DIY replacement parts for an ultralight tent Stove
This post describes how to make DIY parts for an ultralight KISS tent stove. It targets components that will eventually burn out and those that may get lost.
Introduction
The ultralight kiss Stove is the simplest stove in my ultralight dome stove series of tent stoves. The fire dome of the stoves of the series should, with care, last a long time. However, other components will burn out with time. Luckily, the stove has been designed so that these ultralight components are removable so that they can be replaced.
Several of the ultralight stove components have been made with a custom welding tool that will not be available to others. I thought it would be good to have a DIY method of making replacements parts with simple tools without the need for a welder. “The post may also provide ideas of how to do ‘bush repairs’ if needs-must.”
DIY ultralight tent stove replaceable parts
Several of the parts below have been designed to be made from an efficient roll of stainless steel foil that can be dispatched within the fire dome of the stove kit or be posted separately. Either way, it makes an efficient, compact and tough item to survive postage and can be used to make the parts that eventually burn-out.
Alternative sheet metals. Ultralight tent stove parts can also be made from waste. Tin-plate food cans such as coffee, olive oil and baby formula tins and stainless steel kitchen rubbish bins (discarded as curb-side hard rubbish) are free. They are an abundant but slightly heavier alternative. This is my segway to my obligatory ode;
They tried for a baby with no luck,
Then saw a baby formula on a big truck,
I’m not faking, the next line your mistaken,
Alas, in bed, on the formula they were not struck.
Flue pipe adaptor tube. This tube is an extension of the lower end of the flue pipe and is detailed in an adaptor tube. It is a critical DIY ultralight tent stove component. It allows the use of the small diameter flue pipe of the Kiss Stove that is able to squeeze into the fire dome for efficient ultralight backpacking. “It is such a tight fit that it can’t even rattle while backpacking and skiing.”
Flue pipe guard tube. The above tube also acts as a sacrificial guard tube that protects the formal flue pipe of an ultralight tent stove. There is a combination of heat, oxygen and turbulence at the entry zone of the flue system. This caused the lowest 50mm of the entry zone to suffers damage that will eventually occur cause it to fail.
In the past, this meant that the damaged portion needed to be cut off periodically to keep the pipe serviceable.
This guard tube can suffer this damage and be trimmed to give it a ‘new life’. “Fortunately, a temporary repair can be made in the bush.” However, sooner or later, it will need to be replaced. It can be DIY made with simple tools from the roll of foil for replacement parts (or from the other suggested recycled sheet metals).
I dreamed up this sacrificial guard tube idea. It came about by visualising the stretching of a short conical connector ring (~40mm tall) to become 200mm long and making it take the place of multiple components that all suffered heat damage. So here is a little Tolkienesque ode to celebrate magic hot rings;
Could one stretched hot ring spare them all? Coping curry atop that red glowing fireball. One cheap device that we will sacrifice, Could it save the rest from their untimely fall?
Flame guides. Normally the clip-on flame guide is made of 0.1mm thick stainless steel foil. It functions in the hottest part of the stove within the fire dome. It experiences the harshest heat/flame environment, without anyway of being able to ‘sink heat’ into a cooler zone.
“It’s like being sandwiched between Hell and Hades. There’s glowing turbocharged charcoal (1,000C) on the front face and flames (700C+) on the backside, with nowhere to hide.
“I am just amazed that it lasts so long! Could being bathed in a carbon-rich flame cloud be the reason?[Add link to ‘mitigating heat damage post when ready]”
It just needs to be replaced periodically, but it will give many hours of service and comfort before replacement will be required. The decay is progressive and gives plenty of warning before it becomes unserviceable.
Removability of flame guide. The triangular folded tabs on the foot of the guide allow the guide to be clipped to the flange on the fire dome. The tabs can be slipped around the flange to optimise its position between the fuel and flue ports.
It can also easily be slipped on and off to make a more efficient space in the fire dome for packing all the stove components within the dome or to replace it when the time comes. “Here is a 1 min video of KISS Stove assembly. It should explain better than my words can.”
Welded fuel/burner tube. Normally I weld this tube to make it light and simple to set up and use. It can pack concentrically around the roll up flue pipe, so it does not use much backpack space.
The tip of the tube is inserted into the fire dome. It experiences very high temperatures (1,000+C) and excess oxygen. This means (“You guessed it.”) that, with time, it will slowly oxidise or spall. The damaged portion can be trimmed, but eventually, it will need to be replaced by yet another DIY tent stove replacement part.
Roll up fuel/burner tube. An alternative ‘non-welded’ roll up fuel burner/tube can be formed from curved sheet metal and held together by a tiny compression ring with an insulated handle welded to it.
“The ring and handle part does not get hot enough to get damaged so should live on forever.”
Various alternative thin sheet metals can be used to form the tube. The curving method is described in rolling curves.
Blower stove air tip. Some KISS Stoves convert into a blower stove and this stove configuration requires a small conical tube or tip to direct the blower air jet into the fire. As for the above fuel/burner tube, the inner tip of this gets very hot and is also exposed to excess oxygen and turbulence and (You’re ahead of me now.”) it will slowly oxidize and eventually need to be replaced.
Flue pipe holding rings. The holding rings on my flue pipes are made from welded foil. “I proudly boast that they are the lightest and most compact and have the lowest profile (0.15mm) in the known universe of tent-stoving”.
However, the downside of this boast is that they are so small that some could easily be lost while camping on snow or grass.
On the bright side, the ring loss can be eliminated. I have pioneered roll up flue pipe deployment methods that leave the rings in place while forming the pipe and packing it up (stove pipe screwing out and in)
DIY holding rings
I this section I will add ideas for making alternative DIY stove pipe holding rings that do not require welding.
Making silicone rubber glued rings? Previously, I found that RTV silicone rubber could withstand a stove pipe temperature of 300C.
I thought that it may be suitable for holding bands of metal ribbon to make a compact DIY holding ring.
I had used folded ‘monkey grip’ joint successfully on long metal tubes, but in a very short form, such as slim holding rings, there was a propensity for the joint to slip apart when not under load. RTV silicone rubber in the joint might just stop this slippage.
A ribbon of soft steel that was cut from food cans was another possibility. I found that the metal ring was too soft to hold its shape when the ring was formed with a short overlap. Consequently, for the rings made with food can steel, I overlapped ~2.5 times and when the rubber cured the rings were quite firm.
Testing silicone rubber glued rings. I tested the above rings on the lowest and hottest part of the stove pipe of a KISS Stove that I have shown can periodically reach 300C. When tested under these harsh conditions there was a variable success as shown below.
The ring formed with a ‘monkey grip joint that was bonded with silicone rubber survived the test. One of the rings made from a ribbon cut from food can metal survived, while another one failed. I concluded that the overlapped rubber bonding was inadequate for such high-temperature applications. However, the ‘monkey grip joint performed well and was still sound when removed from testing.
Tim
For more details of the sweet KISS Stove, please see the link below;
The KISS Tent Stove for alpine tent heating
The KISS Stove (keep it simple stupid) is my peek ultralight tent stove in my many dome stoves. It is stripped of all but the essential tent heating and cooking features. Note: The links in this post are capitalised, bolded and italicised, to make them easily distinguished from the ordinary … Continue reading The KISS Tent Stove for alpine tent heatingRead More →Tim Tinker 0Comments
For more details on my flue pipe screwing adventures, please see my series of posts starting with:
