Quick easy tip. Use foil to cover the top and then cut a hole slightly smaller that the pan itself. It will help out tremendously with heat loss. Combine that with a lid, you will be more satisfied. Did this backpacking, had 4 cups of water boiling with cold mountain lake water as the source and temperature in the 50's that morning. Had a rolling boil in 25 minutes.
This little stove is great. Power went out for a week here in P.A. recently, still had hot coffee every morning. Picked up just the stove for under 4 dollars.
On another note sterno is great for food that requires only medium heat like Chef Boyardee food. So if you are one of those chef boyardee kind of dudes than a sterno should work well for that.
Yeah Too bad you dont have more views because this is good for people who don't realize how long it takes to boil water. It takes even longer when you're out on the trail with wind and other variables. Using a backpacker stove I have one that was wicked cheap by Jogr bought from Amazon 14.99 and it will boil 2 cups of water in about four minutes but you have to use mixed fuel cannisters. They are cheap enough especially the coleman's. I'd look into it as a home emergency or camp stove.
Why are people so into how fast water can boil, the question should be, does the damn stove work period. Who care about speed, when you're in a survival situation. You just want the thing to work.
I love sterno for the simple fact that you can cook inside with it. When I go camping and it gets to cold out side I like the fact that even in a tent or cabin I can cook food.and not get poisoned.by fumes.
Thanks for the vid-I'm trying to decide what is best Sterno or the cubed type fuel stuff...I just looked on Sams Club site and the sell 72 Sterno cans for $50
@ Maroofr - It was about the equivilant of a regular poland spring water bottle, plus a little more. I can measure it more accurately if you'd like. I didnt try any other foods yet. The water got very very hot, but it didnt boil like you would expect on a stove. It was more of slow bubbles. In an emergency I would feel comfortable cooking somethign on it but I will try to make some other food on it to get a better feel for how it will perform.
No disrespect to ya, seem s kind of slow and bulky, but if ya want something a bit faster ( cant wait 40 min) try a "jetboil" , can do all that in less than a minute and probably less weight than the sterno contraption, a little more expensive ( 70 bucks, but a quality kit), used one in the service for a few years, just thought i would help out.
started to get this kit lastnight from walmart. since all the individual items of the kit was sitting beside it I wanted to see what money you save buying it together in one box. You actually spend MORE (not much I think it was almost $2) vs just grabbing the candles fuels and stove separate ,, seemed odd
