Handwarmers, S01E02: Rebuilding Hand Warmers and Improving Performance
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- Опубликовано: 7 сен 2024
- Rebuilding with carbon felt and platinum catalyst.
One of the most often asked questions we've had since doing the intial video more than a year ago, is where can I get some catalyst material. That has been a big problem until now, because you'd need to buy enough of it to rebuild thousands of hand warmers. And quite frankly, I don't expect to live that long. Finally we've been able to source some quality (made in the USA) platinum catalyst pads, and I underscore the word 'quality'. Until now, the best I've been able to do, is get replacement heads from China, and tear the material out of them to rebuilt heads from Zippo to Peacock. I noticed that the quality of the material looked rather sketchy. When I looked into it, I learned that a quality platinum catalyst material should contain 1% platinum. But, you can get other transition metal catalysts to use in building a hand warmer head such as iron ($59.00/Ton), vanadium($.02/g), nickel ($.01/g), and palladium ($24.05/g) that are cheaper than platinum at $29.27/g*. So we've send some Chinese catalyst material off to the lab for testing, and will post the results here when they come in. The problem with those is multifactorial. They do not live as long on the substrate material, and the core temperature of 1200 that the platinum can achieve is not realized. (What do you think is in the Chinese catalyst material?)
As you'll see in this demonstration, when we placed some of the new catalyst material into a hand warmer head, and used about 3x as much as was previously packed into the head, it was too hot to touch unless oxygen restricted in a carry pouch. So it would seem, real platinum catalyst does make a difference, and you can fine tune your head to meet your individual needs.
Oh.. BTW, I sometimes get asked why not the electric hand warmers? A: There are 10 millon Joules in an ounce of fuel, there are 10 thousand Joules in a AA battery (that weighs .8 of an ounce).
* Spot market prices at time of writing.
Thanx for the tips! I've made these mods (rebuilt burner and carbon felt) to my 2 zippo hand warmers. Both warmers are easier to start and producing more heat than when new.
Excellent presentation,thank you.I appreciate all your good work.
Thanks for sharing my handwarmer is now revived
All or at least some of the hand warmer bodies are a two piece affair that has am upper portion pressed into a lower part. You can see the seam in the video. It's a snug fit, but if you can pull them apart you can repack with the carbon felt through the hollow inner openings as wide as the body itself, then reassemble. No need to mess around with cutting small pieces of felt to push in through the small opening where the catalyst head sits on. I used pliers to pull my body apart, just worked it back and forth and nudged the upper part out until the body separated.
The reason for using strips is to stimulate laminar vapour flow to deliver the vapour stream to the catalyst. It may not help all that much, but in theory it seems like the best way to go.
You may be entirely correct on the advantage with strips over a large piece folded and shoved in the hollow opening. I've done it both ways but couldn't detect much if any difference with the heat produced, but I don't have an instrument to detect small increments of difference. I just thought the ease of putting in the carbon via the large opening with the warmer pulled apart was helpful..
Great Video Sir! Excellent I have a 12hr Zippo and 2 6hr Zippo going to buy the extra Carbon felt but will the one bag of platinum catalyst be enough to rebuild them all thanks again got me changed thanks again
So where can I purchase the quality 1% platinum catalyst material?
There is an order form on our website:
mparam.s3-website-us-east-1.amazonaws.com/orderform-handwarmer.html
Nice presentation. Question: where do I get proper catalyst material?? I'm scouring the internet and can't seem to land on it.
Should be info for ordering the proper parts on the latest 2019 update.
super. Thank-You. @@MountainParameters
Thanks for sharing your research on these hand warmers, and sourcing the proper catalyst. I'm wondering how the amount of catalyst affects the temperatures. Also, I wonder how the run time is affected with the different catalyst types and quantities. For example, does the hand warmer last longer at a lower temperature with the cheaper catalyst? I wonder because the 12h Zippo is bigger than I want, but the 6h is right at the low end of run time. If I can get the 6h to run a little cooler with some modifications and end up working for about 8h, that would be ideal. I was also wondering if I could take some aluminum HVAC tape and cover some of the air holes to achieve the same thing.
Restricting air flow definitely will lower the temperature.
will rockwool always work in a handwarmer ?
i think its catalytic ... do u ever tried ?
Rockwool is suitable for sprouting seeds for hydroponics and as attic insulation, it will not work in a handwarmer.
What material can be used to replace the wick? I have a zippo hand warmer and the catalyst burner replacement costs almost as much as the whole thing itself
Handwarmers do not use a wick, as they do not 'burn' anything. The heat is a result of an exothermic reaction (fumes reacting with catalyst).
Mountain Parameters yeah well that doesn't help. So to be more simple for you simple minded folks lol what catalyst material will work? Is that clear??
I regret that that was of no help toward understanding why you are having issues. Platinum catalyst is what required (EG: fumes reacting with catalyst).
This exothermic reaction actually is burning....in this case the fumes are burning....when a log starts on fire, that is also an exothermic reaction.
Interesting point about the fumes burning and defining a reaction. I was under the impression that when a log ignites it is an exothermic process resulting from combustion. An exothermic reaction is defined as a chemical reaction that releases energy by light or heat. So I'm not really sure if the combustion of a log is caused by a chemical process or a thermodynamic process, but I'm guessing it's likely to be the latter.
You're the master of Handwarmers!! How long should we expect the Platinum Catalyst to last if lit properly??
