The description of emptying the chili can had me rollin. Just classic.

Here in the US, carbon felt can be found at most "big box" home improvement stores like Lowe's etc in the plumbing area in the form of a welding or soldering"blanket". Plumbers use them for fire protection when soldering copper plumbing ....

Jay Zee has 99 problems but a heating bill ain't one

Thanks for being the voice of reason. Lots of channels are pushing the fear narrative daily

I started making one here in the States with a large Ditty Moore can and a smaller chopped pineapple can! I can't wait to drill it out and give it a try! Thanks Rob for all the years of education and superior entertainment!

Just to say I have a commercial paraffin heater that purports to use a GLASS FIBRE wick, which only needs to have the eventual black oily deposits burned off by using all the fuel to empty tank. Apparently no trimming needed! Great show.

If I had any spare income you would be the one I'd join patron for , as alway great fact filled viewing 👍🏻 and thanks to you I got myself a welder and the first thing I built was a rocket stove and a gas bottle wood burner to keep me warm while watching you.🤘🏻👌🏼🖖🏻

That bit about the frothing madman over a sink gave me a hearty chuckle. I think we've all gone hooting baboon over a can of improvised chow. I do love my mandarin oranges fresh out of the can, dribbling down my face, spoon be damned! Add: It took me a few minutes to remember, but at last I did. Quite the while back, I recall doing a lot of reading about a particular nut that can grow in some exceptionally hostile conditions, which also happened to produce a huge quantity of oil that could be readily refined into a biodiesel. Something along the lines of the Jatropha curcas (not sure if I spelled that correct, it's been well over a decade mind you). Again going from recollection, it was stated to be sub-tropical but could also produce viable 'fruit' in a bucket of sand. Not an overnight solution, but the temptation still resides to try to obtain a few of the buggers...

My wife's friend was doing a hand fasting ceremony and they wanted a couple small torches, so I got a couple green twigs off a hardwood tree, wrapped it with gauze, then a bit of copper wire wrapped around it in a pleasing spiral, then doused it in 90% alcohol. When they lit it nothing but the alcohol burned so the gauze stayed bright white, the flame was visible, and they seemed to want to burn forever. When the fuel gets too low the flame gets smaller and the outer edges will start to char, so just smother it, refuel it, and relight it.

Nice one Robert. As always when using any appliance with hot naked flames, caution, safety and vigilance is necessary. I came from the 1950s where open fires, paraffin lamps and heaters and even gas mantle lighting were common.

Thanks Robert your topics are becoming increasingly more practical and interesting than ever. I am dying to see your coverage on heavier oils. But my main favourite will be WASTE ENGINE OIL 👅

"like a rat"... that made me lol 😂 Great video. Quite interesting. Well done

WOW!!! If I lived in the UK, where heating fuel is now terribly expensive, I'd be rigging up one of these heaters in a heartbeat. I make my own cleaning solutions, so rubbing alcohol is always on hand, but I'd like to know if kerosene would be a more affordable, equally effective fuel. In power outages in the US, I just use a large inverted, ventilated aluminum can over a couple of utility candles. It keeps us warm enough til the power is restored, but this device could really benefit all the Brits who are choosing between heating and eating. Brilliant!

From experience make sure that botb ends of the carbon felt insert meet inside the can quiet tightly, if there is any gap here the flame will ignite the fuel contents of the bottom tin

I really enjoyed the videos, the no nonsense common sense is a breath of fresh air these days!

I just had a few thoughts: 1. The flames travel up the outside of the mesh. What about using multiple layers of mesh with spaces in between them? That will multiply the surface area that can be heated up and radiate IR. 2. Instead of a lid, what about using cheap stainless steel scrubbers, stacked inside the mantle? That would also increase the mass while still allowing air flow. 3. Depending on the stainless steel scrubbers available to you, can you check to see if they can be unrolled to be used as an easily-available mantle? If not, could wire be used to hold them in place so they act as a mantle while in their original form? Cheers!

I grew sunflowers collected the seeds and processed them into oil, I only got 1 kilo which gave 0.5 litres of oil. Scaled up it would be worth it but you need a pretty big patch of land to get a decent amount and you could turn it into biodiesel, but the oil on its own would still burn.

Thank you so much for addressing the ventilation issues. I am still waiting on carbon felt being delivered and then good to go 😁😁

Absolutely fantastic

Love your videos Robert!

