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[at-l] Trangia Westwind Stove "test" results

A while back I promised that I'd run some tests on my Trangia "Westwind"
stove when it arrived.  Well, it showed up last Friday and I've been
playing with it off and on since then.

The Westwind is a 6.5 oz alcohol stove that consists of a Trangia burner
and three interlocking pieces of aluminum that create a stand.  The stove
is very easy to set up and is wonderfully stable.  I Couldn't ask for more.
 The burner holds 3oz or so of alcohol.

I used a 1.3 l. Evernew Titanium pot.  The stove will JUST fit inside.  The
pot weighs about 6 oz.

I also used a cut down MSR windscreen.  I modified the windscreen by
trimming off excess length and creating a "notch" for the built in handle
of the pot.  The modified windscreen weighs about an ounce.

Total cookset weight: between 13 and 14 oz.

General comments:

As I said above, the stove is a breeze to set up.  It lights easily, and
requires no separate priming step, although it does not reach full power
instantly.  You can adjust the flame by means of a "simmer cap", but this
is not the easiest thing in the world to do.  The problem is that the only
easy way to adjust the cap is with your fingers, and the cap gets VERY hot
(it's in the flame, after all).  You could use a bandanna to handle the hot
cap, but getting it on or off the stove involves flipping the thing onto or
out of a mini-inferno.  You use the fully closed cap to snuff out the stove
when you're done.  After the stove cools, you screw on a cap that uses an
O-ring to create a tight seal.

The stove itself has no moving parts.  The burner looks like a small cup,
but has some internal structure.  The wall of the cup is hollow, and is
open at the bottom.  The top of the wall is perforated.  You light the
stove by lighting the alcohol in the cup.  Once the cup gets hot, the
alcohol in the "wall" begins to vaporize, and the perforations at the top
of the wall turn into little gas jets.

The Evernew Titanium pot is very nice also.  It has a simple lid (not a
frying pan) with an insulated ring you can use to pick it up.  The pot has
two hinged, insulated, pieces that fold out to form a handle, and fold
flush against the pot for storage.  The built in handle is great, since it
makes it really easy to eat out of a hot pot.  If you only carry one pot,
I'm sure the handle is lighter than a pot lifter.

Test results:

The tests were run in my laboratory, also known as the kitchen.  The
kitchen temperature was around 65 degrees (according to the thermostat in
the living room).  I measured the time it took to bring TWO CUPS of water
to a rolling boil.

Test 1: ice water, cold stove: 10 1/2 minutes
Test 2: ice water, hot stove: 7 minutes
Test 3: room temperature water, cold stove: 10 minutes

Problems in the test:

(1) The term "rolling boil" is subjective.
(2) I expected more difference between tests 1 and 3.
(3) The house was cooler for test 3, but I doubt that accounts for the
difference.

Fuel usage:

I didn't measure fuel usage.  I've cooked quite a few servings of grits
over the last week, and I'd estimate that bringing 2 cups of water to a
boil and making quick grits takes between 1/2 and 1 oz of fuel.

Test conclusions:

The stove is light, convenient, environmentally correct, and slow as
molasses.  I'm going to try it out this summer.  I think it will suit me
just fine.

-- Jim Mayer
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