Review: Smokeeater908's Miniheat

[JesterJosev]

I want to do a review of the Smokeeater908 Miniheat stove. Although I have tried repeatedly to do a comprehensive video of the stove it seems like it’s a process that has already been done masterfully by Smokeeater908 himself. The Miniheat is a lightweight, remote stove that is fed alcohol from a feed bottle through a silicone tube to the stove itself which looks to be machined out of a single piece of material. The stove itself is connected to the tubing through a small brass nipple that feeds alcohol to the burning area through two pieces of carbon felt. The trunk wick is about a square inch of carbon felt that is rolled up and fed through the main body of the stove, and the donut wick which is fed alcohol via the trunk wick which it surrounds the trunk wick, greatly increasing the potential burning area at the top of the stove. The top of the stove flares out surrounding the donut wick, allowing the wick to be saturated with alcohol.
The feed bottle looks to be about 60ml in volume, and the cap has a hole drilled out where a brass nipple is installed, which connects to one end of the silicone tubing. The silicone tubing is about 2mm in diameter, and is very flexible allowing the convenient storage. The stove unit is used in conjunction with a pot stand made of strong mesh, welded together to form a ring. One of the rungs on the mesh square is removed so that the silicone feed tube can feed the stove while the feed bottle is monitored.
The benefits of this stove are many
- The feed bottle allows for continuous usage.
The feed bottle is used to issue fuel as required to the stove; this means as long as there is available fuel the stove can run indefinitely. Even when the bottle runs out, the user has the option of connecting the feed line cap to a different bottle, while the wick continues to burn on the stove.
- It can be used for a multitude of tasks.
If you are looking for an alcohol stove that has variable settings the donut wick of the Miniheat allows the user to wait until the alcohol has receded away from the edge of the wick, and maintain this setting while they slow cook. If the user wants to go back to full tilt boogie all they have to do is issue more alcohol until the donut is fully saturated.
- The stove is robust yet light weight.
The stoves target demographic appears to be backpackers, and is certainly not heavy.
- The stove is of high quality construction.
The stove itself looks methodically produced with a high level of precision machining. This user was particularly impressed with the single piece design. This stove had some TLC.
Constructive Criticism
- The pressure in the feed bottle.
When fueling the lit stove by squeezing the fuel bottle, negative pressure builds in the bottle. This means when the user releases pressure on the bottle some of the alcohol is sucked back into the bottle. If the stove is burning lightly this may be enough to snuff the flame out. This user has found a method to deal with this, by pumping the squeeze bottle lightly until more alcohol is in the wick so that the flame is strong enough on the stove. Smokeeater has developed on this design with his new Hyker stove where the nipple on the stove is higher than the bottom of the stove, allowing for air to be sucked back in as opposed to fuel. Another potential idea would be to implement some form of valve on the bottle, cap, nipples, or stove itself so that negative pressure in the feed bottle would only draw air.
The pressure issue is minor, the stove is a versatile, impressive, and useful design, and I’m happy to have it in my collection of stoves.

Edit: well at least I think the Hyker stove doesn't suck back in air.

[oops56]

i got the minheat too but i got the fire plug for it auto feed slow or fast

[zelph]

When fueling the lit stove by squeezing the fuel bottle, negative pressure builds in the bottle. This means when the user releases pressure on the bottle some of the alcohol is sucked back into the bottle.

I remember watching Smokeeater loosen the cap to let air in to equalize the pressure. I beleive he did it twice during the one video.

Just yesterday I viewed a video by Tinny showing his stove had to be watched closely because 3 minutes later he had to give it another squirt to refill the stove in order to get the 2 cups to boil.

A member over at Whiteblaze.com once said that her remote fed stove was a "toy". That impressed me at the time to think in terms of having to play with it in order to use it. Having to losen the cap and having to give additionl squirts of fuel to reach a boil is in the realm of having to toy with it. Let's call it the fiddle factor.

Everyone needs to remember that burning alcohol flame is difficult to see out in the real world of the "Piney Woods" or out west in the wide open spaces. You're going to have to get your faces down to the earth to see under you pot how that flame is looking when it comes time to give it another squirt. Tinny and Smokeeater sit at their tables inside their homes easily making the adjustments when needed. The Tinny video that I saw yesterday showe the stove at eye level sitting on a piece of fire wood stacked in his wood shed.