A great video as ever! Regarding ventilation, as a comparison Natural Gas fires fitted to a chimney only need a vent providing outside air for combustion for 7kw input or greater, the average gas fire being only 5kw, "adventitious ventilation" - draughts under doors etc - being enough. Decorative flame effect fires DO need a vent: (yellow flames = incomplete combustion). A chimney/flue is still needed for the above. I couldn't begin to calculate the input of one of these heaters, but I would favour using only the fuels that burn blue (yellow flames = incomplete combustion, soot) - then you could warm tortillas on the top bit! The fact that it's a radiant heater means you can "heat the person not the space" so you can feel the benefit quickly without depleting the oxygen in the room, but use caution with any open flame appliance, maybe get a carbon monoxide alarm, check for soot etc. Room size matters. If this sounds a bit r-c, a friend of mine died of CO poisonning by falling asleep in his campervan with the cooker on to keep warm.

Just ordered from your store Robert! Amazon was a bit confusing. I couldn't find a product that matched your description 100%. Thank you for clarifying exactly what we need in this video.

Thanks for explaining this Robert :)

"Or you just like to rub yourself a lot" lol🤣

Looking forward to finding out what this system dose with used veg oil I got lots of it Im hoping to use as a green house heater over winter as gas will be going up in price soon you love your job we love watching you do it keep it up 😜

Thank you for elaborating on the alternative fuels. If I hadn't subscribed, I'd probably have missed this helpful info.

Thank you for adding how to put it out, and for repeating the wick material. This is great, and so dangerous for people who are going to try this in unsafe situations, but, it is cool too! Thank you!

Love these videos 100% now a part of my morning routine love the simplicity of these projects and using mostly what you have kicking around in shop keep them coming sir

Very interesting and educational..love listening to this gentleman 👌 👍

Something very pleasing about watching that red hot stainless gauze, quite apart from the heat.

Great that Robert... Thanks mate!

Good common sense and practical engineering. Love it!

Robert, you have to be one of the most interesting people on the planet. Why on earth do we have to have our TV schedule full of Brian Cox when you exist. They need to give you a series on the BBC!

thanks so much for all the info on this

Thanks for answering my question on moisture.

Another useful video, it's great also you've attracted a small community of inquisitive minds, i.e one of the commentors mentioned wax as a thermal storage solution 🤔, I never heard this before, and it's given me an idea to make small copper boxes/flasks and fill them with wax pellets used in moulding applications 👍🏻

I experimented using bacon grease in a small tin can with a half-size paper towel rolled up as the wick and let it burn in a basic wood stove fireplace - it was enough heat to warm the place up quite a bit for several hours, not as much as a wood fire but it was pretty good and if I put 2-3 cans in at once that would probably get to a decent temperature... which is pretty good for using up waste, and if you had access to something like [expired/cheap] ‘vegetable shortening’ it would work too. 😉

Thank you so much for sharing this information with us!! Awesome Upload 🙂👍

Awesome stove system. Been burning Fancy Feast alcohol stove as a kayak camper. Yours is the same system just a step larger! I love the mantle. make a pot support and you have a reliable spirit stove for emergencies. I love it being multi-fuel as well.

Thanks Robert.

I did it in smaller version ( just recycling corn tins, saucepan lids and other stuff in kitcken ware) and it works, really works, great invention for penniless homes. for the mantle I got a piece from an old mosquito blind for windows. for the back shield aluminiun I picked from a broken quartz heater. Methane I got it in plumb or DIY stores. ( even there are outlets from work places or giving away)

I can't wait to see the heavy fuels video, I have some filtered oil mix from frying accumulated throughout the year that is painfull to dispose and it could be nice to use it this winter for a bit of room heating, I tried it on a simpler wick and cup but it puts out a lot of smoke and i would like to see the video and read comments to get ideas for a solution to that smoke

This is great! In 1976 when I was little we moved into a house which only had an open fireplace for heating in one room and no insulation. We also had a portable kerosene heater. Considering we(Tasmania) have a not too dissimilar climate to England this was, shall we say, slightly insufficient. I learnt common sense around fires early. 😂 Mum used to put a bowl of water on top of the kero heater to remove the smell, but I have no idea if that really works or not.

