Gel Fuel - Can of Worms
Seems I keep opening that proverbial can of worms. My latest is my videos using Sterno® where I said that I didn't think it was useful for cooking. For heating up water it works ok as long as you don't need to bring the water to a boil. Some of complaints or concerns I've gotten are: there are a number of people that like using Sterno® and or are selling Sterno® outfits others thought that I shouldn't refer to non-Sterno® products as Sterno® but as "gel fuel" others thought I should do the labs with one cup of water rather than two as I usually use. So in this video I want to address these concerns and cover a couple of other ideas I've been playing with with the "gel fuels". 1. A cheap, simple to make, and easy to use pot stand to use with the gel fuel cans. 2. A method to refill gel fuel cans cheaply. I noticed that the Sterno® said it is made from 3.3% methyl alcohol so I wondered what would happen if I poured some methanol into the Sterno® after I had used it. Turns out that the methanol gells and isn't in the liquid form anymore. Really cool. What I do in this video is: 1. Weigh a new can of Sterno® to find how much it weighs before use. 2. Do a boil test using one cup of water. 3. After initial burn weigh the can to show how much Sterno® has been used during the burn. 4. Add methanol to bring can back up to original weight. Wait till it gells. 5. Then do another boil test and see if the time to boil changes. Note: I looked around the Sterno website (www.sterno.com) for information and from what they say the Sterno® brand 45-minute Gel has a max temperature of 185°F. No wonder it's so hard to get water to boil using Sterno®. They also say you should not open can with sharp knife. Thank you for watching my video, Hiram Lab0225 Part 1 - new Sterno® can Title: Gel Fuel - Can of Worms Room temp: 55° Humidity: 44% Weather condition: Sunny, Breezy Burner: Sterno (small can - 2.6 oz) - New Stove/Pot stand: hardware cloth ring - 1/4" squares - 4 squares high x 28 squares long Pot: Vargo Titanium cup - small - 3 1/4" Dia. x 3 1/2" High Fuel: Sterno (small can - 2.6 oz) - New Amount of fuel: NA Amount of water: 1 cup(s) Water temp at start: 62° Time to boil: 12 minute(s) 06 second(s) Time to run-out: NA Note: Weight of new Sterno® can was 97 grams without lid. Weight of can after burn was 88.1 grams. 9 grams of Sterno® was consumed in burn. NA = Not Applicable / Not Available Lab0225 Part 2 - Sterno® refilled with 9 grams of methanol Title: Gel Fuel - Can of Worms Room temp: 55° Humidity: 44% Weather condition: Sunny, Breezy Burner: Sterno (small can - 2.6 oz) - Can from Part 1 refilled with 9 grams of methanol Stove/Pot stand: hardware cloth ring - 1/4" squares - 4 squares high x 28 squares long Pot: Vargo Titanium cup - small - 3 1/4" Dia. x 3 1/2" High Fuel: Sterno (small can - 2.6 oz) - Can from Part 1 refilled with 9 grams of methanol Amount of fuel: NA Amount of water: 1 cup(s) Water temp at start: 62° Time to boil: 11 minute(s) 29 second(s) Time to run-out: NA Note: Weight of Sterno® can with methanol refill was 97 grams without lid. Weight of can after burn was 89.3 grams. 7.7 grams of Sterno® & methanol mix was consumed in burn. NA = Not Applicable / Not Available
Seems I keep opening that proverbial can of worms. My latest is my videos using Sterno® where I said that I didn't think it was useful for cooking. For heating up water it works ok as long as you don't need to bring the water to a boil. Some of complaints or concerns I've gotten are: there are a number of people that like using Sterno® and or are selling Sterno® outfits others thought that I shouldn't refer to non-Sterno® products as Sterno® but as "gel fuel" others thought I should do the labs with one cup of water rather than two as I usually use. So in this video I want to address these concerns and cover a couple of other ideas I've been playing with with the "gel fuels". 1. A cheap, simple to make, and easy to use pot stand to use with the gel fuel cans. 2. A method to refill gel fuel cans cheaply. I noticed that the Sterno® said it is made from 3.3% methyl alcohol so I wondered what would happen if I poured some methanol into the Sterno® after I had used it. Turns out that the methanol gells and isn't in the liquid form anymore. Really cool. What I do in this video is: 1. Weigh a new can of Sterno® to find how much it weighs before use. 2. Do a boil test using one cup of water. 3. After initial burn weigh the can to show how much Sterno® has been used during the burn. 4. Add methanol to bring can back up to original weight. Wait till it gells. 5. Then do another boil test and see if the time to boil changes. Note: I looked around the Sterno website (www.sterno.com) for information and from what they say the Sterno® brand 45-minute Gel has a max temperature of 185°F. No wonder it's so hard to get water to boil using Sterno®. They also say you should not open can with sharp knife. Thank you for watching my video, Hiram Lab0225 Part 1 - new Sterno® can Title: Gel Fuel - Can of Worms Room temp: 55° Humidity: 44% Weather condition: Sunny, Breezy Burner: Sterno (small can - 2.6 oz) - New Stove/Pot stand: hardware cloth ring - 1/4" squares - 4 squares high x 28 squares long Pot: Vargo Titanium cup - small - 3 1/4" Dia. x 3 1/2" High Fuel: Sterno (small can - 2.6 oz) - New Amount of fuel: NA Amount of water: 1 cup(s) Water temp at start: 62° Time to boil: 12 minute(s) 06 second(s) Time to run-out: NA Note: Weight of new Sterno® can was 97 grams without lid. Weight of can after burn was 88.1 grams. 9 grams of Sterno® was consumed in burn. NA = Not Applicable / Not Available Lab0225 Part 2 - Sterno® refilled with 9 grams of methanol Title: Gel Fuel - Can of Worms Room temp: 55° Humidity: 44% Weather condition: Sunny, Breezy Burner: Sterno (small can - 2.6 oz) - Can from Part 1 refilled with 9 grams of methanol Stove/Pot stand: hardware cloth ring - 1/4" squares - 4 squares high x 28 squares long Pot: Vargo Titanium cup - small - 3 1/4" Dia. x 3 1/2" High Fuel: Sterno (small can - 2.6 oz) - Can from Part 1 refilled with 9 grams of methanol Amount of fuel: NA Amount of water: 1 cup(s) Water temp at start: 62° Time to boil: 11 minute(s) 29 second(s) Time to run-out: NA Note: Weight of Sterno® can with methanol refill was 97 grams without lid. Weight of can after burn was 89.3 grams. 7.7 grams of Sterno® & methanol mix was consumed in burn. NA = Not Applicable / Not Available