Picked this up off eBay a few days ago. It was sold as a "heat polymerize pot" which sounds like a translation gone wrong from a mainland China seller. But what you actually get is a 1.2L anodized aluminium pot with fry pan / lid. The actual product is called an "Energizer 3". A "2 PCS Hard Anodized Camping Cookset." A few things first -- one was that it was sold as a 1.4L pot. It's not. It realistically holds about 1.2L and that's up to the brim. The pot itself is inscribed with a 1.2L mark on the inside, but that is not in fact 1.2L. That mark is actually a 1L mark. I measured. Second, there is no additional non-stick coating. Only anodized metal in the bottom. Third, it is sold as coming in a small mesh net stuff sack. That is also not the case. It comes in a rather gaudy nylon zipper bag (pictured.) The Buy it Now price was USD $34 with free shipping. I did a best offer for about $30.50 and that was net of shipping. Not a bad deal, not a stellar deal, but all in all pretty good bit of kit. I've cooked a few eggs in the pan (worked okay.) Made some noodles in the pot (okay if you stir it). Fried up some french fries in hot oil (yum). Without any quantitative way to determine the additional efficiency of the pot and heat exchanger, all I can say is that it *seems* to work better than none at all. I noticed much less hot air passing up the sides of the pot compared to a different camping pot. As I mentioned in a forum post, there is a bit of hydrocarbon stink when using this pot. It seems to interrupt the airflow somewhat so you will want to turn the stove down a bit when using it. This is what the poorly translated instructions suggest as well. Build quality seems to be pretty decent for a made-in-China product. The Alocs.cn website says they manufacture major label products for other camping companies, and judging by their product line up, you can see they do decent work. You will note the ice cold beer sitting in one of the pots. The beer was not included. It's a 12 oz beer I plopped in the pot for some size reference. I'd recommend it. If you could get it for $28-$30 shipped, that's a good deal for a nice, wide-bottom heat exchanger pot.
Seems like a good deal. The stink thing is interesting. If I may, how does it sit on the stove you are using? Meaning, is the pot bottom sitting higher than a traditional pot or do the fins fit over the pot supports? edit: I going to go find a beer.
The radiator part of the pot rests on the supports so the pot bottom sits about 3/4" higher than the supports. It has something do to with the airflow in and around the flame. If I hold a torch lighter to the flame, the smell disappears. The unlit gasses travel higher up from the burner prior to igniting when the pot is in place. It seems like there is not sufficient air flow and the flame is too rich to support combustion completely. As one reply noted, the smell disappears once the pot heats up. I'm using it on an Omnifuel, the more recent iteration with the smaller aluminium shroud size. Last night, I tried the pot on a Coleman 425E and noticed none of this. That stove has a silent type burner along with a grate. In this case, there is quite a gap between the burner and grate, and even greater gap between burner and pot bottom. I have a small Peak 1 Micro butane stove that I will try it on once I get some more fuel.
Thanks for that info. It is an interesting observation and reinforces the fact that combustion is more complicated than meets the eye. I'd like to suggest an alternative, but related explanation, to the restricted air flow idea based on some of the info you have provided. Since the role of the exchanger fins is to transfer heat, they may be so efficient at this that they cool the fame before the combustion process is complete thus releasing some unburned hydrocarbons. A cold pot and high flame would accentuate this effect. If so, as you appear to have already discovered, starting the pot on a lower flame and then turning it up after a short time, perhaps only 30s or so, would be predicted to minimize the effect. I need to get my heat exchanger pot out and play with this.
I don't think that fully explains it, though it did smell worse initially. The smell varies depending on the fuel (kerosene is the worst), and I used the pot for about 30 minutes without interruption the other day. So I figure that would cook off any bits left over from production. This was after cleaning with dish soap. It's just something with the fins.
I like this theory. I'd not even considered that at all. Indeed, as the pot contents heat up, the smell is significantly diminished. On a normal pot, there's so much hot air flowing past the sides, I can't even hold my hand next to it. On this, the flow of hot air is greatly reduced.
