Jason Merrill 
If you have ever wished that you could have the lightest 15” folding buck saw on the planet (not big enough? How about 24”), or a super lightweight cathole trowel made of titanium (available in three different sizes), then it’s about time you go and visit http://www.qiwiz.net. In addition to these unique products, QiWiz also offers a variety of multi fuel stove options (the famous Firefly!), titanium windscreens, pot stands, complete cook kits and a couple products from Gary, the Zia Grill guy.
One of his stove offerings is the Dual Fuel Burner. The Dual Fuel Burner has a screw top lid that once removed, can function as an Esbit tray (hence the dual fuel moniker). The alcohol burner portion of the stove is a lightweight aluminum tin lined with carbon felt. Max fuel capacity is stated as being .75oz alcohol, which I would agree with, as when I filled the stove with that amount, it did not all get absorbed by the wick and there was significant pooling of alcohol on top of the wick. If I had tried to add more, I would have had some spilling issues. Low capacity is not an issue for me as I am not looking to ever burn more than .75oz at a time (ideally .5oz).
QiWiz Dual Fuel Burner
alcohol burner: 10 grams
lid (esbit burner): 8 grams
Dual Fuel Burner Total Weight = 18 grams
The burner also came with a stainless steel mesh pot stand, similar to the galvanized hardware cloth I have used in the past. The pot stand ships flat (6” x 2”) and can easily be bent to whatever diameter your pot requires.
QiWiz Stainless Steel Mesh Pot Stand
Total Weight = 11 grams
All my test burns so far have been done using denatured alcohol. I am not a fan of Esbit so I will most likely not be using that feature of the burner. All tests were done in an open area outside, with cold tap water and room temperature denatured alcohol. Outside temperature was approximately 52 degrees F with intermittent cool gusts of wind.
Two burns were done using .5oz alcohol, 2 cups cold water, pot stand, MSR Titan Kettle w/lid and a foil windscreen. Both of these burns brought the water to almost boiling. As seen in the photo below, .5oz alcohol burn resulted in significant “crab eyes” which is more than hot enough to rehydrate an FBC meal or make a hot beverage.
One burn was done using .75oz alcohol, 2 cups cold water, pot stand, MSR Titan Kettle w/lid and a foil windscreen. This burn brought the water to what I would call a soft boil. Once again, more than hot enough to rehydrate a meal or make a hot drink.
Two more burns were done using .5oz alcohol, 2 cups cold water, pot stand, Fosters pot w/lid and a foil windscreen. Both of these burns had very similar results to the burns with the Titan Kettle. Heavy “crab eyes”, water hot enough to rehydrate a meal or make a very hot drink.
One burn was done using .75oz alcohol, 2 cups cold water, pot stand, Fosters pot w/lid and a foil windscreen. The results of this burn were not much different than the burn using .5oz and the Fosters pot. I was expecting a full boil but the wind had picked up significantly during this burn and you could hear it whipping the flame around in the windscreen. I would guess this was a major factor in not getting a boil.
One thing I noted with the pot stand is that being 2” high, that puts the distance between burner and bottom of the pot at 1 ½”. I am by no means an expert on alky stoves, but any pot stand I have ever made, I always had the distance between burner and pot at 1”. I may clip 1/2” off the height of the stand and see if that has any effect on performance.
In summary, the Dual Fuel Burner by QiWiz is a nice simple, fairly fuel efficient, lightweight little alcohol burner. Even though I don’t care for Esbit, I may toss a couple tabs in my kit next time I take this burner out, just to experiment with or to have as a back up in the event I would happen to run out of alcohol (not that it’s ever happened to me . . . but it has).
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