What fuel do you use?

[Laurentius]

Given that open fires including firebox stoves and the like are risky in the present environment, what alternatives do you fall back on. I am a big Trangia fan myself, but I was surprised when "oop north" I could not find meths anywhere, nor paraffin for that matter. I am contemplating taking the plunge and going for a Trangia multi fuel burner, how does it compare with the likes of MSR?

 

[Pattree]

I’ma car camper so my big Bergen is more of a cupboard than luggage.
I have just been using the Kelly Kettle stick stove system at Summer Moot and half expected a ban or limitation. There were neither.

It wouldn’t have mattered as my little KK Trekker and Hobo set up can run on a Trangia meths burner. I always carry the M40 so called“Swedish Army Trangia” as back up anyway.

Bio-ethanol is available everywhere.

 

[TeeDee]

I’ma car camper so my big Bergen is more of a cupboard than luggage.
I have just been using the Kelly Kettle stick stove system at Summer Moot and half expected a ban or limitation. There were neither.

It wouldn’t have mattered as my little KK Trekker and Hobo set up can run on a Trangia meths burner. I always carry the M40 so called“Swedish Army Trangia” as back up anyway.

Bio-ethanol is available everywhere.

But is it REALLY camping if you're using a Car??????

Surely at that point - you're just a traveller?

( If definitions DO matter )

 

[Broch]

But is it REALLY camping if you're using a Car??????

Surely at that point - you're just a traveller?

( If definitions DO matter )

"I don't think we need a hard and fast definition of a thing to know what it means to us do we??"

 

[Broch]

Given that open fires including firebox stoves and the like are risky in the present environment, what alternatives do you fall back on. I am a big Trangia fan myself, but I was surprised when "oop north" I could not find meths anywhere, nor paraffin for that matter. I am contemplating taking the plunge and going for a Trangia multi fuel burner, how does it compare with the likes of MSR?

I don't know how they compare, but I have run my MSR Multifuel on a wide range of fuels just swapping the jet between 'heavier' and 'lighter' fuels. For liability reasons I'm not going to list the fuels that work but, if you stick to petrol, diesel, heating oil, and paraffin you'll not have many problems. I'm not saying they're all ideal, you will need to clean the jet and even the fuel pipe, but they'll all boil your kettle.

 

[stonepark]

TLUD wood pellet stove using wood pellets on top of a silicone covered fibre glass mat.

Due to nature of the fuel there are no embers\sparks that come off into the air and mat protects the ground from scorching and embers.

 

[Pattree]

But is it REALLY camping if you're using a Car??????

Oh come on TeeDee - I think that we are conflating camping and hiking. (Or we are just having a poke )

I do not call using my car hiking.

Camping is what I do when I get there on foot (long ago), by car or by helicopter.

What were fifty odd people doing at Rough Close last week? We all arrived by car.

Using my car does not actually affect the fuel that I use when I’m camping.

I don’t understand how ethanol is scarce in the North of England.

 

[TeeDee]

"I don't think we need a hard and fast definition of a thing to know what it means to us do we??"

Again Broch..

Irony..

You'll get there old chap, keep up!


< See- Patree gets it >

 

[Damascus]

Bio fuel for meth burner, (cheaper), no fires at the moment its tinder dry here in Norfolk

 

[Broch]

Again Broch..

Irony..

You'll get there old chap, keep up!


< See- Patree gets it >

I get irony - just calling it out as it added so much to the discussion on the OP and fuels

 

[TeeDee]

I get irony - just calling it out as it added so much to the discussion on the OP and fuels

Again - The irony.

 

[Broch]

Given that open fires including firebox stoves and the like are risky in the present environment, what alternatives do you fall back on. I am a big Trangia fan myself, but I was surprised when "oop north" I could not find meths anywhere, nor paraffin for that matter. I am contemplating taking the plunge and going for a Trangia multi fuel burner, how does it compare with the likes of MSR?

I suppose I really ought to come clean and say that most of the time 'out and about' these days I use gas. It is, I think, the lowest fire risk, light to carry for a few days out, quick to set up, quiet, no spill mess, and works well in all but the coldest temperatures or highest altitudes - neither of which I spend a lot of time in these days. Even then, the correct gas mix works reasonably well in places the old Bleuet failed.

 

[Mauld]

Given that open fires including firebox stoves and the like are risky in the present environment, what alternatives do you fall back on. I am a big Trangia fan myself, but I was surprised when "oop north" I could not find meths anywhere, nor paraffin for that matter. I am contemplating taking the plunge and going for a Trangia multi fuel burner, how does it compare with the likes of MSR?

"oop north" seams to be Manchester these days, but B&Q do all fuels Paraffin, Meths and Bio-Ethanol. I use the Bio-ethanol in my Trangia currently £11 two litres. Meths should be carried by any DIY shop so stock up before you go.

