[at-l] Pot Cozzy's

[daveh at psknet.com (Dave Hicks)]

Chase

Two observations:

First, you asked, "is 20* a significant amount to the cold weather camper?"

My response is "doing what?"

If you are using the cozy to cook pasta, bean, rice, etc concoctions, my
guess is "yes."  Most of these need 20--30 minutes at temperatures very near
boiling.  I question if the "Pizza Zip" cozy would do the job in cold
weather.

OTOH, freeze dried and other "boil and pour" meals (which have 5 or 20
minute "wait periods") just need relatively warm/hot water to reconstitute
and the 20* is probably not a significant additional amount of heat lose.
In fact, the 220* to 137* drop is probably well within their needs.  So, the
difference between a drop of 220* to 137* vs. 220* to 157* seems to say
"leave the 'Pizza Zip' home" for this application.

So I suspect in cold weather the "Pizza Zip" cozy is too little insulation
to cook pasta, bean, rice, etc concoctions and not needed for "boil and
pour" cooking.  As always YMMV and only real field test will tell.

Second, you speak of a close cell cozy as bulky.

My closed cell fits around my pot when packed.  While bulky in one since, it
takes up very little additional space when pack this way.  My pot w/o cozy
6.25 diameter x 3.5 high cylinder.  W/ cozy it is a 7.25 diameter x 4.5 high
cylinder.

So, (if my math is correct) the cozy takes up an additional 67.7 CI -- or
the additional space of about a quart zip lock bag filled 1-1/3 inches
thick.

Some, (such as Jan Lite-shoe) do not use the foam base -- placing the pot on
a table with the foam cylinder over it.  In my case this would bring the
thickness of the equivalent quart zip lock down to less than an inch.

Chainsaw

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Chase Davidson" <wb4pan@mindspring.com>
To: <at-l@backcountry.net>
Sent: Monday, May 26, 2003 12:19 PM
Subject: Re: [at-l] Pot Cozzy's



  I did some Pot Cozy testing in my freezer. My freezer is around
6* F and the temperature briefly would rise to 20* when I added the pan
with two cups of boiling water. I did three tests. One with my new
gallon ziplock silver pizza bag cozy, another test with my closed cell
foam pot cozy and then the control with the .9 L Titanium pot without
insulation. I hope I can tabulate the results neatly for email.

Cozy type        Pizza Zip    closed cell    none
========================================================
temp @ 30 min       158*           HHH           138*

temp @ 40 min       146*           HHH           122*

temp @ 60 min       126*           150*
=========================================================

HHH is off scale. 158* is Maximum this thermometer will read.
Both cozies weigh 1.5 oz each. The closed cell one is bulky, the zipbag
   stores easily (about the bulk of three gallon ziplocks rolled up).
     The results surprised me. The zipbag was only 20* warmer than the
plain pot after 30 min @ 6*F. But is 20* a significant amount to the
cold weather camper?

chase





 >>YO,
 >>
 >>I tried out a new pot cozy this trip. This one is a gallon size
 >>ziplock which I lined with that silvery pizza hot bag material.
 >>Walmart has these pizza size hot bags made from silver coated plastic
 >>material. Keeps things hot or cold. I cut out a section of the
 >>material and with my vacuum sealer I sealed the edges to make a bag.
 >>The bag is big enough to stick my .9 liter Titanium pot into. All this
 >>fits inside the gallon size zipper bag. The system folds up nice and
 >>flat. I may add some more insulation cut from one of those silvery
 >>truck window sun shades like the hammock folks use sometimes. I used
 >>the cozy on several of my meals and it worked very well. I am anxious
 >>to try some controlled tests this winter to see just how well it
 >>works. I have several ideas to try out. A cozy make life simpler. No
 >>need to sit and stir a meal while its cooking. Plus food doesn't stick
 >>to the pan as it is not kept on the burner as long.
 >>
 >>chase

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