Cooking on the EcoZoom Stove During a Blackout
Most people consider a black out to be a real pain in the butt, not us it is always an opportunity for some fun and to try out gear. So this morning when I work up and put the dogs out back and noticed the power was off I decided to surprise the wife with crispy bacon and hot coffee.
She took the opportunity to sleep in a bit on a Saturday and I fired up the EcoZoom. When I woke her and told her there was coffee she wasn’t too surprised but the scent of burning coals and wonderful bacon made her get up and greet the day with a smile. Ladies being married to a survivalist does indeed have rewards.
So we grabbed the iPhone and did up this quick video for you guys. Sorry about it not being HD and the lighting but I still think you will enjoy it. I am now wishing I had fired this little stove up long ago, it really does a great job. They are availabl at EcoZoomStove.com
Direct Link to the EcoZoom Stove Video on YouTube
Man I do have a gas stove but I might have to get me one of those anyway. Thanks Jack. How hit does the bottom get as far as what types of surfaces it can’t be set up on?
*hot
The bottom doesn’t get very hot at all, though the table is ceramic tile so it wouldn’t matter. The sides get pretty hot but the handles don’t and you can easily move it where you need to. I am thinking about making bacon and eggs on it again tomorrow it was really enjoyable.
I am not sure that comment about a gas stove made sense, I have tons of different little stoves some butane, some wood, some that use propane, etc. What I meant is the kitchen stove is electric.
I’ve been looking at one of those for a while. Looks pretty cool.
How long would you say you were cooking with 10 pieces of char-coal?
Thanks Jack.
Quite a while way over half an hour I would say close to an hour, during that time I added about 4 more pieces and it was still going good when I was done.
Awesome! Looks like I may have to look into this as a backup stove and for car camping.
By the way, the cat in the background has that funny “where’s my bacon?” look.
Thanks for the review Jack!
Did StoveTec turn in to EcoZoom? I have a StoveTec stove that looks identical in every way…
I think split out of is more accurate. Two partners had different ideas and took the same design to two different worlds.
I will second Jack’s assessment; it works as advertised. I ran it for three meals a day for an entire weekend this summer while car camping. I even got a couple gallons of water boiling just to make sure I could do it.
that is really cool. i think i’ll have to get one of those for the next time we go to the mountains. really really neat.
Well don’t plan on backpacking or the like with it, it is really heavy. Designed to be a portable stove for a homestead or for say car camping, etc.
Seems like a great little stove. Thanks Jack.
You said “Two partners had different ideas and took the same design to two different worlds.”
Do you know if there are any functional differences between the EcoZoom Stove and StoveTec stove?
I am looking at my stove tec right now and they appear to be the same down to the millimeter. The only diffrence is color and branding.
Yep, it appears so.
I really like the EcoZoom La Mera Mera (http://ecozoomstove.com/mexico.php). This is basically two of the Versa’s with a griddle on top and a chimney.
This would be really nice for an outdoor kitchen.
I’ve emailed EcoZoom to see if they are going to offer those in the US.
Kevin that looks cool but it doesn’t look like they sell it.
You are correct. From their website it appears they do not sell it. However, after googling, I found on Survival Boards the following…
http://www.survivalistboards.com/showthread.php?t=218215
So cool that you let Dorothy sleep in and that you made her breakfast. She is one lucky woman! 🙂
It does ‘soften’ the image when we get to see jack feeding snack bacon to the cat and calling the ‘camera man’ “honey”!
Fun video on many levels!
Hey Jack, Met you at the show.did not ask all the questions I wanted to,but.How did you like the the brew pubs ?Yea I know it’s just typical bar food ,but the beer!Did you try the sampler?I have brewed some in the past . I think you did a show on brewing but wtshtf I know folks are still going to want some spirits and ale. maybe a show on the finer things of life .Just because there are zombies at the door ,dose not mean that we can’t party when permited , and what a great barter potential booze has.Just a thought. later bud. KC
ps. 3rd ID hat, if you remember from the show.
My StoveTec wood-charcoal stove doesnt have a brick, just
a square box. Havent tried it yet. Local hardware store had
sale on 20lb double bags of charcoal for about $17/ea. It beat
Costco’s price so I got ten double bags. By the way, I got
mad cuz I couldn’t buy a Berkey in Calif so I drove to see the
Berkey Guy in Las Vegas and got one.
I’ve been spreading the word about the EcoZoom stove for a while now, I love mine. I’ll cook oatmeal and pasta on mine at home when it’s mid summer here in Texas.
EcoZoom will send one stove to a person in a developing country for each one that is bought. Considering that, this stove is a bargain.
Going by your electric company’s track record I don’t think you’ll have a problem making this a monthly tradition.
Naw I really can’t blame them for ice storms, tornadoes, micro bursts or as in this time some drunk going home on Saturday morning hitting a pole.
The key with us is as we are an a terminal end of the line there is no redundancy of infrastructure (rerouting) so we have to wait on physical repairs. Additionally if you have a few hundred out up in the hills and ten thousand out in and around town the people in the hills come last, I can’t complain about that as it seems perfectly reasonable and logical to me.
Not directly related to the post about the stove but more so about the comment above in regards to the electric company’s track record for providing service.
Today here in Maryland the main electric provider is about to go before the state agency that regulates their business and defend why they charge a power outage surcharge. This is a very small fee of only a few dollars per customer that they charge when there is a massive power outage. They claim it is to offset the cost of restoring power and help prevent an overall price hike.
I just see it as yet another reason to remove as much dependence on grid tied utilities as possible.
I really like that little stove. It reminds me of the Rocket Stove from http://www.stovetech.net that is what we use and reccomend to our customers. I’ve been listening to you for a short while Jack, but really appreciate what you do and how you do it too! lol… Keep on Keeping on, and to all of you listening to Jack and making preperations for self sustained living, stay alert, develope your solid relationships with like mided folks, work on your checklists, ect… there is alot going on right now and a partial to full collasps seems closer now then ever. JB…..
The StoveTec and Ecozoom stoves are for all intents and purposes the same exact design. The companies are run by former partners and based on an agreement at separation (no matter what either side now claims in their pointless bitching about the other side) they both have full rights to the designs.