Stove and Fuel Experiments

Pepsi Can Stove and Fuel Experiment

May 20, 2001

Description:

I built the Pepsi Can Stove as outlined on the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) webpage. They recommended using denatured alcohol as fuel. Many times I don’t have access to denatured alcohol, or I buy other fuels to use with other gadgets, so I wanted to try out this Pepsi Can Stove with other fuels, specifically: Coleman Fuel (“white gas”), Isopropyl Rubbing Alcohol, and Denatured Alcohol. Below are my results and some photos documenting the experiment.

Results:

Fuel	Burn Time	Flame Height	Cost	Comments
Isopropyl Rubbing Alcohol	12:57.49	6 – 8 inches	$8 / gallon	I read that isopropyl has 70% of the btu capacity of denatured alcohol
Coleman Fuel “white gas”	4:56.47	15 inches	$2 / gallon	Burns high, hot, and sooty.
Denatured Alcohol	14:26.74	6 – 8 inches	$8.50 / gallon	Burns clean, can hardly see the flame in daylight.

Notes:

I gave the stove equal amounts of fuel for each phase. The stove was about ½ full.
I allowed the stove to cool 5 minutes between lightings.
With denatured alcohol, 2 cups of water boiled (rolling) in 5 – 6 minutes.
Just to give some idea of the scope of this task, I rolled off the couch at 3:00 pm after my after-church nap,
and all this was completed by 11:00 pm: even building the stove and going to Home Depot for the wind shield material.

Check out the pics!... I found 'em!

Comments