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Chimney kettles are small biofuels burners for all weather water boiling in a hurry

No other small biofuels burner I’ve used gets water steaming hot faster during foul weather than a chimney kettle. I use the stainless steel Kelly Kettle® Trekker model, their smallest, for up to 19 ounces of hot water in a hurry.

Nothing stills the chills and brings the feeling back to numb fingers and toes like a belly full of your favorite steaming hot drink. Hot sweet drinks work kind ‘a like an engine block heater and a squirt of ether in your carburetor; hot fuel pre-warms your body engine getting that carbohydrate fuel burner humming faster, powering faster warmup. When you are really cold, warm yourself from within!

A chimney kettle is my choice for cold wet environments when I’m using conveyances; vehicles, small boats, snowmobiles, ATV’s, and anything else on wheels, wings, or skids. It’s backpackable too, but I choose higher volume lighter weight boiling systems for use on foot in backcountry, particularly during winter. Best of all, a chimney kettle is a handy system for morning hot coffee in camp just about anywhere, anytime.

…an ingenious traditional use of simple technology innovated through necessity by rain-chilled fishermen

Summary of advantages

• Sturdy and low tech, a stove base and kettle with tethered cork, the only moving part
• Works in stormy weather, screens out wind and rain
• Free-standing design draws ample air up the chimney for improved combustion
• Rapid rolling boil delivers limited amounts of hot sterilized water quickly
• Efficient burn leaves little ash, easing ash disposal
• Quick cool down allows quick cleanup
• Requires very little fuel for each burn cycle
• Biomass fuel is forever free–just about any dry plant materials will fuel the kettle: driftwood, down-wood twigs, pine needles and cones, leaves, grass, even dry dung
• Low environmental impact

Summary of less advantageous qualities

• Bulky, heavy kettle kit harder to pack and carry compared with many high tech and ultralight stove systems
• Low volume water jacket boiler best serves solo campers or small groups
• Multiple burn cycles necessary for quantities of hot water
• Awkward and less efficient when used as snow melter with or without optional small pot stand
• Time and effort to gather fuel, more so for dry fuel and for keeping fuel dry for startup
• Ignition requires basic fire-starting skills, damp fuel is challenging (we recommend chemical tinder for start-ups.)
• Kettle & base must cool through and through before disposing ash and packing up
• Sooty kettle and fire pan requires careful handling to avoid soiling hands & gear

My Trekker model from Kelly Kettle® weighs in at 1.64 pounds. Kelly’s aluminum Trekker model is their lightest weight kettle weighing in at 1.32 pounds.

This is a low impact fire alternative for backcountry treks and serves as a vehicle kit essential. We carry ours in a vehicle winter-bag for roadside emergencies. It will serve mid-weight backpacking, too. We’re going to try out this boiler on our next Boundary Waters float trip.

Kelly Kettle® asserts they are an original manufacturer of chimney kettles long used by fishermen along the west coast of Ireland beginning as early as the 1890’s. This is not a highly engineered fail-safe cooking system, it’s an ingenious traditional use of simple technology innovated through necessity by rain-chilled fishermen with a hankering for a spot of hot tea to warm their bellies. Careless use of a chimney kettle can result in injury. Water must not be heated with the kettle cork stopper in place to avoid pressurizing the kettle. Users must use two-handed caution when lifting the hot kettle from the fire base. Adding fuel requires caution to avoid the hard to see scorching heat and flames rising high above the chimney opening. The kettle exterior is boiling hot when in use. As always, read the manufacturer’s instructions carefully and follow all instructions.

Chimney kettles are reliable, low tech, low impact, all weather (three+ seasons) alternatives to high tech liquid fuel and gas canister stoves. Best, you can’t run out of fuel, natural fuel is found just about everywhere.

Tom Bain, Outdoor Readiness