Volcano Hot Pot

[ZDP-189]

I have just purchased a generic Volcano hot pot for a couple of quid in a restaurant wholesalers'. It will replace my old Trangia pot that was destroyed while I was trying to solder on a set of Jetboil-style heatsink fins.

This type of pot is common in a lot of Asian cooking and is used a like a fondue pot, but with spicy soup instead of cheese. It is very common and so you should have no problem locating one in your local town.



You can see there is a fairly efficient looking pot holder. I didn't buy one of those because it was too heavy and I still have that bit from my mini-Trangia set.

Here you can see me boiling the volcano pot next to a mini-trangia pot on identical hobs. Both held exactly half a litre of water. I did two runs, swapping them over. The small hobs were approximately the same power and flame pattern as a tragia burner.



The volcano, having more surface area than the mini-trangia pot always came to a boil first. I very roughly estimate a 20% fuel saving plus or minus 10%. It is also much sturdier than the trangia pot. Another unexpected advantage is that it appeared to be made of a more chemically resistant alloy.

As you can see, the volcano pot was unmarked after two boilings, wereas the trangia was definately stained by whatever was in my tapwater.



So, although the volcano pot weighs 50g more than the Trangia pot, it more than makes up for that in efficiency. In one 75cl Sigg flask, a 20% efficiency improvement translates into 150g saved or more practically speaking, 5 extra boils totalling around 2.5 litres more boiled water.

The only downside seems to be that it doesn't stack with the Trangia parts. I can fit most parts, except the burner inside.

My next experiment will be to make a folding wood or coke burning stove for the volcano pot. I believe that the shape of the funnel will be far more useful in this setup, drawing air up the funnel, creating an updraft to feed the fire while heating, much like a Kelly Kettle. If I can, I'll save a kilo in pack weight and have unlimited fuel.

Anyone else tried one?

[benp1]

that's bloody good thinking. i'm guessing its made of ally

perhaps a pot underneath with a few holes in the wall low down to help with drawing in air and a neat little lid for that pot will have an awesome cooker. you can feed the fire through the hole in the pot

[Edgehog]

Nice one Dan, I'll see if I can find one in the local oriental store.

Whatever do you have in that broth, it looks delicious - got a recipe?

[Edgehog]

hmmm, looking at the pics I'm guessing it's not yours at the top.

[ZDP-189]

Not mine, but by the look of it, it involves cauliflower and lots of spicy chilli oil. Maybe we should call it the 'burning ring of fire'.

Ben, yes it is aluminium.