Portable stoves question?

[DutchOvenKing]

You might want to look at the Volcano stove. They can use Charcoal, wood or Propane. (propane is optional) Besides they are giving away free one this first quarter.

Edited January 17, 2009 by DutchOvenKing
I needed to add a few details. my bad.

[GingerGolden]

Well, if it comes right down to working with what you have, I've seen folks use cinder blocks on either side of a self built fire pit with an old stove rack sitting on top of it.

Works well by the river or just outside the house when you have no other way to cook.

Remember that pine lighter knots are the zoom it up wood for fuel (I believe they call this soft wood {cedar wood would work the same I suppose when you want to get a fire going}) and other is hard wood, like oak, pecan and such.

[or maybe I have the hard and soft wood mixed up, anyway an old fashioned outdoor campfire works wonders when it's all you got!]

However, you would have to practice fire safety and know how to start a fire, unless you had a handy dandy lighter or strike anywhere matches.

Edited April 3, 2009 by GingerGolden

[prospectmom]

We used our generator... electric skillet as well as sterno...( I love it) when our power was out for 5 days and we used out fire pit which was ( we moved) set up for cooking... Kept water hot on it ... for cocoa etc and also made the neighbors happy with a camp pot of coffee...... Sterno is cheap and stores well.

[hankpac]

I recently picked up a brass device for filling your own propane canisters. It has one end for attaching to a 5 gal propane tank, and the other to attach the smaller canister: once both are hooked up, flip the 5 gal tank over, so the smaller one is on the bottom, them open the valve. wait until filled. shut off the valve, then flip it over again, and remove, attach next one and repeat.

However, aside from having a few prefilled canisters, I prefer to have several 5 gallon tanks, and on my travel trailer (my REAL 72 hour kit) I have two ten gallon tanks, and a spare 10 gallon tank. On one of the premounted tanks, I replaced the hose with a 5 foot hose, so I can hook up the spare, without lifting it up to the frame. It sits on the ground, and I can remove the empties, and take them in without moving the trailer.

for the barbecue and lights, I have adapter hoses, and connectors. Just have to shop around a bit, find what you need. Heck even Walmart has an adapter tree to run the stove, lantern, and etc from one tank.

Finally, they have come out with a free-standing kitchen range for camping: runs on propane, has 3 burners, and an oven. You can set it on the ground, or on the camp table. Pretty cool! Most outdoor suppliers have them. Corn Bread!

[Jenamarie]

Has anybody used the butane stoves? DH and I have been looking into these, since they can be used indoors, unlike propane. Does butane store well? And do they cook at a hot enough temperature?

[cofchristcousin]

Have you seen these alcohol stoves made from soda pop cans? I think some of them are as efficient as the trianga. Zen and the Art of the Alcohol Stove

Here is a setup I made a month or so ago, just for fun. I have lots of time on my hands I can boil 2 cups of water in the big can using 4 oz of the alcohol in the stove in 5 minutes.

http://photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs017.snc1/2638_65994391235_789296235_1544203_66233_n.jpg

[EandLDOW]

We have and use the Trangia alcohol stoves. they are great and light weight. Alcohol stores for a very long time, and you can get it in metal cans at the Ace, Lowes, or other hardware store in the paint section. Propane does not go bad in storage but gasoline does. Car gas goes bad relatively quickly, but Coleman fuel, white gas, lasts much longer. Propane works great, but in very cold weather it may not vaporize properly whereas white gas will work well at any altitude or temperature. Alcohol works pretty well at any temperature or altitude, also, but not as well as white gas. You can get an adapter to convert a Coleman white gas camp stove to propane use, but nothing is available to convert a propane stove to white gas. The chemical pellet stoves work for heating a little water, but don't put out enough heat for long enough to really cook up a meal.

Any fueled stove will eventually run out of fuel. For long term use, investigate woodburning stoves. There are a variety of "hobo stove" plans available on the net, one of the best is Nimblewill Nomad's Little Dandy stove, nimblewillnomad.com, and also check out rocketstoves.org for really good info. These stoves are usually made from a #10 can, or just scraps of sheet metal. There are also a variety of larger folding or otherwise packable wood stoves for hunting camps, sheepherders, etc. that can be purchased or built from small steel drums or barrels and some stove pipe and steel plate.

Hope that helps.

[pitcher]

Consider kerosene stoves, it stores well and burns reasonably clean. It gives off carbon dioxcide instead of carbon monoxcide so it is much safer to use inside a building. They are widely used in third world countries. The butterfly stove is a good example. Do a google seach to find it.