Thanks for that David,
I got your email, but thought I'd answer here in more detail.
I haven't used the proper (made in USA) catalyst long enough to tell, but the manufacturers tell me it should last a long time, EG: years. What damages the catalyst is usually just getting 'worn out' from the head being taken on and off hundreds of times which physically takes its toll on the substrate the catalyst is made from by getting poked, knocked, and bumped. Also I've seen video tutorials where they advocate the user soak the head in fuel and then light it. That seems like poor advice to me, as common sense would indicate that even if you don't oxidize and burn the substrate, you're going to get it coated in soot after you've been using it as a wick for a soft flame. You do not need to light your catalyst on fire to get it activated, in fact that is a very bad idea. I think the biggest misconception with regard to the heads is that they 'burn' the fuel via combustion. They don't burn in that sense, so you are not trying to lite it on fire like you would a wick in a kerosene lamp. You don't need fuel in the head, you need fumes. The heat is produced by an exothermic reaction that is caused by the vapour from the hydrocarbons reacting with the platinum. Users need to think in terms of promoting their handwarmer to enjoy favourable conditions for evaporating the fuel that is in the reservoir, not wicking it up to the head so that it can 'burn' there. That means warming the base section, and giving the fuel time to evaporate. There is another video review on RUclips wherein they mention you should have the cotton fibre in the reservoir high enough that it should be touching the catalyst so it can 'wick' the fuel into the head. This unfortunately demonstrates a lack of understanding the dynamics of how a handwarmer actually works. Having the reservoir material that high actually just means you are going to char it to the extent that the burnt cotton layer that now covers the interstices between the cotton and the catalyst material will obstruct the flow of fumes into the catalyst and diminish it's ability to produce heat. That's why we recommend the removal of the cotton fill from the reservoir and replacing it with carbon felt. (Observing the number of orders we get for platinum catalyst without carbon felt, makes me think that many users do not agree with this theory, and perhaps think that recommending the carbon felt is analogous to selling Snake Oil, even though they could add the felt for less than they spend when they stop at Starbuck's). To me, the carbon felt is the second most important hack you can make to bring a handwarmer into a misunderstood ecosystem populated with millennials who are discovering the harsh realities of nature for the first time.
Here are some important points to observe:
1: Measure the correct amount of fuel into the reservoir, 25ml for a zippo, 15ml for a 6 hour unit. Do not overfill.
2: Make sure the head has a good tight fit and will not get wiggled off. This is one area where the overpriced Zippo's have an advantage over the Chinese units.
3: Let the handwarmer stand for at least 3 minutes with the head on. This allows evaporation to get started and fumes to penetrate the catalyst material.
4: Activate the reaction by holding heat nearby, I prefer to use a USB lighter for this. You should then see the catalyst start to glow immediately.
5: If you still have the stock catalyst in the head and it has been damaged by trying to light it on fire, etc., consider replacing it. After you have done so, go back in time and review some of the procedures that you used in the past that may have hastened its demise, so you can avoid repeating the again.
Mountain Parameters
Hi, can you tell me where I can get de catalyst material? thanks for the exelente job.
There is an order form on our website:
mparam.s3-website-us-east-1.amazonaws.com/orderform-handwarmer.html
So, this is unbelievable. I purchased the zippo hand-warmers a number of months ago and while in the stock condition they worked great at first and then I could only get about five hours out of them. Now that I have purchased your new catalyst and carbon filters with the spring it's amazing. After installing the carbon filters and the catalyst, on the first day I checked it out I got an easy 12 hours. Extremely easy to light. On the second day I did an experiment and purposefully overfilled the hand-warmers with zippo lighter fluid until it was pooling at the top of the hand-warmer. I drained the extra fluid out and let it sit for about 45 minutes. Then I lit it and I got a whopping 36 hours of heat. And it is hotter than it was when I purchased it stock. Extremely impressive.
Well..
Thanks for that! I got 24hrs from one, and thought that was interesting. I've also wrecked some catalysts by getting them soaked, and discussed it with the catalyst engineers. They are puzzled, but are wondering if perhaps I was using contaminated fuel as they didn't think the material would be damaged once it dried out. I just got back from a day of ski touring, and I've also noticed a couple of units we carried don't seem to get as hot as the others, and I'm wondering if I packed the springs too tight. When I'm packing the springs I don't want to be perceived as being 'cheap' and ripping off people for catalyst, so going forward when I get more stock, I think I might offer the kits with the catalyst pads and empty springs and let the clients pack their own springs to the density they want. I don't think we've got this whole project perfected as yet, but it's been a lot of fun getting ideas and feedback from everyone.
I just want to know what lighters you were using. Specifically the electric one
The lighter with the Arc I used to bring in originally for lighting the inverted winter camping canister stoves. They were difficult to find, and this year I have not been able to find them at all. I suspect they were not a good seller to their main target audience of smokers. The closest alternative is the USB style that has a coil in it. Those work pretty well for lighting hand warmers, although because they are so cheap, they don't have very good battery life.
No complaints about your product modification, but I can't stand that noise! Are you chewing something?
I regret it bothered you. As we have central heating, air in winter is very dry, that is a water wall that runs 24/7 in winter to humidify the air by contributing about 15 litres a day. The water runs down a glass panel for 2.5 meters and then goes back into a reservoir, that sound gets more pronounced when the water in the reservoir is low.