Handwarmers S04E03: Rebuilding your handwarmer - how much catalyst to use
Channel: Mountain Parameters
Date: 2020-01-07

The easiest way to replace the platinum catalyst pad in your liquid fuel handwarmer is to stuff the catalyst into a spring, and then place that into the head. Through seat of the pants observations, I got the impression years ago that about 1/2 of a 1x1.25" catalyst pad was optimal for a standard handwarmer like a zippo, or any of the many similar handwarmers such as Peacock, Jon-e, butterfly, etc.

I finally got around to doing some bench tests to evaluate the relative difference in heat output you could expect to see if you use a different density of catalyst in the head. Fortunately, the results supported my earlier assumptions.

Timeline:
00:00 Methodology of cutting a pad and placing a strip into a spring.
04:15 Bench testing methodology explained
06:52 First bench test: heat output for 1/3 of catalyst pad in spring.
07:05 Time lapse: Placing the second pad (2/3 size) into a spring
07:35 Second bench test, heat resulting from doubling the density of the catalyst
08:30 Time lapse: Placing a full sized pad into a spring
08:50 Last bench test: heat output for a full pad placed in spring
09:30 Conclusion: 1/3 pad is not enough, 1/2 pad is probably optimum in terms of heat output versus cost (this result is interpolated from the 2/3 pad test), and full pad will yield 10F more heat.