Alchohol stoves vs. liquid gas stoves

[Mike]

I was into alcohol stoves for awhile - mostly for the novelty, I suppose but I eventually went back to liquid gas stoves. Now, for some reason, I am revisiting the alcohol stoves.

My thinking is that I am winter/snow backpacking and I really need to conserve weight and space. I decided to rely on a hobo wood burning stove with the alcohol stove for back-up.

I have four completely different alcohol stoves. The fastest and most efficient will boil one quart of water in eight minutes with two ounces of alcohol in 10 degree F ambient temperature.

All things considered; efficiency, total weight (stove and fuel) cook control, etc, what are you folks recommending; Alcohol stoves or liquid fuel stoves?

[frank6160]

Re: Alchohol stoves vs. liquid gas stoves

I don't backpack/camp but should I decide to it wouldn't be long distances so I'd use one of my Coleman single burners.

[familycamper]

Re: Alchohol stoves vs. liquid gas stoves

It really depends on which camping I'm doing. For family/ car camping, it's the Camp Chef with a nice bottle of propane. Hike in camping, depending on where, it's either a canister stove, wood fired stove or a campfire if there is no burn ban in place.

[05Kingquad700]

Re: Alchohol stoves vs. liquid gas stoves

My answer is propane or charcoal. Which category would propane fall under?

[Logtec]

Re: Alchohol stoves vs. liquid gas stoves

I have a "Optimus Nova +" white gas stove, great stove for BPing.
Hasn't let me down, small, easy to maint./clean, easy to prime/start(even in the extreme cold)
It's not the lightest stove, but it the most durable carefree stove I've used.
http://www.optimusstoves.com/seen/op...ptimus-nova-1/

[Mike]

Re: Alchohol stoves vs. liquid gas stoves

My answer is propane or charcoal. Which category would propane fall under?

Propane would be bottled gas.

Charcoal is an interesting response. These days, in my neck of the woods, campgrounds are not allowing take-in wood or at least they are trying to prevent it - to prevent the spread of insect pests. I have wondered about using bags of charcoal; is it cost effective as a campfire fuel?

[Logtec]

Re: Alchohol stoves vs. liquid gas stoves

Propane would be bottled gas.

Charcoal is an interesting response. These days, in my neck of the woods, campgrounds are not allowing take-in wood or at least they are trying to prevent it - to prevent the spread of insect pests. I have wondered about using bags of charcoal; is it cost effective as a campfire fuel?

I have never brought charcoal camping, but I have used hot coals from fire in my BBQ or a pit/hole in the ground to cook..
Camp fuel is prob more cost effective due to the fact that you are only burning fuel when it's needed- light fuel to cook, shut it off when done.
Coals take time to light, prep, then cook, when dome they burn out- a lot of wasted heat- But nothing beats the taste of charcoal BBQ.

[ddrinik]

Re: Alchohol stoves vs. liquid gas stoves

Charcoal is an interesting response.

The only time I've use charcoal was this past summer when we had a burn ban. I talked to one of the rangers to see it I could still use my Coleman camp stove for cooking. He said no to the stove, but said I could us charcoal, as long as it was contained to the fire ring, and put out with 10 gallons of water as soon as I was done cooking. So, into town I went to fetch a bag of charcoal.

Dan

[renodesertfox]

Re: Alchohol stoves vs. liquid gas stoves

It would have been nice if more than one selection in the poll could have been used. Most of the time our cooking method while camping has been with our Camp Chef 3 burner stove and detachable oven. Then my wife(who shops way more than I) saw that The Big Gas Grill people had an enclosed oven for baking with two small stove-top burners above. She had to have that! These both attach via hose to our plastic-see-through propane tanks.

But I'm kinda getting off track, we always take charcoal with us camping! For the dinners we have decided to cook in the Dutch-oven style. Like for Sheppard's Pie. Eight or nine briquettes under the 5 quart pot and seven charcoal briquettes on top on the lid. Evenly cooked every time. And like Dan, a ranger told us that during an open fire ban a charcoal fire is permissible as long as it was kept in the fire-ring. I even showed the ranger my Tool-box Grill that had an air-tight lid, that once closed will extinguish any kind of fire inside. But he said as long as I placed it in the fire-ring I would not be cited for having an open fire during a fire ban. Citations are very steep and start off around here at $500.00 and go up from there!

