Zip Stoves ------Question to them......

[oldsparkey]

Gentleman

I do a lot of camping and like the gas stoves (Coleman) because the heat can be reduced to finish the cooking process which might take up to 20 minutes, is that posable with your stove?

The reason I am asking is that I use a bakepacker to do most of my cooking with and you kick the heat up until the water starts to boil and then turn it down really low so you don't cook off all of the water before your meal is cooked. If the water is gone then you will not have any steam to cook with but just one big mess in your cooking pot.

If you are not familiar with the backpacker here is there web address......so you can better understand my problem http://www.bakepacker.com/

I hope you don't mind but I am going to post this question on my web site and forum and will be looking for your reply. Thank You.

The link for them is http://www.zzstove.com/

Chuck
http://www.southernpaddler.com

 

[oldsparkey]

After looking at there web site and all of the information there was one thing I found interesting....... If you are camping in an area where someone else has had a fire (or natural causes) you CAN use the charcoal from that fire to reheat and cook with ..... Forget the briquettes and just use what is there for you.

That I really do like.

Now can you adjust the heat to simmer a sauce with it. :?: :?:

Chuck.

 

[Swampy]

Chuck the only way I can see controlling the cooking temp is to be there over the stove and adjust the coals to burn slower... I'd think also on increasing the distance between the fire and the pot bottom.
You can carry some coals ... I use hickory chips for local cooking...
I have also used green branches as a grill to hold a can/pot to heat up with... thicker branches make further away from fire... decreasing the damper would slow the fire down too.
swampy
but then all I do is heat and eat.... Boiling a bag is no problem... just add wood... if ya have to that is..

 

[Kayak Jack]

Swampus,

I'm REALLY glad you've shared this with us. THANK YOU. And, Chuck, good question. See my comments elsewhere about the "two can lid heat dissipator" (patent un-pending). Coffee can lid, cat food can lid, wired together, many holes drilled judiciously to allow perimetner heat to pass thorugh, no holes directly over the central ring of fire on Coleman stoves.

And YES, titanium is very difficult to drill - or do anything else with either. Very tough stuff.

 

[oldsparkey]

Here is there answer about my question.........


Hi Chuck,

I tried to respond to your previous e-mail but it said your account was not accepting the mail from aol. So I will try again.

I do not believe you will have the controlled cooking you need for the bakepacker with the Sierra stove. There is a high low and off switch, but it is like trying to control a small campfire for 20 minutes to simmer a pot. I don't think you are going to get the desired results.

Regards,
Jeannie Scholfield
ZZ Manufacturing
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My responce to Jeannie.

Jeannie

I thank you for you response and honesty. I have a paddling trip coming up next month with some of the guy's and one of them has your stove.

He believes in it and it is all he uses so I will have the opportunity to try it out, when we get into camp there should be plenty of time for some experimenting.

I was wishing it would do what I want because I really like the idea of not taking gas with me.

Now you have me thinking .... There has to be a way to make it work. This trip will be interesting and more fun then I planned on.


It is refreshing to ask a question and get an honest answer from a manufacture of camping gear , they have to be some good folks.

Chuck.

 

[Kahuna]

Two can lid heat dissipator??

Kayak Jack....splain this to Bubba

 

[oldsparkey]

Sorry , Bubba but I ain't Jack. Just trying to find a way to cook in the woods without gas , the gas comes later after supper usually around 2 AM. or sooner while sleeping .

I was just pondering this problem around in the vacuum I call a brain. With a gas stove the amount of gas going into the burning unit controls the amount of flame and heat ... Right....It is called the control valve.

Then .... Why can't a person using one of the zip stoves control the heat (flame) with the help of the fan and the size of the stick or fuel being fed to the burning unit. The person doing the cooking becomes the control valve. (repair kits are expensive)

Using the backpacker you do have to be there to watch it and time it while cooking, anyway I do it that way. So just add the sticks (small ones) as you cook supper. This is one case where a watched pot does boil.

A simple mind finds the answer to a hard question . ..........

Chuck.

 

[oldsparkey]

The more I think about this the more I like it ....Just take the stove with you and forget the gas can. Darn site less weight in the backpack or boat.

The way the stove works just depends on the person operating it ......No extra gas just some batteries and I always take plenty for my Mini Mag Lite...

