MYOG - 'Ikkle' 5g and 15gm meths burners

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Stuart

Section Hiker
I like the idea of these not wasting unused fuel, which is my problem using the White Box stove. People seem to use different kinds of filling for them. Any views on the best thing to use?
 
Whiteburn

Whiteburn

Thru Hiker
Quixoticgeek said:
I was having a chat to a friend of mine who's a scout leader about the kit they send their scouts out on the DoE with. They have stopped using meths stoves following someone setting themselves and their tent on fire when they tried to refil the burner when it was still a light. The non visible flame in day light being the issue. They have replaced all of the meths burners in their stores with the trangia gas converter.....J
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The incident in question involved a DofE participant refilling a Trangia burner, when it was still lit, from a 5L meths container. Result was a large flash fire with the person suffering bad burns, no tent was involved; IMO the root cause was deficient training. As a result of the incident the DofE provided guidance to groups that training should be improved & only approved fuel bottles (Trangia type) should be employed, meths stoves weren't 'banned'.

The DofE group I'm engaged with decided to replace their meths burners with gas burners, in common with a lot of other groups (IMO that was driven by our litigation friendly environment). The group doesn't prohibit the use of other stoves types or fuels but the user would have to demonstrate competent operation, other groups may have a differing policy. Incidentally I did observe a flash fire with a gas burner/ Trangia inside a bothy where the operator had their eyebrows/ hair well singed, gas burners aren't 100% fool proof.
 
Big Si

Big Si

Trail Blazer
I was an Explorer scout leader for ten years and we always used trangia stoves on meths. When I first joined the where using Coleman stoves with petrol and the pierced gas canister stoves, these were left over from the Venture scouts, We soon changed that. All types of fuel (well almost) have some down side, all cooking must be done with caution, teaching most of the young adults today this is akin to herding cats, one or two will go in the right direction when pushed but the rest are a law unto themselves.
Si
 
Gazelle

Gazelle

Ultralighter
As a young adult (24 years, and feeling, old) safely using meths am I going in the "right direction" or am I swimming against the tide?
 
Big Si

Big Si

Trail Blazer
Young adult =,14-18 year olds, you sir are an proper adult and are responsible for all your own actions
I would hope any way. I'm 49 arms I've still not got a clue about mine.

Si
 
edh

edh

Thru Hiker
cathyjc said:
I started making these after a comment last year from Ed about having to cook using tea lights in Majorca (?) because he might get his precious Starlyte confiscated by the airline on his way home if he'd used it abroad
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So 'ikkle' I can't find it but when I do it will be off to Mallorca this weekend :cool:
 
Shewie

Shewie

Chief Slackpacker
Staff member
What's the advantage of having carbon felt inside a stove like this? Is it just to avoid spills or does it improve performance/efficiency? I'm guessing it slows down the burn rate rather than just a flash burn?
 
Mole

Mole

Thru Hiker
Dunno about carbon felt in particular. any wadding seems to be good. Zelph and Hedley both use different wadding in their stoves.

certainly, it makes the stove safer and easy to handle. Seems to slow down the burn too. (which is a good thing for fuel efficiency)
 
cathyjc

cathyjc

Thru Hiker
Shewie said:
What's the advantage of having carbon felt inside a stove like this? Is it just to avoid spills or does it improve performance/efficiency? I'm guessing it slows down the burn rate rather than just a flash burn?
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Ask Ed when he gets back ;). - I think the carbon felt must 'regulate'/slow the burn because I've found the efficiency is good, and boil times on the slow side.

NB. After using it now for several trips I must emphasise that it really only is suitable for small (solo??) pots (-or for simmering with bigger pots, say > 1lt).
If I'm on my own, I now only take a couple of 'Ikkle' burners and don't bother with any back-up :biggrin:.

Edit - post crossed with Mole :D
 
edh

edh

Thru Hiker
Christ...now I'll really have to find it :(

Or lie :D

Time means nothing to me in bivvy situations....so if the 'ikkle' can roil 400mls eventually that's good for me.....
 
cathyjc

cathyjc

Thru Hiker
It will boil 400mls on about 15ml. You do need to measure the fuel as it's v. easy to overfill.
 
edh

edh

Thru Hiker
Thanks - I'll have plenty as will only be out for bivvy trips outwith resplendent luxury :redface:

They like a fire in the Balearics :blackeye:
 
Graham

Graham

Thru Hiker
GREY, RAIN....:bored: and :grumpy:.

What's this...? An Ikkle bit of fun. Aw....doesn't it look so Ikkle and sweet - 'It' must be a 'She' but don't be fooled...she may only weigh 4g and be 38mm (w) x 18mm (h) BUT with 15ml of alcohol inside of her she's a proper bloody animal, thin-skinned and a right fiery temper.

Boiled 500ml of cold tap water no bother. What a Gal! :inlove: Thanks for the introduction @cathyjc

20160521_145206.jpg
 
Graham

Graham

Thru Hiker
Ikkle test results for boiling 500ml of cool tap water using: 15ml of Ekofuel bioethanol, Toaks 700ml pot and Trail Designs cone w/ 10mm insulated pad under the Ikkle. Setup gave a flame gap of 25mm.

I've built three versions of the Ikkle with 35mm, 30mm and 15mm openings based on the same tea lighter mould.

20160523_091606.jpg

Results

The first value below is the time to rolling boil in minutes followed by (total burn time). Times are rounded to the nearest half minute:

35mm: 9 (12)
30mm: 9½ (13½)
15mm: n/a (18½)

The 35mm and 30mm produced rolling boils but the 15mm only got to the "Rope of Pearls" stage (~90C) after 13 minutes and held at that until it burned out.

The Ikkles can be crushed/deformed quite easily so I'm going to pack mine in my pot or other hard structure. Their cost, ease of manufacture, fuel efficiency, packability and weight are excellent though.

Looks like the 30mm or 35m will be my go to options for short trips. They'll reduce the wear and tear on my Starlyte, the P&P of which alone would have built me a Giggle of Ikkles :biggrin:
 
J

Jamess

Section Hiker
Does anyone have some carbon felt or other suitable wadding spare? I'd like to give this a try.

Any offers? PM me please.
 
Graham

Graham

Thru Hiker
Whiteburn said:
I've found this stuff to be ideal wick material & cheap as chips.
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Saw that you'd recommended it before on the 12-10 stove thread. For such tiny stoves, is it easy to cut down to size. I need ~18mm depth which was easy to achieve with the carbon felt by cutting and rolling.
 
Whiteburn

Whiteburn

Thru Hiker
Graham said:
Saw that you'd recommended it before on the 12-10 stove thread. For such tiny stoves, is it easy to cut down to size. I need ~18mm depth which was easy to achieve with the carbon felt by cutting and rolling.
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It cuts no problem with a scalpel or old fashioned razor blade, I filled a 20mm high pot by just squashing it down a bit.
 
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