The Caldera Cone's 12-10 Burner

Recently, I did a review of the Caldera Cone alcohol stove system, which is a wonderfully efficient, lightweight, wind resistant alcohol stove system, one of the best out there.

A Caldera Cone alcohol stove system in use with an MSR Titan kettle.

Today, I thought I'd take a quick look at the unique burner that comes with the Caldera Cone, the 12-10 burner.  As for why the Caldera Cone is such an efficient alcohol stove system, please see The "Magic" of the Caldera Cone.

A Caldera Cone's 12-10 burner, shown here in my hand.

The 12-10 burner has an interesting and unusual design.  While the 12-10 has holes in the side of the body of the burner, it is not a side jet stove, at least not in the conventional sense.

Some common alcohol stove designs:  Open cup side burner, closed top jet, open top jet (including the brass Trangia burner)

With a typical side jet burner, the flames burn out from the jets.

A typical side jet burner.

With a 12-10 burner, the flames from the "jets" basically burn in to the burner.  It's a little hard to see, but take a close look at the two photos below of a 12-10 burner.  If you look closely, you can see the jets burning within.

A 12-10 burner in use.  Can you see the jets within the burner?

Another photo of a 12-10 burner in use.  Can you see the interior jets any better in this photo?

The interior jets combine into one flame and exit the burner, burning as though the 12-10 burner were a simple open cup type burner.  It's anything but.  This is one sophisticated, well-tuned burner.  I can only imagine how many hours of design, building, and testing went into the 12-10!

The 12-10 burner almost looks as though it were a simple open cup type burner.  Note the burner is shown mounted in a Trangia 27 set up for ease of photography. The Trangia 27 is NOT a Caldera Cone or a Trail Designs product.

Now, take a look at that photo above.  That's a really tall flame.  On most stoves, if you get a tall flame like that, the stove is really inefficient and burns through its fuel quickly.  Not the 12-10.  In test after test, I've matched it up against various designs, and relatively few stoves beat the 12-10 in a duration test.

Various alcohol stoves being compared to 12-10 burners in a duration test.  Can you spot the 12-10 burners?  They're the two on the lower right hand side, front row.

One might also think that such a tall flame would waste a lot of heat.  Not so with a Caldera Cone

A Caldera Cone (left)

That cone controls the airflow around the pot and transfers heat to the pot very efficiently with a minimum of fuel use.

Water boiling on a Caldera Cone stove system.

The Caldera Cone alcohol stove system -- it's one well thought out system. 

My Caldera Cone alcohol stove system set up.

And at it's center?  The superb, lightweight 12-10 burner.  Highly recommended.

HJ

P.S. This blog post is part of my series on the Caldera Cone. In case you missed any of the series:

• Caldera Cone Alcohol Stove Review (on Seattle Backpackers Magazine)
  
• Caldera Cone Review Supplement -- Additional Photos and Technical Appendix with Weights
  
• Caldera Cone vs. Clikstand Alcohol Stove Tests
  
• The Caldera Cone's 12-10 Burner
  
• What "Color" is your Caldera?
  
• The "Magic" of the Caldera Cone (Why is the Caldera Cone so efficient?)

A Trail Designs 12-10 alcohol burner

Related posts and articles:

• Getting Started with Alcohol
• DIY Alcohol Stoves -- Basic Design Considerations
• Cold Weather Tips for Alcohol Stoves
• Is Ethanol Worth It?
  
• Caldera Cone Alcohol Stove Review (on Seattle Backpackers Magazine)
• Caldera Cone Review Supplement -- Additional Photos and Technical Appendix with Weights
• The Clikstand Alcohol Stove System Review
• Caldera Cone vs. Clikstand Alcohol Stove Tests
• Trangia 27 Alcohol Stove System Review
• The Caldera Cone's 12-10 Burner
• The Trangia Alcohol Burner
• What's the Best Alcohol for Stove Fuel?
• What Is Meths?  (And how is that different than Methanol?)
• Going "Green" with Stoves:  Alcohol and Biodiesel