DAVE'S THOUGHTS ON CAMP STOVES ============================== A great bit of wisdom on stoves comes from the late Colin Fletcher. Paraphrasing, choose your first stove carefully as it is easier to get a person to change religions than it is for them to change stoves. There are differences in the types of stoves that are available that you should consider. But the reason why it becomes hard to change stoves has nothing to do with the stove. It has to do with you. You change. You learn a stove's behavior and you adapt to it. So in my opinion, the most important feature of a stove is, by far, the operator's familiarity with it. On several occasions I've seen "weak" stoves out perform "strong" stoves. The difference is the operator. Correspondingly, the best advice I can offer regarding stoves of any type is to spend time learning your stove. Every stove has its limitations and shortcomings and the only way to get good is to practice. Practice make permanent. So my general advice for learning a new stove is to make tea on it every day for a month. If your job allows it, make your afternoon tea at an outside picnic table. Or make your morning coffee on it in your backyard. I know this sounds extreme or nuts, but I'm very much convinced this is the level of experience one needs to learn how a stove really behaves. The investment more than pays for itself when you are sitting exhausted by a stormy trail in real need of a hot drink or meal. At that point in time, you don't need a better stove. The best and only stove to have at that point in time is a stove that you can start while in your sleep. Again I say, practice make permanent. The biggest choice in buying a stove is the fuel type. Each fuel has different pros and cons and what matters most is which one corresponds best to your needs. Your needs may be very different from somebody else's. For most people, the choices will be between: + White Gas (winter campers and long backpacking trips) + Alcohol (ultra-light, short backpacking and long bike touring) + Canisters (casual campers) Here's my very subjective take on the different fuel types along with some common stoves in each category. WHITE GAS --------- All stoves in this group burn white gas (a.k.a. Coleman Fuel), which is essentially gasoline with very few additives so it burns with little odor (and other nasties). Some stoves in this category can burn other fuels like automotive gasoline or kerosene. White gas is very much preferred as these other fuels produce carcinogens when burned and can gum up stoves. White gas can be purchased at any camping store and most hardware stores. White gas carries more BTUs per ounce compared to alcohol and canister fuels. So, they typically burn hotter and can be lighter for long distance trips. They are also the most difficult to light and have the most potential to explode or burn things you would rather not burn like: tent vestibules, huts, fleece gloves, Gore-Tex jackets and eyebrows. Most stoves have fuel tanks/bottles that can (or must) be pressurized for better efficiency at altitude or in the cold. However, empty fuel tanks are considered explosive by US air carriers, which can complicate travel plans. Pick white gas if you: + Often cook for 3 or more people + Camp in temps below freezing + Regularly take trips lasting 3 days or more + Travel overseas (multi-fuel) + Are willing to put up with tricky priming rituals Avoid white gas if you: + Are prone to blowing things up + Are unwilling to put up with tricky priming rituals Common stoves include: + Svea 123 (a.k.a. Climber; my strong personal pref) + MSR Whisperlite + MSR Dragonfly + Coleman Peak One ALCOHOL ------- I posted the first version of this essay on the web in 2003. At that time, I had little experience with alcohol stoves. Since that time, my Trangia stove has become my most commonly used stove - even more than my beloved Svea 123. In the US, there is basically one choice and that is the Trangia stove. The stoves are somewhat hard to find unless you have access to the Web. But the fuel is very easy to find. They burn denatured alcohol, which is available in any hardware or painting store. Trangia stoves all have the same basic burner assembly. This burner assembly has no moving parts to fail and is very, very light, which makes them a hit for ultra light travel. They have a ring assembly to "adjust" the flame which is clumsy at best and essentially ineffective in many cases. The reason for this has to do with how the stove reacts to long burns. As the stove burns, it heats up and you get less fuel in the stove. This in turn allows the fuel to vaporizes faster and the stove begins to burn hotter and hotter. Eventually, the fuel will even start to boil. If you are used to white gas stoves that rely on self-heating to stay primed (older Sveas and Optimus stoves), this won't be surprising. But, it does mean that you need to stay on top of the simmering. The simmer ring does sort of work in the sense that it suggests to the stove that is should burn less hot. In practice, moving the cover over is a crude movement. I carry 2 small wooden dowels for this and that helps somewhat. Still, once the stove starts to go into after-burner mode, it's not going to simmer super well. A last comment on the burner assembly - since the burner relies on self-heating to help the fuel burn better, the performance can suffer when you put the stove on a cold surface. For cold weather, I use a thin section of thin plywood to act as an insulating base. While Trangia stoves all have the same basic burner assembly, they differ widely in the size, weight and configuration of the windscreen/pot holder assembly. In my experience, the windscreen set up is critical in controlling the stove's performance. The proper windscreen set up will create a chimney affect which will get the stove blazing (and will eat fuel). One big difference between alcohol stoves and all others is that they burn *hotter* in high winds - a great plus for the mountains. The more wind, the more of a chimney effect you get. I've found that the small rigs can cook for one person easily and for two comfortably. Cooking for 3 or more people really requires the big (and heavy) windscreen set ups. Alcohol is much safer than white gas in that it won't explode. One thing to be aware of though is that you often can't see the flame. And if you were to knock the stove over, you would have burning alcohol running all around. Still, these safety concerns are minimal in my opinion compared to the safety concerns of white gas and cannister stoves. This is one reason why the Trangia has become my favorite stove - there's just so much less tension involved. It's so easy to light, it's so safe and it's so quiet that stove use is generally just a less tension filled event. Since alcohol has less BTUs per ounce compared to white gas, the stoves can be heavier for trips of several days. The extra weight of the fuel overcomes the light weight of the basic burner assembly. For these reasons, I still prefer white gas stoves for winter camping and for longer backpacking trips. On the other hand, I strongly, strongly prefer alcohol for bike touring. Obtaining white gas while bike touring usually means buying a gallon of gas, filling a quart fuel bottle and tossing away the rest of the gallon. This is assuming that you can even *find* white gas in a small town in the middle of nowhere. Often, you can't. On the other hand, denatured alcohol can be found in just about any hardware store in the US in the painting supplies department. Alcohol stoves are by far my favorite for bike touring for this reason. Use alcohol stoves if you: + Go on light overnight trips + Are willing to learn the finer points of windscreens + Don't like things that go *bang* + Like peace and quiet + Regularly fly to destinations (check carrier) Avoid alcohol stoves if you: + Need to simmer for long periods + Don't want to work with the stove/windscreen system CANISTERS --------- Canister stoves use pressurized gas canisters that screw onto a burner assembly. The fuel can be butane, propane or some mix. Typically, the burner heads will only work on their own brand of canister. Availability will vary widely. Camping outfitters are the best bet. One brand worth mentioning in this regard is GAZ. Their ubiquitous blue canisters appear to be the most widely available in the US. Canister stoves are the easiest stoves to operate and offer the best flame control. For this reason, I typically suggest GAZ stoves to friends who are and will be casual campers. Performance can lag in cold temperatures, depending on the fuel that is used. However, some of the newer canister stoves pack the punch of white gas and are nearly as light as alcohol stoves. Most canisters do not provide you with an accurate way to gauge how much fuel is left, which can make fuel management a pain. Do you need to pack that extra canister? Use canister stoves if you: + Want the ultimate no-hassle stove + Want perfect simmer + Are unwilling to learn the intricacies of white gas alcohol stoves Avoid canister stoves if you: + Need guaranteed availability of fuel Common stoves include: + GAZ (blue canisters) + Coleman + Primus COPYRIGHT BY DAVID MANN, 2003, 2008