That Jay zee 40:40:20 interesting one. Goes well with environmental issues 🤔. Thank you, Robert

Hi, thanks for your video's, I am enjoying both the subject matter and also your presentation. I have only just found your Chanel as it came up with this heater which I am interested in. May I be so bold as to suggest that you take a look at the video's of Heath Putnam. He has spent quite some time perfecting the alcohol stove and I am positive that it will give you some food for thought. May I ask what gauge stainless mesh are you using? As I want to have a mess around myself with my various types of wood gas stoves. You can't beat "free" fuel. I use these for camping and if you have a look on KZfaq you will see a great amount of interest in this. I also wonder if you would try adding some disc's of mesh horizontally across the mantel to act as flame diverters. Which I think on some of the more aggressive flames would both control them and also increase the inferred output. Keep up the good work and your jovial attitude and I will be a follower of your Chanel. Many thanks John

Common sense is in short supply these days, love the way you make the videos idiot proof and fun at the same time.

Greetings from Ireland, great videos, great ideas and you speak perfect Hiberno-English too " scares the bejayziz outa you " !

Where I live in the US, many people use waste vegetable oil in their furnaces, lamps, and even diesel vehicles (once processed a bit). Fast food restaurants near me actually have to pay to get rid of their fryer oil, as it's considered industrial waste. One of my friends goes to a series of local McDonalds and Burger King places, and ends up with about 100 gallons of waste fryer oil. He takes it home, filters out the sediment, and uses it in his tractor on his dairy farm. I guess it's a lot better to have the farm smell like a fish and chips shop than a cow barn.

Hi Robert, been randomly watching you for a few years, subbed last week, and binge watching you every spare moment 😀 Your ventilation statement is what I needed to hear, I hear conflicting theories online. 👍🏻 I am currently looking into heating my metal shed whilst working on junk etc, you sir are a gold mine of information (I just wish my science teachers at school were as funny and informative as you) so I took biology........ 🙄 Thanks matey, I'm off to the shed 🍺

Thanks Robert. You go to a lot of trouble and expense to put these together.

Very well done "how to" DIY video! 👍

Thank you 😊for the info

Good stuff and lots people can do it. Because I too am stuck on DIY and would need a fuel I could make myself would it run on Brown's Gas because I think I can make that. Keep up the good work and great videos.

Really interesting, thanks!

I have been curious if you could add carbon felt to a round kerosene heater? Now I know the greenhouse heater didn't work with the carbon felt, however I wonder if it would have worked if a piece of copper tubing was used to hold the wick under the heating element. If so then the same idea could be used on a round kerosene heater and be a long term heating solution if the need arises, and as a bonus you could use other fuels if need be instead of just kerosene. Also the round kerosene heaters are kind of a mantle based heater just scaled up to 11 so it does kind of fit in with this idea.

Nice! TY!

Thanks!

In US - rubbing alcohol is often sold cheaply but at 50% concentration or less. Maybe a video on concentrating or ‘drying’ alcohol up to 70% with salt

Fabulous Robert

Hello, Mr. Murray-Smith; I was hoping to see if different fuels produce different temperatures in your stove. Have a GREAT day, Neighbor!

Beautiful

A stainless steel kitchen sink is a great place for testing these and there is a super great chance you'll be able to put them out from there... Plus the fan is usually pretty close.

Answered my earlier question! Legend!

Great video!

WW2 my dad and his buddies heated fox holes with ration tin heaters on same principle...but petrol mixed with motor on oil. Warm but sooty.

So many great ideas here. I'll be trying this if I can find everything needed !

I'm trying to remember off the top of my head what was used with lamps through the ages.

You could use a magnet to hold the tin to the base on the stand.

E85 is next to try for me, Much cheaper than K2. Perhaps mixed with vegetable glycerin to tame it a bit.

Thanks for these heater videos! I have a wood shop (with no heat) and I'm looking for a fuel to burn that won't produce moisture as a by product. I was using propane heater - but the moisture produced began rusting my tools. When you talk about fuels can you address this?

Freezing thanks 😊

Its a basic Kerosine heater design with the same principal of a fluid sucking wick with a mesh around the flame. The thinner the mesh the better. Very cheap to build design you made. Ofcourse a Kerosine heater uses pressure to push Fluid through a little generator to pre-heat the Kerosine making it a evaporate into gas and burn more violently. Hence your burning time is reduced but the heat generated is more intense. Makes sense. Your system if carefully re-designed could be used in a tent and even heat a pot of water. Simply foldable (nested) into each other packed in a sturdy cylinder. The mesh is the expensive part and should be easily replaceable on the go. To glow the whole mesh (ideal) the wick should be used with a special heater head. Something that burns the full length of the mesh. Probably a tube with very tiny holes over its entire area. Genious, thanks.

