Ultralight blower stove uses range from ultralight backpacking to base camping with stove weights from 100-500g. This page is a guide to help you select the best stove for your purposes.
Introduction
For backpackers, there is great cooking power in the lightest of my stoves, but for just a little more weight there can be a lot more capacity, versatility and convenience in a larger stove. If the larger stove is shared between backpackers it can result in very light ‘stove plus fuel’ weight/person. Consequently, understanding stove options is key to selecting the best stove for your requirements. There is a good article on choosing backpacking stoves of all types from an Australian perspective that might be helpful in your selection process Which backpacking stove? by Jill &Tim.
The ultralight blower stove range is from the simplest Rock-N-Hole Stove (no stove burner), student stove (expendable cheap burner), small titanium Single Pot Roll Up Stove through to ‘large’; titanium Double Pot Roll Up Stove, Fiddle Free Stove, Snow Stove and ‘Heavy’ Double Pot Stove (base camp/car camping). All these stoves use the same blower unit that gives the stoves their amazing power. The USB fire blower unit should be the starting point for any system and it will be usable with any of my outside cooking stoves as listed below.
List of blower stoves
‘No-stove’ stove. As a starting point, the lightest stove in my range is the Rock-N-Hole stove that uses my blower assembly and power supply (~100g) to make an effective and efficient cooking stove between rocks or in a small hole in the ground. However, there will be a tradeoff of versatility and convenience (Rock-N-Hole Stove).
Student stove. This stove uses an expendable food can as a stove burner. The burner will; have a short life, cost nothing and be ideal for a ‘poor student’. It is an amazingly powerful and versatile cooking stove (Student stove).
Small stove. The smallest standalone ultralight blower stove can be ~250g, but there will be a tradeoff of cooking capacity, versatility and convenience. However, it can still quickly heat multiple pots sequentially (Small stove).
Large stove. The large stove is ~50% heavier but has 2-3 times the cooking capacity. If the weight of the stove can be shared by two or more people, then the stove weight per person can be very low (Large stove).
Double stoves. For an extra 25% weight, many of the stoves can have two cooking positions that double the cooking capacity and versatility. If the weight of such a stove is shared by two or more people, the stove weight per person can be extremely low. A double stove can easily be reduced to a single pot stove if required (Small double stove Large double stove ).
Rigid stoves (non-rollup, ‘fiddle free’ or Wendy’s stove). This stove is a little heavier than the equivalent rollup stove. It is designed for ultralight backpacking where walkers share cooking stoves. Its fiddle free attributes make it simple and quick to set up, particularly on; sand, pebbles, stones or on a suitable rock to be a ‘leave no trace stove’ (Fiddle free stove). It can even be used in the snow, on a suitable exposed rock, or standing on a pole in the snow (with the addition of a mounting bracket (snow stove).
‘Heavy’ stove. This stove is simple, large, very strong, stable, quick to set up on soil or sand but does not roll-up. It is designed as a stove for simple base camps or picnic cooking and weight and volume is not an issue (‘Heavy’ stove). “It is still very light and compact but not as light or compact as roll-up titanium stoves.”
Other details that should be considered in stove selection are listed below:
Note: Each sub-section links to more detailed posts on the subject.
Cooking pots. Regardless of whether or not the ultralight blower stove is a double or single pot type, my preference is to have at least two pots, one mainly for boiling water to make drinks and soups etc and another for soaking dehydrated meals and cooking them. Water boiling is quickest over the burner and meal cooking or simmering is best done over the exhaust/flame.
Pot size/flexibility. Please bear in mind that the ultralight blower stoves are designed for the primary pot to fit closely in or on the burner while cooking (this forms the essential top for the burn chamber to work effectively). However, any pot that is big enough to sit on top of the burner will work just fine, even if a little slower to boil. Also if the stove has a second cooking position over the exhaust flame any large pot will suffice and should be an excellent dinner cooking pot. Opportunity shops are a good source of light cheap and effective aluminium or stainless steel pots and pans for the second pot position or placing on top of the burner. Also please see my page on Pots, Pans, Lids, Lifters and Bags to Keep it All Together for more details on how to efficiently pack these stoves. If your walking companions use your unlimited free cooking heat from your stove they probably are prepared to carry a large aluminium pot and lid for shared cooking and possibly a small backup alcohol or gas stove for bad weather. “Everyone in the group will be a winner with this unlimited free source of cooking power.”
Blower fan switch. Recently I have added a simple switch to allow the blower fan to be easily switched on and off to maintain good cooking temperatures and greatly extend the battery life. Having the switch introduces a new issue of burner blowback through the blower fan under adverse wind conditions. These issues are address in the blower fan switching post.
Power supply options. My favourite power supply has become a 5V USB rechargeable power pack (blue cylinder in the photo below) with removable 18650 lithium-ion battery inside. It uses a power cable connecting from USB- A plug to my custom ‘fang fitting’ but other alternatives power supplies may be more suitable in some circumstances, particularly where there may be restrictions on the carriage of lithium-ion batteries or re-charging may be an issue.
Alcohol back-up burner. When the weather is too bad to cook outside a very small ethanol burner can be used within the ultralight blower stove, using it as a pot stand and windshield. For this, I use a ‘whisky bottle lid’ burner. With the addition of a short welded stainless steel chimney, the burner develops a nicely focused and clean flame. This burner (~9g) fits easily in my stove kits. For safety, sitting the stove in a shallow pan such as the one shown above makes the stove stable, safe and acts as a bund for any spilt ethanol. For safety, the alcohol burner should only be refilled when the flame is extinguished and cooled and should not be lit until any spilt alcohol is removed.
Whisky top (“or wine bottle top for the more cultured”) ethanol burner with SS chimney (~9g). It is a light and compact load to carry in case cooking is required in bad weather.
A substitute wine top burner with adjustable SS chimney (~9 g), with small clean concentrated flame. A very efficient and small back-up burner when the weather is too bad to be cooking outside with wood.
Alcohol carry/filler bottle. Ethanol is a tricky creepy liquid and is difficult to pour small quantities cleanly. PET drink bottles make versatile ethanol carry bottles (when suitably labelled). A DIY modified lid with a soft ‘filler tube’ fitted tightly through a cleanly drilled hole makes an excellent and cheap stove filling device.
Ethanol storage bottle with substitute ‘filler cap’ with a white tube. It makes filling with small charges of ethanol efficient, quick and clean. I don’t drink much soft drink (or the hard stuff for that matter), but roadside rubbish can supply a big range of PET bottles that have the same cap thread. This way you can easily vary the size of the fuel bottle to match the trip duration and the amount of bad weather expected.
Tim
gge
