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Thread: Sterno Inferno,

  1. #1
    Some days, it's not worth chewing through the restraints.
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    Default Sterno Inferno,

    It may have been covered here before, but sometimes you rediscover stuff, and I’ve rediscovered the Sterno Inferno. It’s a stove stand/windscreen/pot setup meant to be used with Sterno, but works great with any alcohol stove. It’s a jetboil for your cat can stove.

    The set comes with a stand, windscreen, snuffer, pot, and lid. Keep the windscreen and pot and toss the rest. What you’ll have left is a pot and very effective windscreen/stand weighing 6.1 ounces, just an ounce heavier than my titanium pot and homemade stand. The pot has a built-in Jetboil-style heat exchanger.

    With my Evernew titanium stove (any alcohol stove should do fine) and an ounce of yellow heet, I can boil 2 cups of water in 3 ½ minutes. I’ve tried it several times indoors and in the field, and that varies only a few seconds either side of 3:30. If I use the heat exchanger pot alone with my canister stove, it cuts the time to just 2 minutes!

    The pot handles are silicone-covered, no burnt fingers!

    It does have a few design flaws, the worst is that when heated, the pot, stand and lid all expand at different rates and will stick together. I tossed the heavy lid (I replaced it with aluminum foil) and ground the pot stand a bit to allow the pot to be lifted off without sticking.

    With my titanium mug (I could go without the mug, but I like to have my coffee and breakfast at the same time) and it’s cozy wrapper, the whole setup nests with the stove, a paper towel and lighter and weighs 11 ounces total. It’s my new go-to trail kitchen. Less than thirty bucks.
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    I have a similar diy version like this but bigger. I get similar performance. From the pic it seems the pot has a 16 oz capacity which is pretty small for what I do.

    What I have is an Olicamp xts pot. It too has a heat exchanger and silicon handles, but hold 1 liter and annodized. Obviously a bit heavier but bombproof. I use a homemade eCHS alcohol stove made from a mini aluminum juice can. The diy pot screen/ holder is a cylinder of aluminum flashing. Like the inferno, I punched air intake holes around the bottom. The pot sets on top and the heat goes up through the heat exchanger fins. I like the power, efficiency, and ease of use. I put food and water in the pot, boil, transfer to diy pot cozy, let set, eat. I will not wish the pot was a little smaller.

  3. #3
    Some days, it's not worth chewing through the restraints.
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    Yup, the pot is only 16 oz. Workable for me, but just.

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    Heck, you could use esbit or set over some coals with this thing as well. Multi purpose.

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    A cautionary tale - Hiram Cook points out it may not be suitable for anything but Sterno



    Granted, this is a Trangia, but he has other videos with a couple types of FF stoves ... and in those, he's not using the windscreen. He's only using the pot.

  6. #6

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    HMMM,wondering if my all time favorite,Starlyte stove,or the Starlyte XL would be a good match for this set up?

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    Quote Originally Posted by Five Tango View Post
    HMMM,wondering if my all time favorite,Starlyte stove,or the Starlyte XL would be a good match for this set up?
    The StarlyteXL3 is a perfect match for the Sterno Inferno. http://www.woodgaz-stove.com/starlyt...ge-opening.php

    Bob Moulder's GrooveStove is another great match:

    Groove_Stove.jpg

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    This is what the Sterno Inferno looks like next to an XL3 burner:

    sterno inferno.jpeg

    A cautionary tale - Hiram Cook points out it may not be suitable for anything but Sterno
    Trangias never did like being confined.

  9. #9

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    Does anyone know how many boils one could expect from a 7 oz can of Sterno?

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by Five Tango View Post
    Does anyone know how many boils one could expect from a 7 oz can of Sterno?
    Can't be many when it takes 12:31 to boil 2 cups of water .

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    Quote Originally Posted by Five Tango View Post
    Does anyone know how many boils one could expect from a 7 oz can of Sterno?
    Quote Originally Posted by JNI64 View Post
    Can't be many when it takes 12:31 to boil 2 cups of water .
    Though when you see them on a buffet under the trays of food, they go for a fair length of time, it seems? Not sure if those cans are the same size as referred to here or not, though.

  12. #12

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    I believe there was a reference in some of the Inferno product lit to two canisters giving a 4.5 hour burn time. So perhaps 10 boils of 2 cups at 60* would be a safe guess?

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    [QUOTE=Time Zone;2275914]A cautionary tale - Hiram Cook points out it may not be suitable for anything but Sterno

    There's always the caveat that you're using a product in a way not intended by the manufacturer. I've experienced the "thermal feedback" that Hiram described with other setups, but not with this. I suspect the difference for me was not using the plastic base - that would have put the stove closer to the pot, insulated it from the ground and enclosed it even more. In my trials, the stove was placed directly on the ground, so it was further from the pot, and the ground may have acted as a heat sink, preventing overheating. Also come to think of it, all of my usage has been outside in wet weather with temps in the 40's to low 50's.

  14. #14
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    [QUOTE=Time Zone;2275914]A cautionary tale - Hiram Cook points out it may not be suitable for anything but Sterno

    There's always the caveat that you're using a product in a way not intended by the manufacturer. I've experienced the "thermal feedback" that Hiram described with other setups, but not with this. I suspect the difference for me was not using the plastic base - that would have put the stove closer to the pot, insulated it from the ground and enclosed it even more. In my trials, the stove was placed directly on the ground, so it was further from the pot, and the ground may have acted as a heat sink, preventing overheating. Also come to think of it, all of my usage has been outside in wet weather with temps in the 40's to low 50's.
    <br>

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    Jon at Flat Cat Gear has been playing with them and has some great ideas.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAvEgn_8iEY&t=6s

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgAjMhKr1aE

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    Quote Originally Posted by hikermiker View Post
    Jon at Flat Cat Gear has been playing with them and has some great ideas.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAvEgn_8iEY&t=6s

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgAjMhKr1aE
    Thanks, I just ordered one of those plates for the Fire Maple stove.

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    Today I made an intensifier for my Sterno Inferno pot set-up. Works really nice with gel and denatured alcohol for super fast water boils for early morning fast coffee/hot chocolate.


    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRQrHF...ature=emb_logo


    Last edited by zelph; 07-29-2021 at 22:44.

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    Quote Originally Posted by zelph View Post
    Today I made an intensifier for my Sterno Inferno pot set-up. Works really nice with gel and denatured alcohol for super fast water boils for early morning fast coffee/hot chocolate.


    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRQrHF...ature=emb_logo


    That looks pretty intense!! Nuclear fusion like!!

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    It will heat water as fast as some canister stoves. It's made of TITANIUM Fits over round container that has screw on lid. Holds 3 days worth of fuel.

    I will tweek it over the next few days.

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