Another Trangia user error.

[Nicklas Odh]

It happens every year, kids using a Trangia and refilling it while it is hot. WOOOOOOOF! and the rest of the week at the burn ward
http://www.expressen.se/nyheter/1.714398
Three kids were on a school hike and were to burn marshmallows and the flame was dying out so the refilled it, even though they knew it was very dangerous. One girl showed up in the TV news where she also explained that they refilled it hot.

The kids mother said to the newspaper that "kids should not have access to fire when on school trips and that the fuel should be under lock". LIke that will work, well you can drive a moped that does 60 kph and in three years you can drive a car and vote, but dont touch the matches, kids that has been smoking since they were 13

The best way is to avoid these accidents is to learn kids how to use it properly. Get a stove on your own and show your kids how it works, or ask a geardo/ bushcrafter to show you if you are so ill educated that you dont know yourself.

Make basic bushcraft skills mandatory in school. Knife, compass and Trangia knowledge is useful, even in the middle of a town. What if there is a blackout, do you stop eating as well? Buy an old Swedish army Trangia and place it somewhere, together with some rations, just in case. A blackout is more fun with warm food.

 

[Glen]

It wouldnt take much to fit it into a science lesson, even it's just a video/mpg shown of the resultant fireball, could show one done on BBQ with lighting fluid too.

 

[Nicklas Odh]

Some years ago some boy and girl scouts had some kind of open house and showing what they were doing on their meetings. One of the teachers/leaders/staff whatever were to refill a burner with T-sprit/T-röd spirits from a FIVE LITER can resulting in the can flying across the group of people like a rocket spreading burning fuel high and low and hitting a girl like a flame thrower in her chest. We are talking years of rehab.

Two years ago a tourist camping on an island north of my town were to reload his propane kitchen with those canisters you punch a hole in (looking similar to a Campingaz Bleuet 206). He unscrewed the old one but forgot to reset the gasket so when he attached the new one the pointy thing reached the metal first resulting in a big gas cloud.
In theory no worries. Just walk away and let the gas dissipate. Unfortunately there were another group some meter away with a live Trangia. WOOOOOOOF! He was burnt on his legs and arms and got fly helo to the hospital.
The burner is still on display at the fire station, next to the helmet and radio that were burnt by the forest fire just days before.

 

[Goose]

I think it was the first thing I was taught about trangias, and the first thing I teach to people, don't fill them wile they are hot!

A bit OT but, whats a geardo?

 

[rapidboy]

I have never had a trangia burner ignite like this and have been using them for years.
Infact I haven't had any meths burner ignite when refuelling but i ALWAYS ensure the burner is extinguished before refilling.
I think the problem is that people assume the burner is out because they don't see the flame and see the burner is empty but forget that the wick holds a certain amount of fuel that is still burning.
Always extinguish the flames before refuelling and you should have no problems.

 

[Nicklas Odh]

A geardo is a person who spends at least 50% of his salary before tax on gadgets and gizmos and nice-to-have things and who has at least fifteen different knives, ten different flashlight, seven stoves, five backpacks and if he is out camping with regular people, any piece of his gear cost more than all gear the other people bring, put together
Someone who doesnt buy a knife, but a F1, Bravo-1, SRK, Woodlore etc.
Someone who doesnt buy a flashlight, but a G2, L2D-CE, A2 etc.
Someone who doesnt buy a backpack, but a BFM, LK35, LK70 etc.
Someone who doesnt buy a pair of boots etc.

Just remember that even if he has heaps of gadgets and gizmos, he rarely use it. I myself have five or six stoves but most of them are still in the original wrapper

 

[Goose]

A geardo is a person who spends at least 50% of his salary before tax on gadgets and gizmos and nice-to-have things and who has at least fifteen different knives, ten different flashlight, seven stoves, five backpacks and if he is out camping with regular people, any piece of his gear cost more than all gear the other people bring, put together
Someone who doesnt buy a knife, but a F1, Bravo-1, SRK, Woodlore etc.
Someone who doesnt buy a flashlight, but a G2, L2D-CE, A2 etc.
Someone who doesnt buy a backpack, but a BFM, LK35, LK70 etc.
Someone who doesnt buy a pair of boots etc.

Just remember that even if he has heaps of gadgets and gizmos, he rarely use it. I myself have five or six stoves but most of them are still in the original wrapper

Ahh! A gear freak!

 

[rik_uk3]

Just remember that even if he has heaps of gadgets and gizmos, he rarely use it. I myself have five or six stoves but most of them are still in the original wrapper

What stoves do you have

 

[Dougster]

The kids mother said to the newspaper that "kids should not have access to fire when on school trips and that the fuel should be under lock".

Oh dear slippery slope, it's not my little sweetie's fault, you shouldn't have allowed him the opportunity to be a thug so it's YOUR fault. How often I hear that, I just hope your society doesn't go the way of ours.....