Let's say you've played with it like they instruct and your water comes to a boil. Now what do you do with the fuel that is left in the carbon felt? You just let it burn out or blow out the flame and let the fuel evaporate. Or, let the stove cool down and put it in a ziploc to isolate the remaining fuel in the carbon felt from your pack.

[zelph]

I went and viewed smokeaters video again. "My alcohol Stoves fuel consumption"

8:03 Watch for releiving pressure by loosening cap and then again at 8:29 and at 10:24 he huffs and he puffs to blow out the stove. The tobbacie juice was preventing him from getting a good puff so he spits out the juice at min. 10:35 into his water bottle.

The 3rd one was a little high on fuel usage. Had the larger felt ring.

[JesterJosev]

Oops56: Yea I was thinking of buying a fireplug too, it seems like a good idea. Question for you, do you find that the fireplug works efficiently and keeps the miniheat fully fueled? Or do you have to assist occasionally the squeezing the bottle. In all honesty ether way would be fine. I really like the novelty of this stove. The “fiddle factor” as Zelph calls it is subjective. It can be fun in prime conditions or a pain when you can’t see the flame and are relying upon singed knuckle hair to determine if the stove is on.
Zelph: The negative pressure issue is an interesting one. As Oops56 noted the fireplug is a good option, and is negligible in weight from what I can imagine. Tinny recently stated that he will be using valves to keep the fuel from being drawn away from the burner. The remote stove is going to have some of that “fiddle factor” in the form of multiple parts regardless. It’s a technically complex stove concept that diverts from the KISS (keep it simple stupid) model that’s exhibited in many pop can based stoves. White gas and multi fuel stoves are “remote stoves” as well, with a fuel bottle, feed line, and burner. The difference is instead of regulating the flame from the fuel bottle, the stove is used as the regulator, and the bottle is pre pressurized with a pump. In this regard the issue that I see for stove builders is “regulation of fuel” while maintaining an efficient and lightweight design. Whew what a list of demands! Smokeater908 uses a fireplug to maintain equal pressure in the fuel bottle, and a clip on the fuel bottle to regulate the flow to the stove itself.
Does anyone know how those old oil lamps work? They appear to be refillable while the residual fuel is burning on the wick. Maybe this could work?

[oops56]

it like all stoves know how and to use it. Now on my min heat with the fire plug just as soon i see it stat to have some bubbles in it turn the bottle up so no more fuel goes in whats left in the wick will do the boil and be no more alcohol left in the wick. Just get to know your stove

[zelph]

A novelty stove is a good description of it. Lets look at it again. First of all you have to take the cap off your fuel bottle and put it in your pocket. Then attach the bottle to the tube cap. Then hold your finger on top of the carbon felt while you squeeeze fuel into the stove and wait for your finger to feel the fuel. You'll notice smokeeater checks many times to see how the stove is burning and also lifts the lid off the pot to check for bubbles. So, when you're done you take the top off the fuel bottle, wrap the hose around the stove and then reach into your pocket....duh.... it's not in that pocket which pocket did I put it in No worries....you'll find it

The only reason for having a remote feed stove was to have the ability to simmer, correct? There a too many stoves out there that are user friendly that all you have to do is dump in the fuel, light and walk away and come back 6-8 min later to your boiling water. They all are KISS style stoves. Lots are 1 piece stoves. User friendly type.

Now we want to simmer so we have to open the windscreen to be able to see the flame and its size to create a simmer size flame. In the daylight it's going to be hard to see. I suspect these stoves were meant to be used in shelters where you have a better chance of seeing the flame and keeping an eye on it so it doesn't go out while in the simmer mode.

What do you do with the fuel that is left in the tube? The tiny inside diameter of the tube wants to hang on to the fuel in it. It has to be forced out before storing or else Murphy's law says it will leak out while it's in storage

I ha not watch any videos of the fore plug. Does it get a negative pressure built up?

Oops56 is totally correct. You need to know your stove.

Remote canisters with hoses are old technology and have their place in todays backpacking world just like Smokeeaters stove has it's place.

So, long story short I will join the ranks of stove makers and produce a remote alcohol stove that is user friendly. I can't show it too early because everyone on the internet will start to copy it. I think the name will be "nuttinfancee" just down home user friendly.

P.S.

Smokeeater has developed on this design with his new Hyker stove where the nipple on the stove is higher than the bottom of the stove, allowing for air to be sucked back in as opposed to fuel.

That sounds like it could suck a flame along with the air. Air, fuel and flame = fire in the bottle maybe. Murphy's Law has a way of messin things up