 

[Sooty22]

I have a trangia, a couple of kelly kettles in different sizes, a couple of rocket stoves (a 'solo' and a heavier one by Petromax), a couple of tent stoves that work great for cooking on, and of course a small 'pocket rocket' thing that screws on top of a gas canister, and a couple of Primus Omnifuel and Omnilite in titanium.

For versatility, weight, risk of setting things on fore, price/availability of fuel, power and reliability in all conditions, I think the Omnilite Ti winds hands down. You can pick one up on ebay for £100-150, and they really are superb. The silenced burner is also worth its weight in gold, otherwise it sounds like a Tornado taking off. For fuel, it really will burn pretty much any liquid or gas fuel, but my favourite is 'Fast Panelwipe', which is basically pure naphtha and identical to Primus or Coleman liquid fuel, but at £3-4 a litre. Or, any cheap gas cartridge, in which case it is worth buying an adaptor for different cartridge systems.

Otherwise, the Trangia is a pretty sound choice too, and you can pick up bioethanol for much less than meths.

 

[TLM]

That question is easy to answer: what ever I happen to have at the moment. Trangia mostly and if in northern Misty Isles conditions even isopropanol burns decently though it does produce soot. When trekking especially in the north I usually have a gas backup and I still have somewhere hexamine tablets, hmmm ... have to look them up. If all synthetics fail I can still light a wood fire though that is slightly restricted at times. In Lapland I often use dry juniper, small twigs light up easily, burns hot and clean and dies down fast without hardly any ember so safe that way too, though for a longer lasting fire something more substantial is needed.

 

[Laurentius]

"oop north" seams to be Manchester these days, but B&Q do all fuels Paraffin, Meths and Bio-Ethanol. I use the Bio-ethanol in my Trangia currently £11 two litres. Meths should be carried by any DIY shop so stock up before you go.

Actually I was close to Whitby, none of the garage forecourts had paraffin and the assistant at B&Q looked at me funny when I asked for meths or bio ethanol. As it is I have now stocked up on both back home in the midlands. Next time I will remember to take enough with me.

 

[Silverclaws2]

Given that open fires including firebox stoves and the like are risky in the present environment, what alternatives do you fall back on. I am a big Trangia fan myself, but I was surprised when "oop north" I could not find meths anywhere, nor paraffin for that matter. I am contemplating taking the plunge and going for a Trangia multi fuel burner, how does it compare with the likes of MSR?

Any form of cooking device that relies on a flame to produce heat is a danger in tinder dry conditions, for myself to wonder is it really about the fuel and the method of utilising that fuel to produce heat or is it really about good old fire control ?

I mean we've done it before we have have had major sources of controlled fire in the most combustible on environments to include smithies on wooden sailing ships or in my own experience, a smithy in the midst of a woodworking shop to know it is all about fire control aka watching where the sparks go and having on hand flame extinguishing materials aka a bucket or two of water and keeping one's workspace scrupulously clean.

And I was always taught when constructing open fires to find or create bald ground, cut turf pull it out of the way where even turf can be an extinguisher or indeed earth. And so as regards camping cookers that rely on flames of whatever fuel, use them on bald ground and have available fire extinguishing materials.

 

[Laurentius]

Any form of cooking device that relies on a flame to produce heat is a danger in tinder dry conditions, for myself to wonder is it really about the fuel and the method of utilising that fuel to produce heat or is it really about good old fire control ?

I mean we've done it before we have have had major sources of controlled fire in the most combustible on environments to include smithies on wooden sailing ships or in my own experience, a smithy in the midst of a woodworking shop to know it is all about fire control aka watching where the sparks go and having on hand flame extinguishing materials aka a bucket or two of water and keeping one's workspace scrupulously clean.

And I was always taught when constructing open fires to find or create bald ground, cut turf pull it out of the way where even turf can be an extinguisher or indeed earth. And so as regards camping cookers that rely on flames of whatever fuel, use them on bald ground and have available fire extinguishing materials.

How are we supposed to cook then? FWIW I put my stove on a fibreglass mat. I am sure here that we are all careful and sensible, but yet the stores will happily sell one use barbecues which are probably responsible for most of these bush fires during the school holiday season, say no more.

 

[shaggystu]

Sandwiches work, or sausage rolls, pasties, fruit, a bag of crisps...... I don't even cook most of my meals at home at this time of year, who wants hot food in this weather?

The world's a tinderbox right now, if you can't spend time in the outdoors without setting fire to something (meths/gas/petrol/hexamine etc. included) then maybe you're not actually a bushcrafter.

 

[Mauld]

Actually I was close to Whitby, none of the garage forecourts had paraffin and the assistant at B&Q looked at me funny when I asked for meths or bio ethanol. As it is I have now stocked up on both back home in the midlands. Next time I will remember to take enough with me.

Paraffin is in the garden section, it's used as a greenhouse heating fuel. Meths is in the paint & decorating section. Bio-ethanol is in the real fires / fireplace section its used for those trendy real flame internal fires.

I was in a shop trying to buy Flints, the assistant looked puzzled and pointed to a disposable lighter.