Gas canister burn time

[ScottC]

How long you think a 220g canister of Primus Power Gas will last when cooking with a primus gravity stove?

The gas is a mix of propane, isobutane and butane if that is of any help.

I know it's a bit of an ambiguous question but an approximate estimation would really help.

Thanks in advance

 

[fred gordon]

This will be a very difficult question to answer with any confidence. It will depend on the temperature, whether its windy or not, and the altitude you are at.

 

[bikething]

not to mention wether you are mostly simmering or boiling your food / brews
Best pack a spare just in case

 

[ScottC]

This will be a very difficult question to answer with any confidence. It will depend on the temperature, whether its windy or not, and the altitude you are at.

Thought it would be something like that!

 

[addyb]

The above outlined answers are essentially why I refuse to purchase a cannister stove. With meths or petrol (white gas) stoves, you always know how much fuel you've got and how much you've used up. And if anyone wants to get environmental over this, using meths or petrol means less garbage for the environment. The Everest base camp is littered with used up gas cannisters.

Adam

 

[cyclist]

This will be a very difficult question to answer with any confidence. It will depend on the temperature, whether its windy or not, and the altitude you are at.

a real windshield (not one of those foil jobs) helps a lot: a gap of 1/4" all around the pot, air intake positioned to the wind.....
In one word: Trangia like in many very-cold-weather conversions - KAP Arctic etc.
Or Optimus Tor like in No.85 Loke.
Or Caldera Cone.

Don´t open the stove´s throttle to full power - it will extend the burn time of the canister without extending the boiling time for water/meals.

Btw. no windshield is just paticipating in global warming.

 

[cyclist]

not to mention wether you are mostly simmering or boiling your food / brews
Best pack a spare just in case

a spare might be a good idea - a pot cozy does exactly the same job.

Imagine a one week cycling tour, 2 people (a friend & me), breakfast, lunch, dinner and just 1 liter of meth. spirits combusted in a Trangia.
Following my experience a gas canister should last for a month or so

 

[nigelp]

Hi
being the saddo that i am i measured the amount of fuel used to bring 750ml of water to the boil in a titanium mug/pan with a Pocket Rocket stove.

Could not insert a table here but with a windshield, outside in temperatures ranging form 17oC to 7oC. The average amount of fuel used was 13 grams!

So a 250 cylinder with 220 grams of fuel would yield about 15-18 such boil ups. Temperatures colder than about 5oC really start to affect the amount of fuel used. On winter mountaineering trips I allow nearly 75 grams of fuel a day taking a 250 cylinder for 2-3 night trips. Try to pick foods that require little simmering and as suggested make a pan cosy out of bubble-wrap and foil, bring to boil and leave to cook under that. Works too!!

Nigel

 

[addyb]

Those are all very valid points in favour of gas cannisters.

But I would still like to add the fact that as a cannister empties, it's BTU output lessens.

My two cents!

Adam

 

[nigelp]

But I would still like to add the fact that as a cannister empties, it's BTU output lessens.

Quite true but only for the last couple of burn ups. Even then the amount of fuel used is similar just a longer time to heat water. The wasted cylinders are a real issue and one I regret. However a friend who uses a meths type burner rarely measures the quantities accurately for the prevailing conditions and will often have to either refill part the way through cooking, or has meths to waste at the end. It also takes about 10-12 minutes to bring water to the boil in cold conditions? A gas stove or multi-fuel stove is really the only way to go when you need a quick and plentiful supply of hot water in hostile conditions.

Nigel

 

[Scots_Charles_River]

Does the meths burner have a tight fitting heat shield or something ?

I brewed on the top of a scottish mountain yesterday with my swedish army meths burner, it has a tight fitting pan and lid. It was very windy and below freezing and it took 6mins or so for a mug full.

Nick

 

[nigelp]

Does the meths burner have a tight fitting heat shield or something ?

I brewed on the top of a scottish mountain yesterday with my swedish army meths burner, it has a tight fitting pan and lid. It was very windy and below freezing and it took 6mins or so for a mug full.

