When I was a kid we used to use those kerosene heaters all the time when the baseboard heating wasn't enough or if the power went out.
A few years back, I got into making "penny stoves". You cut the bottoms off of two aluminum cans and
very carefully slide one into the other. It is vital that you don't tear the thin aluminum and that they seal fairly well. One side gets a few small holes drilled around the perimeter and one in the center. (Through trial and error I have found that it's easiest to drill the holes first, then cut the cans and assemble.)
And that's it! Now you have a functioning alcohol stove that weighs almost nothing, has no moving parts and is [relatively] safe to use indoors with the correct fuel (very pure methyl or ethyl alcohol).
Here is one I made from two soda cans:
To light it, you pour some alcohol into the center hole and then cover it with a penny (hence the name). Then you pour a little more alcohol into the depression over the penny and light it. This initial flame warms the stove up until the alcohol begins to vaporize rapidly and exit the holes in the perimeter where it is ignited.
The alcohol in the top burns away rather quickly, but the burning vapor from inside the stove will last for much longer. Maybe 10-15 minutes or more. I don't know for sure because I've never had to leave it burning for very long - it's very efficient. It will boil a cup of water in just a couple of minutes. To extinguish it, you simply cover it to smother the flames.
There are only two real downsides: 1) Pure alcohol burns with an almost invisible flame, unless you're in the dark. Sometimes it's difficult to tell if the stove is lit or not. It is a good idea to make
absolutely sure it is extinguished before adding more fuel or moving it. Ask me how I know this. And 2) Relatively pure alcohol isn't always readily available - although I suppose you could make some, if you're good at distilling.
Speaking of fuel, I usually use a product called "HEET". It's available in most auto parts stores and is sold as a gas line anti-freeze. It's basically pure methyl alcohol.
NB: Only use the stuff that comes in the
yellow bottle,
not the red one!
I have also used Everclear - a commercially available alcohol for mixing into drinks. It is nearly pure ethyl alcohol. Although, in Virginia, you can only get real Everclear on a military base for some reason. The advantage of using Everclear is that you can also drink it. (DO NOT DRINK THE GAS LINE ANTI-FREEZE!)
I also made a little stand for mine out of the top of one of the soda cans:
And I made a wind screen out of an old soup can (not pictured, but I can post a pic if you like). The top of the soup can also makes a great place to set a small pot or pan like the ones that come with a camping mess kit.