I hope there is a huge backlash and the sensible majority start to make themselves heard again.

 

[Nicklas Odh]

The stoves are not that funny really. Primus Tech Trail ( i use this), Optimus Tor (NIB), old Meta 80, looks like a small trangia but uses tablets (never used), tommy cooker x2 (tested one), Sw army Trangia (sometimes) and a Kelly kettle ripoff (tested three times). Thats it.

 

[swyn]

Here's a bit of honesty.

I made a similar mistake in a moment of distraction last summer with my Trangia. Forgot to remember that I was supposed to be waiting for it to go out and tried to fill it. The resulting fireball was instantaneous and left me with a stark reminder NOT to do that again.

Bright sunlight and trying to do too many things at once were the secondary causes with the primary being my inattention. IDA burns with a very clean flame and this is not always visible.

Swyn.

 

[bikething]

<snip> ... IDA burns with a very clean flame and this is not always visible.

Swyn.

purple meths isn't much better...

so what i do is wave a hand over the burner to see if i can feel any heat... and if i'm still not sure i'll hold a twig / bit of long grass / strip of paper over the burner to see if it lights up

It's also good practice to let the burner cool before you pour in more meths, as the hot metal will start vapourising the meths creating a cloud of vapour that will ignite when you try to re-light the burner

 

[rapidboy]

I carry a spare burner lid with the rubber ring removed in my trangia, i use this to extinguish the flame, works better than the simmer ring.

 

[rapidboy]

I use a firesteel to light my trangias and you can "throw" the sparks which makes them much safer to light

 

[Nicklas Odh]

I bring an extra burner with my army Trangia. When the first is dying out, light the other one and move the whole contraption a foot sideways. Good gloves are recommended Now when the second burner is dying out the first is cold and can be refilled. If you can not put your hand flat on the burner it is not cold enough.

I think these accidents could be avoided with early education and familiarisation. A meth burner works the same no matter the brand, Trangia, army, optimus, cheap chinese, coke can etc. You could even get a bottle of T-r&#246;d meth and use a cheap metal mug. It is not the food prep thing that need practicing, it is the fuel and fire thing.

This accident and other similar could be avoided if the teacher had brought extra burners. Maybe a Trangia teachers kit, a bag with just ten burners with lids and a polygrip plyer . The teacher fills an extra if needed fara way from the flames and the kids swap it with the empty but still hot one with the tool. I guess we still have a possibility of WOOOOOF here. If the kids decides that it is tiresome to remove the hot burner and instead decides to pour the meth from the new one into the old one.

By the way, is there an easy way to remove a hot (or live) burner from a Trangia without burning yourself. The military you just move and the burner is left on the ground, but the commercial ones?

How about instituting two mandatory bushcraft days with sleepover at the teachers academy. Or why not invite the Homeguard/NG/TA to have an outdoor class for the kids. They have the equipment and the skills and the logistics. First BV or Landy out into nowhere and the big tents and stuff. The teacher that doesnt like the whole thing can get some private tutoring. The aversion is mostly ignorance or fear to know less that the kids.

This outing will make both the kids and the teachers to grow in their own mind.
The kids make their food at one place by help of the HG/NG/TA and the teachers and helpers make their food at another place. This is just done the first time to see if some kids take initiative and to see if any of the teachers have less knowledge. Next time kids and teachers work together because now the teachers know that they can and the kids are strong because they can show the teacher what they learnt. This outing can be combined with a "hug a tree" class. If there are kids with special needs, allergies, religious, vegans etc. it is no problem since each kid make their own food and dont mix.
One could get a bunch of mini-Trangias and give one to each kid.

Now it went from "stupid kids refuel running Trangia" to detailed instruction on how to make a fun field day.
Fortunately we have the tourist college in this city so they practice on the school kids now and then.

 

[oops56]

Well i got all kinds of stoves plus lots of alcohol. When i fill my alcohol stoves i got a small plastic top off a spray can of some sot it holds 1 oz. also its mark at the 1/2 oz. I pore the alcohol in that cup never out of the can or bottle so if it happen to be a little fire in stove the whooooh. wont be to bad

 

[Tengu]

Its a great idea Nicklas but in this country (at the moment) contact with the MOD and schoolkids is disencouraged lest they be a bad influence.

 

[dommyracer]

Its a great idea Nicklas but in this country (at the moment) contact with the MOD and schoolkids is disencouraged lest they be a bad influence.

*** are you talking about? There's loads of cadet groups and the Army participate in a lot of youth development work as well.

 

[tinderbox]

I think Tengu's talking about this story:

http://news.scotsman.com/education.cfm?id=902472007

 

[Tengu]

That and similar stories....

Im sure Kids are easily swayed by the offer of subsidized alcohol.

(thats what I was offered, anyway.)