Please educate me!Originally Posted by zelph
Mini bic will heat fuel to ignition, once ignited it will heat the stove. In cold/freezing weather it should take no more than 5 seconds. In the case of your eCHS use a light anywhere kitchen match to reach down inside to touch the match to the fuel.
A quote from my website:
Click on it to view a photobucket video
Photobucket has changed their viewing policy for 3rd party so it's not available sorry!
This test was performed at 7:30 AM on that cold cold morning Brrrrrrrrrrrrr it was brutally cold. Check out the wind affect on the flame. The Starlyte loaded with 1 oz. of HEET was in my frigid trunk. We were going to do a photo test first thing but got cancelled because of her car not starting and having to start up mine and do the switcheroos. The butane lighter was in my coat pocket when we left her apartment so it was warm when I lit the burner. The Starlyte burner is a winner
Myth Busted in Minnesota in -13 degree weather :mrgreen:
Last edited by zelph; 07-10-2017 at 09:56.
Thank you, Zelph. Your input is always appreciated.
Snuffing works good, I do it all time.
But a few caveats
The lesser volatile components are left behind mostly
So residue has higher water content, and ethanol if using SLX.
So recovering a consistently high amount might degrade remaining fuel quality. In addition its exposed to air, and methanol is very hygroscopic and will absorb water from air, also degrading it.
Ive seen droplets of condensation on my stove cup when it gets cold from residue vaporizing after snuffing, before I can suck it up.This condendation mixes with residue too.
Last edited by MuddyWaters; 07-10-2017 at 09:29.
I had to edit my previous post. Photobucket has become a pain in the ass. I won't be able to share my videos until such time as I figure out what's up with those folks over there
There is also a thread from 2009 about the starlyte and extreme cold if anyone is interested.
I've found the info on this site useful as well. https://adventuresinstoving.blogspot...gas-stove.html
Plenty of good tactics spelled out already that apply to any stove used.
OH... missing from your original list I think...Presoaking your dehydrated meals with 1/2 the water needed. When it's dinner time you boil up the other half and dump it in to finish off the meal and heat it up.
That's the trick to doing FBC or MH meals with a tiny pot/stove IMO.
Plenty of good advocates for Alchy too... personally I just couldn't get into it.
And regardless of fuel it's hard to argue against a Caldera Cone Ti-Tri sidewinder as a base model... which gives you the wood, alchy, or esbit options. Outside the standard canister stove or jetboil you may need in certain areas I still think that is one of the best stoves and while Zelph could provide more input on what a balanced alchy stove/cone combo is... I feel it's fair to say a CC is critical to perfectly balanced esbit use... While it works in a pinch- just slapping an esbit cube down under some rocks or whatever isn't nearly as efficient on fuel use past a day or two vs the CC stove. The stove pays for itself on carried fuel from a weight perspective is all I'm getting at for those who used esbit in other ways before.
So Esbit advocacy from me...comes mainly from my Midwestern/eastern point of view where wood is available too.
Cons- smell (for some), and the dreaded Gunk. The other big con is stale esbit... picking up a dusty package at an out of the way store without product turnover is a problem. On the flipside if desperate you can pickup some starter log/cheater log type fuel at many such places in a pinch. (works with alchy too if you have a ti-tri and find yourself without Heet).
But on the plus side... unlike any other fuel Esbit doesn't have a container. So there is little to no dry weight so to speak.
It's easy to blow out, and easy to carry (in a film can) partial pieces that are either good for a cup of coffee in the morning or for a firestarter in the evening. Call it two tabs a day for an efficient hot meal plan (light breakfast/coffee (partial tab) and a decent dinner 1-1.5 tabs)). But in reality unless I had a total soak out I could typically get away with 1 to 1.5 tabs per day carried when supplementing with found wood. Also... I could eliminate or greatly reduce any emergency firestarters carried.
So if you're in the 21g per day zone... that's your starting weight. Yes you got a gram or two of wrappers you need to pack out but that carry weight drops each day.