[pitcher]

I recently ran across a new book Emergency Preparedness the Right Way that cover a improvised and emergency cooking quite well. It is on Amazon

[pam]

Consider kerosene stoves, it stores well and burns reasonably clean. It gives off carbon dioxcide instead of carbon monoxcide so it is much safer to use inside a building. They are widely used in third world countries. The butterfly stove is a good example. Do a google seach to find it.

I had to google to find out what a butterfly stove is. Actually I have seen them before just didn't recognize the name used for them.

Here is a link for those that want to see what one is. Sounds like a good thing to have for emergencies. Especially if you must cook indoors.

Butterfly Brand Kerosene Stoves, Lanterns and Oven - StPaulMercantile.com

[OregonDuck]

You might want to check out a biomass stove. You can use wood, charcoal, or grass as a fuel source. I got one for about $40.00 at StoveTec Portal to Appropriate Technology. I've used it camping and it's great!

[dazed-and-confused]

Thanks for all the great tips. right now all i have is a small propane with small bottles, about 10 bottles as of today. always good to have different kinds of back-ups. i specially liked reading about the stove-tec stoves, thanks, oregon-duck.

[antsyl]

I have one of these Welcome to the Spenton LLC Products Site. Very nice and doesnt take up much room. Works

with anything you can find. No smoke. Heats up fast, light weight. AND less filling... in your pack I mean.

[EandLDOW]

If you want long-term fuel storage, get a ton or two of good coal and bury it in the yard. Get an airtight stove that burns both wood and coal. You'll be set for years.

Propane does not "rot" like gasoline, even white gas or Coleman fuel, and diesel does. Tanks can be underground and left filled for years until needed.

Just a thought.

[California_Dreaming]

I break this down into different categories for specific purposes.

50 Gallon drum BBQ. (not really 50 gallons):

A couple of years ago I gave my son a barrel BBQ for his birthday and he like it so much I bought one for myself. At that time it was made by New Braunsfel. The company has since been purchased by charbroil. Last I saw they were available at Home Depot. It can be used as a Grill (direct cooking), as a BBQ used for indirect longer cooking or as a smoker. Each "barrel has a grate to suspend coals and a cooking grill. Having used it for years now, the only negitive that I can say is that there is no way to raise or lower the grill over the coals. It has a large grill area and the smoker box on the side can be used as a smaller grill when only cooking a small amount. Here's the url to see it.

Char-Broil | Silver Smoker, BBQ, and Grill

Storing Charcoal.

I have a swimming pool and the clorine comes in large buckets. After empting I rince them out in the pool (that gets any powder out of the bucket and then I rinse with the garden hose and let dry (I do this a couple of times). You must remember that these are not food grade buckets. The charcoal has never picked up any of the clorine smell. Each bucket holds 20 pounds of charcoal. I store outside and with the lids they are weather tight. Here in California we BBQ year round and I keep a years supply of charcoal in the buckets. To light the charcoal I use a cone starter. I don't like to keep Charcoal starter around the house because of the potential of fire. When using the cone starter you can simply wad up news paper under the cone or use a very small piece of the sawdust and wax fire starter (don't use the entire brick like the instructions tell you to, you only need a little piece.

Rocket Stoves:

I belong to and international service club and years ago we provided rocket stoves to third world countries. I wasn't able to find information on it, but when researching I came across a "youtube video" of a project to build them at home.

Buddy burners:

For back up in case of power outages at my cabin, I keep Buddy Burners and a buddy burner stove made brom a #10 can. These are not "an everything stove", but they will heat up food. Track down any Boy Scout or Scoutmaster and they can show you how to make them.

I'm still looking around for a small light weight cooking apparatus for my 72 hour kit or "bug out bag".

Any suggestions?

[EandLDOW]

A small lightweight cooking apparatus with an almost unlimited fuel supply? Look at the Little Dandy stove on Nimblewill Nomad's website, Nimblewill Nomad Home Page. It's a small stove made of sheet metal that quickly and easily assembles/disassembles and is very compact and light weight, and burn a very small amount of wood.

There are a variety of home-made stove designs available. Check out rocketstoves.org and wings.interfree.it for example.

[Hemidakota]

I now have a generator for those moments of not having electricity at all. Costco locally has made a large purchase of portable but powerful generators. Now, is it safe to store fuel? Yes! If it is in a cool, dry. and stored in appropriate fuel cans. My next move is tall version of a wind mill and a solar panel.

Mini stoves are ok but I would use the ones that are sold by your local Desert Book/Scout Stores.