How to Keep the Crew Warm and Full of Coffee, by GuerrillaLogistician
Reference – 12A
by GuerrillaLogistician
@GLogistician on X.com
Location: an undisclosed G-Camp
Date: 276 days after the collapse
Chris walked down a very narrow set of steps and rounded the corner before pulling open a plank door, followed by the three others of his four-man scout team. The Multicam alpine scrim from Wendigo Works was dusted with this year’s freshly minted snow. A month ago, this small group was displaced from their homes after the new law enforcement had replaced the now-dead Sheriff Coltan, who defied unlawful rules, and draconian curfews were being enforced. The new sheriff had been making sure everyone was forced to redistribute any hoarding supplies, all under a modified Defense Production Act of 1950 and the absolute stretching of 50 U.S. Code § 4512 – Hoarding of designated scarce materials. Everyone from Clinton, Obama, Biden, and Trump had used this Act, and the Chrises community wasn’t stupid enough to trust anyone with their stores. The hunting property had cash spots, and materials had been secured, so when the new sheriff came in, everyone looked like good little collectivists and freely gave up their very little excess. Now, Chris and his friends had been so busy keeping the new government in a constant sheriff-hiring cycle that it seemed like no one, but the good old Sheriff Coltan could keep the region from being lawless.
Already sitting around the Samovar heater a few of his friends were maintaining the heat with wooden sticks and adding water to the little stove heater. Because it was a buried structure, the little area had been cleaned up with wooden floors and walls, just like many of the little outposts they had made throughout the region. Sheets of metal were placed on the wood floor to protect it from possible embers dropping onto it. The water around the Samavor radiated the heat without the need or large amounts of wood unlike a normal fireplace might have. Also the fire could go out and the water would resonate the heat for a while as well. One of the guys had been installing everything from fireplaces to cast iron stoves and had built an insane exhaust system that distributed the heat out of rock and a custom pipe system along with artful use of tree and brush cover. No one knew for sure if it would really hide their location from a good thermal system, but from the ground, it looked like a prairie dog network at most.
Chris grabbed a 5-gallon bucket with a pour spout marked unpurified over to the Samavor that quietly burned the wooden coals, radiating a comfortable heat into the small underground structure. Everyone in his crew got hot water and started making instant hot coffee, tea, etc. After everyone got their fill of hot water, Chris filled the Samavor and replaced the unused contents of the 5-gallon bucket back to its rightful place. As they warmed up both from the radiated heat and the sterile drink, they debriefed the other men in the shelter, and the radio in the corner quietly hissed with static. The only good thing about the cold snap and snow was the enemy was not acclimated to the rigors of the cold and rarely ventured beyond the roads. Between the small Kelly Kettles and modern Samovars strategically placed, the men who wore the razorback patch stayed warm and were able to hide while still fighting back. Each time the new sheriff was appointed and began to squeeze the freedoms of the people, more men filtered out of the small towns and joined the Razorbacks.
After warming up around the Samovar and having a dehydrated meal most of his team went to bed as Chris finished his intel report to send out to the razorback partisans. As he had finished, the radio began to almost vibrate with the digital noise from a transmitter hundreds of miles away from them. The digital message rolled onto the laptop’s screen connected to the radio. One of the men standing nearby picked up a pen and began writing down what the computer was displaying, which looked like a bunch of random numbers. After a couple of minutes of decoding from the OTP, the operator looked at Chris and frowned, “We Just got an Under Report, and it looks like you guys are going to need to do an out and back for a cashe drop.” The RTO was writing some information as he continued to talk to Chris, “Grab what you need for an overnight, and I will see if I can get the farmer’s cart and 4-wheeler.”
Chris groaned, knowing they were short on manpower right now, but this should be a milk run for the boys. Stretching, he got up and walked to the little side dug out where most of his guys had gone to take a nap. “Alright, gentleman, no rest for the wicked, grab your long-range civilian gear. Were going to get beans and bullets.”
https://wendigoworks.com/product/shapeshifter/helmet-scrim/
For most of our lives, we try to stay cool, keep in the shade, and not burn to death doing labor in the sun, but winter comes, and we are trying to bundle up and stay warm. As we discussed in the COTS podcast, surviving the winter months can be an effort in the first place. There are so many ways to tackle the subject of the cold that the topic could be nearly endless, from old cast iron stoves to turning a ceramic pot over the top of a candle to produce a heat radiator. That said, we just did a podcast on COTS about the cold, primarily based on the start of this article. I want to expand on some specific ideas. The fairly man-portable Kelly Kettle/ Storm Kettle/ Ghillie Kettle/ Thermette/ Survival Kettle/ Volcano Kettle. For now, we will call all these products the same thing for ease of conversation, even though they are different in little ways. Some have modified handles and fire setups, but the designs all work together. So what are Kelly Kettle? It is the concept of a Dakota fire pit, just portable and outside of the ground. The vent hole is pointed toward the wind, with strategic rocks placed to deflect the wind down; air pushes into the fire pit and blows out the top, creating one of the hotter and more smokeless fires you will experience. If you peel the bark off the wood, it will be nearly impossible to see any smoke. These fire pits are helpful for staying alive with just a poncho as you can build one between your legs, drape a poncho over your knees, and stay warm all night. Also, these pits, being hot burning, require far less wood to cook with. Unfortunately, you can’t make these everywhere as some ground makes this pit almost impossible due to water, underground roots being very flammable, etc. A Kelly Kettle is just that, except the ground is replaced with a water-filled cylinder and firepan. Bringing the fire out of the dirt, protecting the area from fire, and making the setup portable.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sl2dMNr2iWM
Everyone has different designs for these, so do some research. Kelly Kettle and Ghillie Kettle were my first exposure, but other companies have made little changes from the handles to how the fire pan is built, making it better for different things. I will link to another one I haven’t tested, but it looks promising and a bit cheaper. I also like that they have a screw-on cap to hold the water instead of just the stopper the Kelly kettle comes with.