I am going to get one and try it out here at the house before the trip. Good cornbread or burnt ... this will be interesting but the more you use an item the more you are use to it.

I know I can make it do what I want it to do when out camping. The thing I like is that it is natural just like the small campfire at night on the river bank.

Now which one to get. All I need is the stove.
A good side benefit ... in the morning when it is cold then I can have a small campfire, self contained, and later something to cook over.
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Just placed my order for the basic stove and got the confirmation ... This is a good day..a 18,000 BTU stove that weighs 1 pound... Look out swampy we will be fighting for the fire wood on the St Mary's. :lol: :lol: Now we have to get Jack off his rear. :roll:
Chuck.

 

[Swampy]

I had sent Jack and Chuck this test ( with more pics than here) and checked the forum and see he's already a biliever! lol
Test conditions:
I used the Bakepacker from Adventure foods to place the Jiffy cornbread mix into it. I got the wood from my yard, several branches that blown down... very small, very .... I also placed some hickory chips from the store that I had on hand... they burn to fast as far as I'm concerned. They're good for smoke but not heat.
I also used some oak ppieces I had in the shop that were cut down to about 3/4" X 1"X 3/4".... about four of these. I added wood durring the test/baking
I used a camping grill that sets on three legs and has an adjustment ring to lower/raise the grill from the fire source.

got the fire going under the grill

KT has the mix ready, the water inside the pan and I'm fired up...

mix ready for grill in bakepacker

The directions for the baking time is 20 min... that is what I'm going for. The clock starts!

This is the distance I used from the bottom of the pan to the Zip stove's top.

Ten minutes into the bake, I check progress..

Looking good! With two minutes to go for the bake time , I figger to let the fire go out. So I lowered the grill closer to the stove to grab what heat is left. And there is plenty!

with 2 min to go

Exactly 20 minutes from the start I pulled the pan into the house and here is the results!

You'll see the Bakepacker on the rear right... I don't think the food collander would work... you need that bag down where the heat is.
Not much water is used in this at all...
Conclution(s):
1) If the base is large enough the Zip stove will heat it
2) With regulating the fire with the dampner and distance from the fire and pot , a steady heat was made available and I believe controlable.
3) The Zip stove and the Bakepacker is a terrific team in the woods... not to mention the heat on a cold morning or evening when you just don't feel like building a "whiteman's fire" as the Indians have said...
Wonder how it would do in a pig pickin???
swampy

 

[oldsparkey]

The folks at ZZ Manufacturing are on the ball.

I placed an order with them for one of there stoves on the (Late) evening hours of the 18th..... It is here at my house on the 22nd. Not bad for coming from Californian to Florida.
Heck ,I was not expecting it until next week.

Checked it out and it looks like it will get a lot of use. Light weight, a small package and the idea of it makes sense to me, use the fuel available out there in the woods, after all I hang my hammock between two trees and there is fire wood everywhere.

Now I woun't have to pack a gas bottle and the extra weight and have that nasty gas smell as the gas stove cools down , just natural wilderness aromas.

I will do a smoke test in the morning.

Chuck.

 

[Kayak Jack]

Chef Chuck,

I'd like YOUR opinions about how large or heavy a pot would be able to cook on there.

Thank you kindly. Desert Pete.

 

[oldsparkey]

Desert Pete

Well, I got some extra fire insurance so I could try the Zip Stove out on the patio.

I picked up about three hands full of wood (Dried Oak) everywhere in size from a wooded match up to about a nickel. Used a little Kleenex I made a small pyramid out of the smaller wood, threw a match in there and no time there was a fire cooking. When the fire gets going you turn on the fan and boy it really goes then.
I Let it get hot then added some of the bigger wood and put the pot on the stove.

The high setting was just to much (the whole pot was encased in flame) I used the low setting and with my titanium pot and two cups of water it was boiling is less then five minutes.
You do get a lot of heat from just a few small pieces of wood :wink:

When the fire starts there is the usual smoke but when it gets hot there is not any. Your pot will get blacken, which helps with the absorption of heat.

They have coated the inside of the stove with something and I would suggest just building a fire in it and burring the stuff off then it will be a gray color and should not blacken a pot as much as it did mine.

I have not tried the backpacker but I am thinking the cross grate they have for it would work pretty good because it raises the pot up off the stove and away from the higher amount of heat. I did not get one and will have to get one.