No!!
That's a respectable burn time. I have looked at meths burners but mainly as an extreme light weight option using a coke can type arrangement. Summer use, so with only a basic windshield. What weight is the Swedish army set-up? How much water does it boil at a time?

Nigel

 

[addyb]

Meth burners are actually quite neat, especially when one takes the time to modify it to their respective needs. While my 28 model Mini-Trangia isn't very good at melting snow, I can achieve a rolling boil in less than ten minutes. I modified my stove a bit by adding a tight fitting MSR windscreen that I cut down and measured to fit snugly around the stove and bottom of the pot. It works VERY well. Personally, I only use petrol stoves when I'm going on extended trips or winter hikes. And seeing as I haven't done either of those in a good couple of years, my meths burner suits my tastes just fine.

Cheers,

Adam

 

[Mikey P]

The above outlined answers are essentially why I refuse to purchase a cannister stove. With meths or petrol (white gas) stoves, you always know how much fuel you've got and how much you've used up. And if anyone wants to get environmental over this, using meths or petrol means less garbage for the environment. The Everest base camp is littered with used up gas cannisters.

Adam

I do like using gas stoves in many situations but it sounds like many Everest trekkers/climbers haven't hear of 'leave no trace'. It's even worse at some other sites - oxygen bottles everywhere.

 

[rik_uk3]

This guy sells these stoves on a regular basis (no connection to me) and are a really good bit of kit
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Optimus-91Pur...ryZ19296QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

[addyb]

I do like using gas stoves in many situations but it sounds like many Everest trekkers/climbers haven't hear of 'leave no trace'. It's even worse at some other sites - oxygen bottles everywhere.

Sad but true, isn't it?

 

[cyclist]

Does the meths burner have a tight fitting heat shield or something ?

heat shield? Don´t know anything about a device of that kind, a wind shield is essential to a meth. stove. Design depends on the stove, the best ones are Trangia T25 & T27 (the T28 isn´t efficient and for sure it isn´t a light stove - to me it´s plain useless - one could take the burner and get the Clikstand or a Westwind ....), Optimus No.91 Tor (and its older brothers) and of course the new Caldera Cone Stove

I brewed on the top of a scottish mountain yesterday with my swedish army meths burner, it has a tight fitting pan and lid. It was very windy and below freezing and it took 6mins or so for a mug full.

Nick

Since there are two types of meth. stoves the Swedish army used to use ...
In terms of thermodynamic effiency the Optimus stove ("Jägarkök": similiar to Optimus No.91) used by ranger units outperforms the standard army meth stove ("Enmanskök": heavy, dark oval shaped windshield, stainless steel or aluminum mess kit as used in many armies, bigger burner compared to civi Trangia, burner stamped with Trangia, Svea or HP, etc.) by far

 

[gwing]

How long you think a 220g canister of Primus Power Gas will last when cooking with a primus gravity stove?

The gas is a mix of propane, isobutane and butane if that is of any help.

I know it's a bit of an ambiguous question but an approximate estimation would really help.

Thanks in advance

You wil find that gas usage depends enormously on the stove you use, how effective a wind shield you use, what type of cooking you do, altitude and temperature etc.

However for what it is worth I find I can just about get a couple of days worth of cooking and brews out of a 220g cylinder (breakfasts & evening meals plus 3 brews a day) provided I am careful and choose food that requires minimum cooking. For planning purposes I allow double the gas consumption though

Just take *plenty* of gas at first until you get a feel for what you will use.

 

[cyclist]

This guy sells these stoves on a regular basis (no connection to me) and are a really good bit of kit
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Optimus-91Pur...ryZ19296QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

in the Netherlands you´ll get them from www.globetrotter.nl
(no connection to me)

 

[Scots_Charles_River]

heat shield? Don´t know anything about a device of that kind, a wind shield is essential to a meth. stove.

The swedish army one I use has a very tight fitting pan/burner arrangemnt so
retains heat well.
It's this one -
http://www.surplusandadventure.com/ishop/800/shopscr2108661.html

Nick