The first new "stove" I've ever bought. I'd been eyeballing kelly kettles, but they're much too heavy to bother with for me. If I was willing to haul that kind of weight around, I'd just take a real stove. This thing is light as a pot! Here she is: and all set up, with the handy-dandy pot stand accessory First thoughts? Construction seems solid, packaging is tidy and nice, it's reasonably small and feels very light. The leash on the silicone stopper is virtually useless, if you pour with the stopper in place, it falls off and ends up in the dirt. Looks nice though. Naturally I could hardly wait to put fire to it. It brought it's 2 cup capacity (roughly 500ml for people who use a reasonable system of measure) to a rolling boil in commendably short order (did not time it) using a surprisingly small quantity of twigs. Neat! Far be it for me to leave anything alone just cause it works, I started trying different fuels. First I tried a penny stove, which worked quite badly in this configuration. The added insulation caused the vaporization to overrun, resulting in extremely quick fuel consumption and no boil from 30ml of fuel. It was even worse with the standard open center beer can stove, here you can see all the wasted fuel, again no boil: So I did what any reasonable person would do, I put the vessel on top of a Svea. More power! But less effective unfortunately. It made a fairly amusing whistle, but the updraft created by the chimney just drew all the heat right out the top! With no sign whatsoever of a boil at the 5 minute mark I discontinued this test. Next I stuck it on one of my homebrew paint can/soup can top lit updraft woodgas stoves: Which worked very well indeed! The chimney seemed to compliment the burner and it ran cleaner and more efficiently than I had seen it work before. I put the kettle on once the flame was well established and it boiled those 2 cups in about 6 minutes with zero fuss. Apart from burning cleaner, it didn't seem to work any better or worse than the provided firebase. In conclusion, this contraption seems to work best as it was designed to be used I'm kicking myself a little for not buying Devin's carbon felt burner, I've read good reviews. I'm going to play around a bit more with alcohol, perhaps I can come up with something that works well with this kettle on my own. I will continue to experiment with it and keep y'all posted
The Missus gave me a 1 liter Kelly Kettle a few years ago for my birthday, it weighs basically nothing and if I remember correctly it boils a liter of water in mere minutes fueled by anything handy one can get to burn. I've used twigs, dry grass, split hardwood branches and lump charcoal. All work splendidly, the grass being a bit labor intensive as it disappears quite quickly necessitating replenishment at a brisk pace. Lump charcoal works very well and lasts a long time. Split hardwood branches, and dry twigs are very good too. I think at the time She bought it the large one cost in the neighborhood of USD$50. I suppose they have gone up since. As it happens, mine has gone walkabout. I suspect it found a happy little corner to hide in. Things do that around Palatial Thugge Manor. Gerry
Never seen one of those before, looks nice. I have an old copper Thermette. It burns assorted trash with an impressive spout of flame and boils a full two liters faster than anything else i have. It's huge...not something to carry without a real need but not heavy. Great for paddling with 3-4 guys because you can have hot water before the hammocks are up and the main fire is even burning. piper
So Devon finally got a bunch of those sent out? I was looking at one a year ago. Not worried now. Duane
Thug, the small aluminum kelly kettle weighs 1.3 pounds, this weights 8 ounces and holds the same amount of water. I fear it will be less durable, but we'll see. I'm prepping for a major trek next summer and every single ounce will count. Hi Piper, I've long admired the thermettes, though they're a bit rich (and large) for my blood. They are very cool indeed! And Duane, looks like Devin is in full production mode. I ordered mine the day before thanksgiving and had it tuesday, not super fast turnaround but not bad either. Seems a decent fellow to work with as well.
I had thought of getting one last year, but he took so long to get things sorted out with production. Plus, about the time I could use wood here in Kalifornia, they would have a campfire ban. They would be fun to use, keep us updated. I follow along with gossip over on Backpacking Light. Duane
I always was interested in those stoves or the kelly kettle. I tended to like this one more as it was a bit more reasonable then the Kelly. Thanks for posting this info and trials with the other methods of burners.
So I got to thinking about the household wood burning stoves I've used, and every one of them has had an adjustable flue. Figured I'd give this a try, it's made of a bottle cap I had lying around, a soup can lid and a piece of paperclip. I just tried the penny stove again, and was just able to bring 2 cups to a boil using 25 ml of alcohol, including prime just by being able to adjust the draft and I think I can get better with some practice. Haven't had a chance to try it on wood yet, but it's a big help for alcohol efficiency. I didn't time it because with alcohol stoves as I am primarily concerned with efficiency. If I want fast, I use fossil fuels
Since the stove is only designed to heat water for the most part or create a small, contained campfire, that would only help with the alky stove efficiency you are trying to check. I got a second Caldera Cone early last summer to go with a .6L ti Evernew pot. The windscreen/pot support is as tall as the one for my .9L REI ti pot which is of course a deeper pot. The one time I tried the .6L CC while car camping last summer, it heated water up faster than my CC for the .9L pot which is surprising as the further the pot is from the flame, the less heat is transferred. I'll have to do more runs. Also, along with your findings too, seems the cooler the alcohol is, meaning starting with more fuel, the more efficient. Just casual observation, no timed tests. Duane PS, oh yeah, nice, out of the box thinking.