Alternative to a Kelly Kettle it doesn’t come with all the added cooking supplies nested into the kettle though which makes it cheaper.
So what is a Kelly Kettle?
I got the mid-sized kettle and love mine, as you can see from the photos and thermal images in 16-degree weather. Kelly Kettles come in aluminum and steel; both must be used with water to retain durability over time. That said, the steel one, while heavier, tends to survive longer, according to all the Irish/UK preppers. Mine banged around in the back of my truck for almost 2 years and several uses. This thing has traveled with me as my backup fireplace / small stove, and it still hasn’t sprung a leak or had issues. These kettles will burn just about anything, especially small twigs, to create heat, but dry grass and even dried animal dung have been used in these things to survive.
For those of you who went to Afghanistan and Iraq, I would skip the animal matter unless you want flashbacks, but hey, it works. Hopefully, the images above show what I am talking about. The firepan is placed on something non-flammable, and small twigs can be dropped down the top hole or put into the side of the firepan. I melted some snow and made some hot chocolate as a demonstration but you get the point. There is also a small grill I have made burgers on as well, although that gets messy with cleanup. The Kelly Kettle comes with pans, cups, and even dishes if you buy the big version that nest together.
https://www.kellykettleusa.com/
This cheaper version seems to be built more to protect surfaces with little legs lifting the firepan off the ground. This maybe something you want to look into, but it doesn’t come with all the extra items only the kettle.
https://www.lehmans.com/product/petromax-fire-kettle-stainless-steel?utm_source=google&utm_campaign=21779797177&utm_medium=ad&utm_content=&utm_term=&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiAv628BhC2ARIsAIJIiK-vjZ5pdChiE5-a9rdeK1ZUn90_iFOBT2ASQY_D54-n3ENABiAaM1AaAmQxEALw_wcB
So what is a Samavor?
The Samavor is an older less mobile system that is the predecessor to the Kelly Kettle. There are several variations of this ranging in size from desk-sized finely crafted ones to survival ones that are base, drum, and exhaust tubes that heat the water. Samavors tend to be more of an item designed for inside a cabin with ventilation to outside on a deck. They have been redesigned by every culture from Asia to Europe with its original design, most likely from the Russian area of the world. That said, the price of these runs around 60 dollars to hundreds, depending on the design you get.
Now, there is a huge quality gap between high-class Samavors and cheap ones. That said, the cheaper 60-dollar ones are normally useable and repairable by someone with basic skills; if you want to spend more, you can. Several classic designs were made for in-house use with little coals, much like a hookah. Again, don’t think because they are small, they won’t put out enough carbon monoxide to kill you. The word curfew came from the practice of a bell being run at night, telling everyone to cover their fire so cities wouldn’t burn, so let’s not forget fire kills when not respected.
That said, once this doesn’t have a fire, the heat radiating from the water keeps a room warm longer. If in good working order, some of these can be heated outside, and the heated water portion can be lifted off the fire pan and brought inside. Research these if you can’t install a cast iron stove, if this will be your first major backup, and make sure to TEST them. I have had a few people recommend these, while some notable reviews have said they leak or were built with issues.
With the right design, both can also be used as stoves, so these are great substitutes for those who can’t have a cast iron stove or might want a portable one. Now, I feel like most of you know this already, but for new people, fire, cooking food, and much less a heat signature on thermals will expose your position. So keep that in mind, especially cooking food, which, if you are hungry, will bring people hunting you down from miles around.
Last but not least, let’s talk about small fireplaces. These things are all over the internet nowadays and run about the exact cost of a Kelly Kettle. These are the “wife doesn’t want a cast iron stove sitting in the house,” but we have a contraption in the attic just in case kind of sustainment tools.
They are generally built for portability and camping more than anything else but are relatively easy to set up in a pinch of long-term power outages. That said, just like all of these, the exhaust on these can be a problem, so do some thinking, and please, for the love of god, don’t vent this out of a dryer exhaust like a Florida guy suggested. This one in the link uses a similar water jacket around the exhaust, which is super smart and the same price as a regular, so why not?
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DQPN8K9Z?ref=emc_p_m_6_i&th=1
Many of these stoves leak smoke from the door if not adjusted properly, so play with stoves like this until you figure out how they operate and tweak them so that in case things go bad, you can use them without fiddling with them. I would prefer a cast iron stove in a house, but they are becoming cost-prohibitive to acquire if they are of the older variations. Although they are still a great backup heat source and fun to operate.
That said, of the 3 options, this one is the most fuel-intensive of all three options presented. Most Kelly Kettles can be fueled by next to nothing in a pinch and require kindling to operate, unlike an open fire. That said if you have anything else you have bought like this, let me know
At the end of the day, figure out what suits your needs most and fits in your budget, but I hope this helps some of you think of alternative and less fuel-intensive ways of boiling water and making small meals.
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About the Author: Patriotman
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