Tldr: Pro: easy to use, versatile, low capex. Contra: high opex, hard to light in cold, fuel storage
As winter came faster than I wanted, and my cabin build always goes slower than I want, I’ve had to improvise on heating. So I’ve been burning alcohol as my main fuel source in my small cabin the last few months.
The burners are circa 10cm diameter ceramic spunges in stainless steel tins, as pictured. I made a variety of lids to the tins, with holes in them. The size and quantity of the holes affect heat output and duration of burning.
The setup cost me around 35EUR.
For high heat output, such as for cooking, I use lids with large holes. In the evening, I use multiple burners with small holes, so that they burn for longer.
Overall it works well. They’re very easy to refill, and light. Unless it’s really cold (<5C), then I put them, closed, in my pocket for 10 minutes to pre heat them.
As my cabin is small (2.5m by 3m), and well insulated, it heats the inside temperature up from 5C to 18C within an hour. When outside temperatures dropped to -5C, I burned 2l a day, which costs me 4 EUR a day.
The fuel doesn’t store very long (1 year max I’ve read), and should not be subjected to below freezing temperatures. I store it mainly underground both for the constant temperature, and for fire safety.
Overall, I’m happy with the solution. Come next winter I do hope I’ll have a wood burning stove installed, as I’ve lots of wood available. But I’ll keep the alcohol stoves around, for cooking and backup.
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Nifty. It’s hard to believe that a pocket stove can heat a cabin, but the size of just the gas burner in conventional home heaters is small as well.
Do you take precautions on co2 poisoning?
Do you take precautions on co2 poisoning?
I do not, but I should
Not just CO2, but also CO. You could feel nothing and be dead within minutes. Burning in an enclosed space is usually a bad idea. It can go perfectly fine many times and then it goes wrong and you are dead.
Ethanol is among the few substances which practically doesn’t burn into CO. It is extremely hard to poison oneself with an ethanol burner.
However, according to an article linked below, burning large amounts of ethanol in a confined space (their experimental space was 48 cubic meters, which would be comparable to a small cabin) can exceed reasonable limits for CO2, nitrogen dioxide and benzene. Sadly, their article summary does not provide the quantity of ethanol that they burned. It is an important parameter of the process.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/09/140903091728.htm
That’s why I chose ethanol over propane and butane
I do have a smoke alarm and a carbon monoxide alarm
Would strongly suggest you get a 2nd CO alarm as a reasonable precaution.
NW Florida here. We lost power for 8-hours during the snowstorm, used candles to heat the house. Worked great in our bedroom.
Wish I had numbers to share, but candles certainly took the edge off.
My last summer in Chicago found me with a failed AC unit. I could sense the heat from a 60W incandescent from 10’ away.
tl;dr: Takes shockingly little to heat a small space.
No issues with air moisture build up from it?
My hygrometer right now reads 45%RH
There is noticeable condensation on the window some mornings. But I suspect cooking to be the larger culprit.