Well as it turns out the flue damper is really nice for wood too. I'd found this thing leaves a lot of charcoal in the fire pan opposite the air inlet, real incomplete combustion and a lot of fussing trying to keep it going strong without putting it out over feeding it. The flue damper is giving me a more controlled and efficient burn. I'd strongly advise anyone with any kind of chimney kettle look into making one, I won't go without again. I'd also suggest you either sand or burn off the coating if you make one like mine. Real acrid fumes came off mine I've been wanting a caldera cone, that looks like an awesome setup. I'm prepping to through hike the Colorado Trail next summer and everything I've read says one of those would be a good way to go, looks like that's one of the most efficient setups going. Light too!
On my summer vacation last July/August, in six days of boiling water at night and two hot breakfasts (cereal), I used about 2.5 oz. of denatured alcohol, I had brought two 4 oz. bottles as I had only used the stove on a vacation once from my previous bp vacation the year before. I had less than half of the one 4 oz. bottle left this year, so I figured I used around 2.5 oz. With the smaller Evernew pot, I'll be a teensie bit lighter and more compact, then there is the benefit of knowing I only need one 4 oz. bottle of fuel. I only use it for vacation now, using my old bp stoves and such for weekends. I got a great price ($26 shipped) on a new Micro Rocket, no one wanted it I guess becasue it did not have the box, that thing is a real flame thrower from my firing it up in my garage. I'll have to take it on a Spring trip when things warm up. Duane
Hello...I am posting after a very lengthy absence from this marvelous forum. I know that this thread is some months old now but as it had caught my eye, I decided to post. I was browsing through EBay and that brought back memories of the great amount of info available here. I like wood stoves. I have had a Kelly kettle for years and was very interested on the Back Country Boiler....but they seemed to be unavailable. Regarding boil times.....my Kelly has always been and is still pne of the fastest stoves that I have. Those two cups boil in four minutes or less (if the wood is good and dry). I would dearly like to handle one of the BCBs so as to compare. Pete
Actually this thread is not quite a week old and Devin seems to have them going now, here's where you can buy one: http://sparkmade.com/backcountryboiler.html#productdescription I suspect this will boil slower than a kelly kettle because it is shorter. Might be a wash, I don't have a kelly kettle. Also, Devin is located in Pittsburgh, I don't know where that is in relation to you, but you're way closer than I am and he welcomes guests. I think if you help him sew koozies and package stuff he'll give you one.
Thanks for the info and the link. I ordered a BCB. It arrived and I am much impressed. I have relied on my 2 cup Kelly Kettle for a long time but this little item is smaller and, in one test at least, substantially faster to boil 16oz of cold water. I put two cups of water in each and left them for an hour In a 23 deg. F garage. Then I lit and timed them to a rolling boil. for fuel, I used some surplus hexane tablets, three for each stove, added one at a time. The BCB came to the boil in six minutes and 30 secs, almost exactly. The Kelly Kettle, much as I like it, never reached the rolling stage before the last tab burned out. I have not tested for a larger flame in either - maybe all three tabs at one time.
I've found my BCB has a sweet spot for flame size, any bigger and it just wastes fuel, but smaller is not efficient either. I'd try 2 tabs at a time with the Kelly, it has enough bigger chimney the sweet spot is likely different. Further use with wood has taught me the damper is not very useful. Still great for alcohol, but with wood the best thing I've found is to use long twigs so as they stand up in the chimney and really let 'er rip. I've nothing scientific to back this, but I don't think slower is more efficient with wood. Of course the best thing with wood is experience. It's really not easy. Takes more skill than any of these pressure stoves.
Just an additional note. I retested the BCB and the Kelly Kettle using more fuel at the start as opposed to adding one bit at a time. The results were quite different. I ran pretty much the same test as described earlier. Two cups of water in each stove. Left in a cold garage for thirty minutes. The fuel was army surplus heat tabs (hexane). I lit two tabs in each stove and then added a third at three minutes. The BCB came to a rolling boil in very much the same time as before about 6 and half minutes. The big difference was with the Kelly Kettle. In the earlier test, one tab at a time, the water never came to a boil. In this test, the KK pretty much matched the BCB, bringing the two cups to a full roll in 6 minutes and 45 seconds. Pete
