri 3-fuel systems are what I find most interesting.

Andrew Skurka review

Adventure Alan review

Trail Designs (Caldera Cone) Ti-Tri Systems

It's interesting reading the links and comments from others.

There is also good information at Adventures in Stoving , including a comparative review of the Bush Buddy wood burning stove and the "inferno" wood-burning version of the Ti-Tri system.

It seems that alcohol stove fuel usage varies a lot by design, temperature, and wind, which probably accounts for a lot of those variations. Try those stoves outside on a cool, windy day with cool water, with and without a windscreen and see if you get the same results. That would be interesting, but I am somewhat impressed by those initial results.

Kinda wondering if the title for this thread should be "Alky testing stove"...:-)

Ken, you always amaze me, and I love your input at this site. True gem.