DIY Emergency Heater & Cooker - Cheap, Easy To Make & Easy To Carry

Many of you have probably heard about a paint can heater. Normally, to make a paint can heater, you insert a roll of toilet paper (without the cardboard tube) into a quart sized paint can, fill it with isopropyl alcohol and then, after the isopropyl alcohol has completely absorbed into the toilet paper, you light it on fire and there you have it… A heater.

I’m trying to make a system that is easy to use, is cheap and has multiple uses.  I also want to see what it the most economical as well as the most useful as a heater/cooker.  So here is a thought on how to improve on an old idea.  For my test, I am checking to see if using different types of wicks and different percentages of alcohol can make this system better. 
 

To start, I took (2) 1 quart metal paint cans and instead of using the traditional toilet paper as the wick, made two different wicks.  In the first can I used Bounty paper towels (without the cardboard tube) and the other I used 100% cotton painters cloth. From my experience, most wicks are cotton and should last a long time. Obviously, you would not want the can to continue burning down until it burns up the wick, so you would have to watch it closely.

Now, what percentage of isopropyl alcohol should be used? I did a test with two cotton balls; one had 70% isopropyl alcohol and the other had 90% isopropyl alcohol. I found that 70% isopropyl alcohol lasted longer and did not tear up the cotton ball (which makes it reuseable). When I used 90% isopropyl alcohol, it destroyed the cotton ball all the way to the bottom. For this test, I am using 80% alcohol because I don’t have enough 70% for both cans, so I am mixing 70% and 90% which should make it 80% alcohol.

After building the proto-types, I wanted to put them side-by-side to compare the size of the flame in relation to the type of wick used.  I also timed this to see how long it will last.  After igniting them both, the wicks both put out the same sized flame. 

I stopped the test at about 1 hour and 50 minutes and the flame was still super strong in each can.  The cloth wick singes more because you can’t get it to lay perfectly flat on top where the flame is.  Any little nub or crease in the cloth that sticks up is susceptible to hotter burning.  The bounty roll wick did not singe as much.  I probably could have gotten another 15-30 minutes out of them, but I want to reuse the wick. 2 hours burning time is plenty to boil water, cook food, and give heat.

My conclusion is, using a cloth wick seems like it would be more durable, but the bounty roll wick worked better.  Plus, if you go with the bounty roll as a wick, it will save weight in your back pack.  As far as what type of isopropyl alcohol to use, I would use 80% alcohol.  In my cotton ball test, the 70% lasted longer and was reusable, but you have to remember this one important detail.  The 70% isopropyl alcohol has 30% water in it.  The more you use the 70% solution, the more it will soak your wick with water.  Over time, the wick will no longer be able to burn as it will be filled with mostly water.  If you go with the 80% as I did in my test, it lasts a long time and there is less water.   Overall, this is a great system to have in your kit!

Tips:  When using this type of set-up, watch it closely so when the alcohol finally burns off, you can cover the paint can with the lid, extinguish the fire and save the wick so you can reuse it.  Also, if you were using this in the outdoors, you have other options as to your fuel.  When you run out of alcohol, you can burn wood in the bucket.  When you’re not using it for fire, you can empty out the bucket and use it for storage/gathering applications. 

Any thoughts?

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