[05Kingquad700]

Re: Alchohol stoves vs. liquid gas stoves

Charcoal is for the dutch oven. Plus during burn ban.

[Mike]

Re: Alchohol stoves vs. liquid gas stoves

Well, I went through some intensive calculations and experimentations this winter to decide what stove/fuel was the most efficient from a packability, weight/time/efficiency/cost standpoint. This test was done in winter conditions where fuel/stoves are under the greatest challenge with the most obvious results.

Here are my conclusions:

Best fuel: Liquid gas - either white gas or unleaded gas (with appropriate stove). Best BTU per volume. Most affordable. Most universally available. Clean burning. Refillable. Alchohol takes too long to cook and takes far too much fuel to be practical to carry. Dollar per CC, Alchohol is at least twice as costly as liquid gas. Bottled gas = carrying around half empty canisters so only good for short/weekend trips. Kerosene - stinky, dirty, difficult to light in challenging conditions.

Best Stove: Coleman single burner liquid fuel with flame adjustment. Models 502, 508, Peak, Exponent models. A bit heavier than other stoves, but when you include fuel bottles, pumps, generators, etc of other stoves, not really that much different. The Coleman stoves have superior reliability, flame adjustment, and fuel efficiency (probably due to better flame adjustment. The Colman flame adjustability allows a greater range of cooking instead of just trying to boil water fast. The Coleman single burner stoves have a simple built-in windscreen instead of the flimsy/tippy/gangly aluminum sheet windscreens used on other stoves.

MSR Whisperlite/Dragonfly and Optimus Nova, and their clones have flare-ups, burn too hot with limited adjustability, noisy, finicky hardware, unstable burner on uneven surface. The Nova has improved flame adjustment, but is loaded with gadgetry and complexity, not to mention that the Optimus Nova with the optional fuel canister (which you can't operate without) costs about as much as a full size kitchen oven/stove (seriously).

Bottle gas stoves were not considered. Non-refillable bottled gas stoves are so wasteful they should be disqualified by any and all serious backpackers. Empty gas bottles being tossed in the wilderness are the modern equivelant of empty cigarette packages - litter without conscience.

Alchohol stoves are too inefficient from time/fuel standpoint (I tested four models of alchohol stoves)

So that is how it stacked up for me over the past three months of testing. Let me know if you have found different results.

[Mike]

Re: Alchohol stoves vs. liquid gas stoves

Hogsnapper, maybe I didn't clarify, but my considerations are for solo backpacking rather than car camping. My conclusions were based on winter backpacking in conditions that were dry, but cold with temps between -10 F to about 26 F.

If car camping, then sure, a big tank of propane will work fine. In fact, when you are car camping, anything is fine.

Like I said, though, for portability, efficiency, time, flame-control,weight, bulk, cost, of the typical stoves and fuels available today, the above are my conclusions.

[Bigdog57]

Re: Alchohol stoves vs. liquid gas stoves

After trying all the entries, I much prefer a small single-burner propane canister stove. Small, light, handy and easy to use. Also safer than others. I also carry a small solid fuel stove as my emergency backup. Just my preferences based on many years camping experience.

[hwc1954]

Re: Alchohol stoves vs. liquid gas stoves

For car camping, a two burner propane stove (big tank) and a Weber charcoal grill. For backpacking, an MSR reactor isopropane canister stove. It has an integrated pot that does one thing: boil water fast and efficiently, even in the wind. The whole thing, including canister, packs into the pot and the whole thing fits in a bear can.





I take it as a backup for car camping.

I don't leave empty canisters in the woods!

[MacGyver]

Re: Alchohol stoves vs. liquid gas stoves

I'm pretty sure I've used every type of stove except alcohol. Right now, and for quite a few years, I've been sold on canister stoves. I'm not much on cooking huge meals, so 2 and 3 burner stoves are just extra luggage for me now. And I didn't much care for the pumping and spills with liquid setups. Wood, which I will go to as a back up, leaves the pots a mess, so I dropped that as well. Canister stoves are just the easiest for me to deal with. Hook up, spark and flame. Done. When the temperature is down to where it won't light without help, I warm the can with my Jon-E handwarmer, which I already have going anyway.