Orion wrote:I've considered making one of these for years. Laziness has been the prime reason I have not yet done it, but there is another nagging concern as well:
Specifically, how much fuel does a cozy save? Does it weigh less than that saved fuel? How much?
Obviously this will depend on the type and amount of cooking and the duration of the trip.
Has anyone done this analysis for their own cooking?
Phillipsart wrote:The pot cosy I made today weighs 29 grams.
Bronski wrote:Phillipsart wrote:The pot cosy I made today weighs 29 grams.
Nice job Phillisart! What's the shiny tape? Where do Ii get that?
Orion wrote:Specifically, how much fuel does a cozy save? Does it weigh less than that saved fuel? How much?
Obviously this will depend on the type and amount of cooking and the duration of the trip.
Has anyone done this analysis for their own cooking?
Tony wrote:I have read some reports which say that pot cosy's are weight efficient, especially with alcohol stoves.
Tony
Phillipsart wrote:The pot cosy I made today weighs 29 grams.
Phillipsart wrote:The pot cosy I made today weighs 29 grams.
That's very roughly the weight of 1 person-day of fuel (gas), in my experience.
Do you have a guess as to how much fuel weight you would save using it on a typical trip?
Orion wrote:I understand the motivation. Sometimes home dehydrated meals take a long time to soften up adequately. I often turn off the stove and let things just sit for a while and then turn the stove back on to warm the food back up for serving. What I've never figured out is if I use more fuel this way then if I just simmered the whole time. Simmering uses fuel quite slowly.
How slowly? I measured the weight of a canister before and after running my stove (Snowpeak Gigapower) on "simmer" for 60 seconds. It wasn't the absolute lowest heat setting but pretty close. I used 0.41 grams of fuel in that minute. So it would take 70 minutes to burn through 29 grams of fuel at that rate.
Another consideration is average weight for the trip. Since fuel weight reduces over time the average weight is going to be roughly half the fuel weight, whereas the average cozy weight equals the weight of the cozy. So in terms of average weight for the trip I'd need to simmer for about 140 minutes to break even with respect to carrying a cozy. I might manage this if I was out for a week or more and all of my food was difficult to cook. In other words, for me it would be rare that it would be worth it.
One possible exception is if I was right on the border of needing an additional canister. If carrying a cozy would allow me to leave that extra canister at home it would be well worth the weight. Unfortunately I am usually unable to calculate my fuel needs that precisely.
The numbers are just not that promising which is too bad because I really like the idea of a cozy. Convince me that I'm wrong!
Tony wrote:I always use more fuel in the field than on my test bench.
mattmacman wrote:And you can put your pot on you lap! ^
garyp wrote:mattmacman wrote:And you can put your pot on you lap! ^
Yes, absolutely. The cossy (at least mine) is a great insulator. I've had food stay "eating warm" for up to 30 minutes. With a DIY stove set up I think cossies are essential. I can see no reason not to use them with any other cooking set up. They just make good sense.
Cheers
Gary
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