Appreciate your videos

This will be great in the cabin

Thank you😁

Always enjoy your videos, some peoples comment are so ridiculous it’s hard to imagine them watching your vids with any kind of serious and safety thoughts. It’s so obvious you have to be extra careful with this kind of heater. 😊

Lol, not safe for children. Love the common sense advice at the end. It's an open flame device, care and respect must be applied. Like the tile you use to set the whole thing upon. Enjoyed and attained info from these videos and experiments, thank you. From, Vancouver Island Canada.

Thank you for engaging the Closed Caption feature...

The easiest way to vent these stoves is to create an insert for a window and put a chimney through it. For little stoves like this, a 2 to 3" or so chimney should work ok. To save money/cost, use steel for like the first foot or so, but then use Al for the rest of the pipe. Make sure you paint the chimney pipe with some kind of high temp paint to increase the emissivity (so that the IR radiates out of the pipe better).

Hey! I'm so grateful for this Video. I already bought 2 laundry bins of chromesteel for making such a Heater. Which i'm very interested in is what's the size of the TIMESETL Mesh. The Holes. 30, 80, or 120 Mesh? What's the best for this heater?

4:46 a lot of people like to do that, regardless of having rubbing alcohol laying around. I'll show myself out 😅🤭😆😝👉 Brilliant experiment, cheers. Also, you know when there's a yellow flame, don't you get soot too, so you can't use it indoors? 🤔

Mini-stove. Fancy feast cat food can. Carbon felt. Small tomato paste can cut down to 2.25”. 4 holes around the bottom edge of tomato paste can with bottom cut off/ 3-4 small holes at the top edge prevent over pressure flush fires. 1 oz of alcohol will boil 2-3 cups of water for field rations and beverage. Wt: less than an ounce. You’ll definitely want a windscreen. Cook pot (1 liter titanium kettle/mug is best, but many people use military canteen cups with a foil/lid. I burn mine a bunch, but have been sticking with yellow bottle HEET, denatured alcohol or methylated spirits. (I’d be into a biodiesel/multi-fuel trial)…I’m making your heater tomorrow…(if I can get the mantle material)

Could large empty paint tins be used instead. Or would that be too dangerous?

I'm glad I'm not the only sink eater...

I add a bit of epsom salt, copper sulfate , borax or table salt to make the flame a little more visible.. regular table salt will change the flames to a yellow, copper sulfate=green, borax=light green, epsom salt= orange, you can also add a copper wire at the wick top and get a blue/green flame, salt substitute/potassium chloride gives a purpleish color

Shucks! Bang goes my idea for a ethanol heated hat.

I think it would possibly work better if the mantle was made in a conical shape looking at the shape of the flame

funny and informative ( thank you!)

Thanks for doing the bio ethanol.

Small stove top fan on top to move the warm air around would be good

« …if you’re someone who likes to rub himself a lot » - Comment of the day 😂 Thank you Robert.

They sell IPA at my local... by the pint. Might suggest to the landlord she puts it in a can of peas and sets fire to it.

Would like to see more emphasis on the cheapest form of fuel suggestions/comparisons - such as vegetable oil which is cheap and commonly available. People don't (well I don't) have ethanol and similar weird mix ratio fuels lying around - and to make them they are generally expensive in small household quantities for heating.

Dr. Smith, I see you have given precautions, here is one more, as you almost demonstrated it removing the mantle, with a highly combustible fuel source such as alcohol, if you tip it over, you will be very unhappy. might I suggest as well as your ceramic plate, a metal ballast plate and a magnet in the can bottom. Keep up the awesome teaching.

Could you theoretically use something like this to melt aluminium in a graphite crucible? Might be worth a try, especially for the rocket stove! Would really test the capability of it.

@Robert Murray-Smith, can we make a second aluminum shield to "turn down" the heating level, also thus making fuel last longer? Thanks for the guidance. - J

great video . if you do another one with heavier fuel could you test parrafin and petrol and diesel as i have just made one of your heaters and cant wait to try it. ps keep up the good work robert.

Thanks! Could these be any good affitives for pellet, trash, leaf, woodchip, or other dry compressed organic waste, etc? Seems like more heat is better, so there is not that much residue or smoke to block the gimney on closed systems.

This is quite interesting to watch .. and as I have continued to think about your progress .. I've thought after watching this .. why not develop a small stove of metal to keep the open flame inside .. could easily be a larger tin .. maybe a gallon size .. and a vent for air to move through. Maybe thicker metal .. as a small wood heater might have.

Hi Robert, you ate truly inspiring, can I ask how much will it cost to run the stove on methanol per hour