by Case Turner
A while back I wrote to you about the Stovetec stove. I purchased one of the two door models and thought you might like to include a brief write up on its performance. Granted, this is an outdoor stove, but it works great for cooking and would be a fantastic alternative for those who don’t want to put a traditional kitchen into their small abode. This camp season it will be our number one cooker. In preparation for camping season we have been using it weekly in the backyard burning up every little stick we can scrounge up.
First, and foremost I would like to mention that I have no connection with this company. Admittedly. I do have a fetish for outdoor cooking equipment. I peruse garage sale, surplus stores, thrift shops looking for outdoor stoves and cooking gear. I have been lusting over the Stovetec stoves for a while. At our annual sportsman show this spring, Stovetec had a booth and I couldn’t resist. I purchased the two door model and headed straight home. I hurriedly unpacked my new toy and immediately scrounged up every limb, stick, and a pile of pine needles I could get my hands on. I grabbed the tea kettle from the camper and 10 or so sticks later I had boiling water. I spent the next several hours in the backyard burning sticks and boiling water. At the end of the session I dampened everything down and simmered water for a good half hour!
The wood that I have been primarily burning is lodge pole pine. I split these from our wood pile. The sticks end up being about 1 in x 1 in x 18 inches . Lodge pole burns good and hot, but a bit fast. If one was to use hardwood you would have a better fire for simmering. The sides and the bottom of the stove do get warm, so be careful. After a hour or two of burning they are not, however, excessively hot to the touch. As you can see in the pictures I have my stove set on OSB. I wouldn’t advise this setup, just because embers and such could jump out create a fire hazard. Aside from that I would have no problem setting this on a stump or picnic table and using it. I have since replaced the OSB with Metal. This stove is not a good candidate as a heat source. Obviously the open chimney wouldn’t work in a confined space. It also holds its heat and doesn’t like to give any of it away.
I’ve been experimenting with different methods of lighting the stove. I primarily have been just using whatever tinder I can find no paper. We have lots of pine needles right now. The best result I’ve had is to place a small amount of tinder in the fire chamber, then lay 4-5 sticks in, then fill the chimney with more tinder and light at the bottom. So far this method works with one match every time. After the wood gets going you just keep pushing the sticks further into the chamber. Adding more as needed.
The stove comes with a heat ring that can be put on top. I use this whenever using a pot, kettle, or wok. It speeds up the cooking process quite a bit. I have found that stainless steel and cast iron are my favorite camp pots to use. The soot is easier to get off the stainless. The cast iron of course holds heat better. We have been stir frying in a wok, which works fantastic. Traditional camp food can be made too. After all, there’s just something about roasted hotdogs and marshmallows. One of our all time favorites though are grilled ham and cheese sandwiches in the pie iron!
The Stovetec stove is going to be my go to stove this camp season. The places we like to go are full of fantastic sticks so fuel will be free!
Those stoves were designed for camping where you can drive up to your camping spot. They were never meant to be used indoors.
We got one of those stoves, too. It’s been very useful for outside cooking and for heating water for an outdoor soaking tub. We cook a lot outside during the heat of mid-summer so we don’t heat up the house so much. This stove, along with a grill and Dutch oven pretty much takes care of all our cooking needs. We also use a propane Coleman stove when more temperature control is needed.
The best thing about the stove is that you can use it with dry sticks you can pick up anywhere. Everybody should have one for emergency cooking in case of power outages due to storms, earthquakes, etc.
They also work very well with bagged charcoal with great heat control and very little smoke.
By the way, those hot dog hangers are a great idea! I bet the kids love them. Thanks for sharing.
More importantly, a write up on the hotdog hangers? where are they from? thanks
Eurojoe,
We purchased those at the same show. The y are great and actually flip when you jig the pole. I found this website that offers them and shows a video of them in use!
http://www.firebuggz.com/
You can build a “Rocket Stove” really cheap.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIMi0DVDvqw
I purchased one of these this winter. Finally warmed up over the 40’s so I got a chance to test it out last week without freezing myself. Will be my go to camp stove for car/truck camping and will also use it at home.
Great stove overall. I got the Ecozoom branded Versa lite.
So far I’ve deep fried some stuff in my 5qt cast iron dutch oven/fryer/skillet combo, cooked some bacon up on my cast iron skillet, boiled some water, and stir-fried some chicken and peppers in my cast iron wok.
Do you have a source for the rack that holds the fuel in the pix? I like this stove, think I MUST have one! Thanx!
The rack came with the stove. also with the stove, though not pictured is the heat ring that goes at the top.
The racks come with the stoves.
If the external rack for the firewood had higher legs on the outside end, perhaps gravity would feed the sticks in, rather than having to stand poking them in …..but then that is fun, so perhaps not!
More likely the fire would travel up the sticks to the outside which would likely cause a bit of consternation.
I was looking for a way to easily protect the stove during storage and transport. I found that all of the parts to my stove fit quite well into and on a plastic 5 gallon paint bucket with gamma seal lid($11 Home Depot).
The fuel rack will fit over the top of the cast iron plate once placed in the bucket, and the pot skirt will slide onto the exterior of the bucket up to the handles where it can be cinched down.
This method of storage and transport is just as durable (if not more so) than the bag Stovetec sells for $65.
Just remember to let the stove cool to the touch and empty the embers before placing into the plastic bucket.
I use my Stovetec Two door all the time for cooking,we recently bought a camper and used it for most all of out cooking,other than a charcoal Hibachi, wife likes it so much she had to order a second one so we can cook more at the same time,nothing like making a breakfast with three med size stick or so, a little bit of learning curve to see what works best for you usage,but the results are awesome.