At even two weeks or so you're carrying more than one canister or bottle of alchy fuel so you have a good bit of carry weight in containers that never goes away. There is a magic point somewhere in there that was run down in all the efficiency discussions at BPL and/or here where the alchy or even the double bottle canister can shine depending on the exact days you're out.... regarding the dry weight of the system... but I recall that number being north of 10-14 days or even being cyclical (the sweet spot where the 8 oz full bottle is perfect, but 1.25 bottles is not, but two full is good again). The dry weight of the esbit stove (gram cracker) is negligible... the stove of your choice and bottle to hold alchy is enough to consider it in the dry weight IMO. So your average carry weight over a given period if under 10 days is lightest with Esbit if I recall the results of the previous discussions.
On the gunk buildup... I never noticed as I tended to have a fire every day or three at worst of some sort... so the gunk buildup was a self solving problem in the hybrid system as a whole. If I went pure esbit it would possibly be a bigger issue but in a hybrid system the fire keeps it clean enough for a pot you put in the fire. I like this option too for simmering a pot of tea on an open fire as a nice treat when at camp and visiting with someone or melting snow.
As a final con though- some folks just don't like fires. Alchy stoves are clean burning and easy to use on a picnic table or shelter floor whereas you might get some ugly words or disgruntled companions if you're esbit cooking in a shelter. If I'm in no open fire or crowded environments I just prefer the old canister stove.
For me... the hybrid esbit system let me carry 21g of fuel per day.
True- you could supplement any system with open fire. And the Ti-tri still burns wood regardless of packing an alchy or an esbit. But alchy fuel as a firestarter on a rough day is a looser compared to esbit which shines.
Finally- it's not such an anal system to me... so while you can implement many strategies overall. In actual practice I feel the esbit is pretty casual to use compared to the alchy stove. I don't really have to carefully measure ml of fuel or recover it... nor prime or be hyper aware of wind. If it's nice I have the fire I was going to have anyway, if it just rained I have a good firestarter for damp wood handy and if it's really crappy or I just want a cup of hot coffee then I can easily do that.
It fits my style very well. It fits some areas very well but not all.
This looks mildly neat... BPL member designed/requested and about 3 ounces all in... though I'll stick with my 600ml pot most likely if I ever leave the sewing machine.
https://www.traildesigns.com/stoves/...-ti-tri-bundle
I get a lot of gas build up hiking . If I could just store it I wouldn't need any other fuel :0)Thom
I sent a copy of the video over to youtube:
Takes place in frigid Minnesota. The door locking latch froze up, grease solidified I suspect. The Starlyte performed well, latch was thawed :-)
P.S. Look how windy it is and the burner remains lit for the most part
I would think most know not to throw away water that used for presoaking as it contains vitamins and nutrients but you never know. I'm glad you mentioned it.
Pasteurize your water, save 50% of fuel usage. Create menus based on something less than boiled water.
http://solarcooking.wikia.com/wiki/Water_pasteurization
ZWAPI.JPGThe chart below indicates the temperatures at which the most common waterborne pathogens are rapidly killed, thus resulting in at least 90 percent of the microbes becoming inactivated in one minute at the given temperature. (The 90 percent reduction is an indicator frequently used to express the heat sensitivity of various microbes.) Thus, five minutes at this temperature would cause at least a 99.999 percent (5 log) reduction in viable microbes capable of causing disease.
Using a cone and Starlyte Burner is the best all around way to use as an alcohol set-up.Plenty of good advocates for Alchy too... personally I just couldn't get into it.
And regardless of fuel it's hard to argue against a Caldera Cone Ti-Tri sidewinder as a base model... which gives you the wood, alchy, or esbit options. Outside the standard canister stove or jetboil you may need in certain areas I still think that is one of the best stoves and while Zelph could provide more input on what a balanced alchy stove/cone combo is... I feel it's fair to say a CC is critical to perfectly balanced esbit use... While it works in a pinch- just slapping an esbit cube down under some rocks or whatever isn't nearly as efficient on fuel use past a day or two vs the CC stove. The stove pays for itself on carried fuel from a weight perspective is all I'm getting at for those who used esbit in other ways before.
Last edited by zelph; 08-17-2017 at 17:46.
One thing that can made a difference is if you use purified water you don't need to boil it, just get it to the temperature you want. Then again if you want to boil it then use unpurified water.
I think that heating fuel thing is from canisters - got carried over to alky where benefit would be difficult to determine
Love the fuel efficiency of the Trail Designs cones.
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