From: sheehan@pagosa.scd.ucar.edu (Tim Sheehan)
Subject: DIY Svea 123 heat reflector
Organization: NCAR/UCAR
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1992 21:07:11 GMT

My last two backpacking trips took me above timberline, and it was
windy up there. On one trip, my Svea 123 was blown out. On the other,
I watched as the heat waves produced by the stove went sideways
instead of up around the pot. I resolved to make a heat reflector/wind
screen to remedy this problem.

Here are the instructions for those who are interested. I would also
like to hear if anyone else has bought/made such a thing for their
Svea.

1) Get a stainless steel vegetable steamer, the kind with the
overlapping fins that can be folded in or out to adjust to the size of
the pot.

2) Remove the legs. These normally screw on or snap in.

3) Cut a hole in the center of the bottom that is just a bit larger
than the diameter of the burner assembly.

4) Cut three notches out from the hole in the bottom, so that the
three pot supports on the Svea can fit through the bottom of the
vegetable steamer when they are pointed in towards the burner.

At this point the bottom of the vegetable steamer should look like
this:



                 ____________
                /            \
               /             *\
              /       ***  *   \
             |      *******     |
             |*************     |
             |      ******      |
              \      ***  *    /
               \           *  /
                \ __________*/

The asterisks represent what has been cut out. And you don't have to
tell me that I'm not an artist, I already know.

5) At this point, the bottom of the steamer has three fins in it
because of the way it has been cut. Bend each of these fins down
towards the center hole in the bottom, so that from the side the
bottom looks like this:

     __________          _________
               \        /

6) File the sharp edges from the cutting until they are smooth.

7) To use, you just place the reflector over the stove's original
wind screen with the pot supports towards the center, and then rotate
the pot supports out in the position you would normally use them. You
can adjust the fins of the steamer to fit closely to just about any
size pot. 

Here is a cut away view of the reflector on the stove:


                  _____________________
                  |                   |
                  |                   |
                  |       pot         |
             \    |                   |    /
              \   |___________________|   /
               \   ==|<-supports-> |==   /<--Heat reflector
                \____|_  _______  _|____/     |
                   |   \ \     / /<-|---------+
                   |      \   /     |
                   |       | |      |
       Burner------|-----> | |      |<--Svea's brass
                   |       | |      |   wind screen
                   |      /   \     |
                   | ____/     \___ |
                   |/              \|
                   |   Stove        |
                   |   Base         |
                   |________________|


One of the nice things about this reflector is that it can be nested
into a pot for carrying, or it can be folded into a small size. The
weight of the one I made is 5 oz.

I haven't had a chance to test it in the wind yet, but without wind,
to bring .6 liters of water to a rolling boil it took 4:20 min without
the screen and 3:55 min with the screen.


-- 
-Tim-

sheehan@ncar.ucar.edu

Newsgroups: rec.backcountry