10-Wick Double Burner 7000 BTU Stove

I had been using a $20 Chinese 8-wick stove for about 18 months in order to save on electricity, but part of the wick raising mechanism broke and I was only left with 7 wicks so I decided to upgrade. This is my comparison of the two.

Advantages of the 8-wick stove:

1) Its small size makes it much easier to move it aside when you’re not using it, and to take it to the mud room to light and bring back to the kitchen afterward. Of course this would be much less of an issue with a single burner stove. Also the Butterfly recommends against moving it while lit, but lighting and extinguishing outside is the advice given for reducing the odor from kerosene heaters.
2) It is much easier to fill without using special funnels or siphon pumps. The funnel that comes with the Butterfly helps, but the fuel cap is set so far back that it is still not possible, using the supplied funnel, to fill it effectively from a gallon can.
3) The catalytic converter seems a bit better. It gives you an all around blue flame faster, and if a wick goes out when you’re putting it on, it is quicker to light the wick.
4) It will accept a smaller diameter pan. The Butterfly pot support has four arms, and from the end of one across to the start of the other measures 4 to 4 ¼ inches. The 8-wick has three arms, and it is about 3 inches from the end of one arm to the midpoint of the other two.
5) In an emergency you could leave the catalytic converter off and use it as an 8-wick candle. There is too much frame on the Butterfly to do this.
6) It came with the wicks already installed along with 4 extra. The Butterfly’s were not installed and there were no extras besides a set I ordered.

Advantages of the Butterfly:

1) It is much less smoky on startup.
2) The catalytic converter is one unit, while the 8-wick makes you add each of the 3 pieces individually. Of course this may be why the 8-wick converter works a bit better.
3) It will accept larger pans. You could use larger pans on the 8-wick, but anything bigger than about 7” would spread past the stove and you could have balance issues.
4) The control knob is much better, as it is larger, glued on, and placed further away from the stove. It is also anchored to the frame with screws, making it feel sturdier. The 8-wick knob was plastic and appeared to be pressed on and would feel soft and come off if the stove got too warm, though I was always able to put it back on and turn the unit off.
5) It’s fuel tank is at least four times as large.
6) The fuel gauge is handy. However, I had put in between a quart and a quart and a half of fuel before it moved off empty. Also I would regularly move the 8-wick around, and I quickly learned to judge by weight how full it was.
7) The fuel cap is much more secure, and the frame is made of much thicker steel. I would feel better about transporting this stove in my car or rv than the 8-wick.
8) This stove produces more heat. In boiling a gallon of water in a teakettle, it started steaming at 22 minutes, roaring at 37, and boiling at 45. I remember running this test on the 8-wick and I gave up after 45 minutes. Thus with either you might want to limit your water boiling to a half gallon at a time.
9) It has been too cold here to use the stove outside yet, but this stove has a solid piece on the outside of the catalytic converter, while the 8-wick had vent holes. This, along with some extra framing might give it better wind performance.

Conclusion: The 8-wick stove is probably a good emergency stove for heating water for your dehydrated food, or if you’re not preparing food for too many people and have other options when this stove isn’t enough. And at its price it’s probably a good option if you want to see if you can put up with cooking with kerosene (or diesel), but don’t use it to judge how much smoke other stoves may put out. If you’re cooking for a family this two-burner 10-wick stove is a much better option, not only for the larger pan capacity, but it gets old fast waiting for the coffee to be done before you start breakfast, or having to cook your noodles, set them aside, and then prepare the sauce.

General Notes

1) It can be handy to keep a small pair of pliers handy to pull the wicks up that have gotten too low but your fingers can’t grip them to pull them up.
2) If you pull a used wick up too far, do not try and pull it back down, but cut it off. You will risk pulling only one of the doubled wicks down or pulling them both down too far and not being able to get them back up otherwise.
3) The instructions aren’t clear on this, but it is best to give the stove a couple of minutes to extinguish itself after you’ve turned it off before you to try and blow it out.