The base of the stove is rather small and for camping pots ( What a person backpacking would carry with them) it works good but with a larger frying pan (10 inch) it would have to be held by the cook, I would not trust the base of the stove to support it. I do use a 10 inch pan and will have to go to a smaller one if I wanted to let it sit on the stove.

Do I like the stove and will I use it ..... Sure will.

Chuck.

 

[oldsparkey]

Jack

They say that you can use charcoal in the stove but a briquette needs to broken in half.

2 briquettes would give you the heat for a 20 minute or a longer fire to cook up your supper in the backpacker. Just start a fire the normal way and then when it starts to get down add the briquettes and put on the backpacker. Run the fan on low and let supper bake.

I just did another fire in the stove and you do want to have a fire in it before you put your cooking pot on it. They had some type of lacquer on the inside (fire) chamber that when it cooked off really made my cooking pot black on the 1st test run I did. Did not have that problem, just a little good ole wood smoke this time.

Chuck.

 

[Kayak Jack]

Thanks, Chuck. Your observations parallel Swampy's exactly. Pressing on here with the wings stove. Will report in a few days.

 

[oldsparkey]

Jack

The Zip Stove is used the same way as either my Coleman Multi fuel stove or the MSR Whisperlite stove but without the white gas of liquid fuel.

As a single burner but using a natural fuel source......wood.

For heavy pots and larger frying pans then it is the Coleman double burner or a tripod with some chain and a cast iron pot over the fire.

Chuck. (tired of toting gas with him)

 

[DocMobius]

One Question?

What do you do in wet weather?
And you didn't bring any charcol or wood pieces?

DocMobius

 

[oldsparkey]

Doc

When out in the woods have you ever noticed all of the standing dead wood. Better yet paddling down a river there are all sorts of dead wood for the paddler to gather, some do it by missing a turn and trying to paddle thru the trees then they end up with a boat full of firewood.

The rest we just elect to some political office .... That is Dead Wood ..Ya Know. :lol: :lol:

This little stove burns the smaller pieces of wood and I would say nothing larger then something about a dime size and 3 inches long. It also gets so darn hot that it would burn some moist wood. That is one reason I plan on taking a zip lock bag ....Put what I want in it for the cooking, two handfuls of wood = two meals.

A lot of rain then mooch off of your buddies. I never have that problem since it never rains on me when I am out camping. :roll:
Chuck.

 

[Kayak Jack]

Chuck,

Did you notice that Charlie's email address is "beaverwood"? Guess from what source we get out pre-gathered, pre-cut, pre-stacked firewood?

 

[Swampy]

Doc, even in rainy weather look under the branches of pine trees that have their branches on the ground or very close to the ground. Scrape away some of the needles there ( you could use those needles!) and you'll find dry or almost dry wood to burn.
I carry a ziplock bag of clothes dryer lint. If you have never tried setting a match to a small piece of this, then do so outside! Go back and look at some of the pictures of my stove when I lit it off. You'll see very little wood in it... heck it can't take big wood anyways.
I can use this stove where I can't build a bigger fire, I don't need a bundle of wood to heat up my meals or coffee/coco. One handfull or two is all I need.
We're talking only enough twigs to keep this fire for about 15-20 minutes. The thicker the wood the longer that pile will burn... and the fan charges air into the burner basket making for a HOT fire. It's also enviomentally sound.
Jack draws attention to beaver wood, a great source. A knife applied to a dead branch will peel off enough in a short time. In short, if you plan on making a fire , you'll have fuel and starter material anyways... just don't use as much with the Zip. If your out in the desert, dead catus can be used also. (I've used that several times) If you've ever used Sterno fires you'll really love the Zip. I don't like sterno for many reasons. ( See Dawallace's article on the tent that went up in flames under trip reports)

To heat one cup of coffee? one charge of wood... in just a couple of minutes ( 2 to be exact) you'll have a hot cup.
Jack is working on a stove where the sides unfold and wood is burned mid way from bottom where air holes are located and a top that is bowed in to hold a WOK. Interesting item....
He is working on a cylinder model... It was Chuck's and Jack's ideas about the stove that sparked an idea where a coffee can with holes at bottom and around the top would work as a grill for the Zip stove to hold larger pots over the Zip's burner...
swampy

 

[oldsparkey]

Swampy

With the Zip Stove you can have a small wood fire and who ever looks into a gas burner while dreaming :?:
Chuck.