Gas Stove advice wanted

[Rich.H]

Up until now I have always happily gone away with either a custom made hobo style stove, or sometimes included the kelly kettle. Other than this I would often have an open fire of the required size. Now I'm thinking of getting hold of a small gas stove simply for the times when I know I could end up with someone coming across me and throwing a mad panic that I'm about to start the next fire of London.

However my last experience of gas stoves would of been around 20+ years ago on family camping trips where my sole interaction would extend to turning the bacon over.

So I'm hoping folks can point me in the right direction. I don't want any of the tiny super light things, I tend to travel far heavier than I need so will likely just break one of them. At the same time I don't need a big two ring thing to be the next Gordon Ramsey either. I do want to be able to use a refillable bottle and part of me can't get my head around simply throwing something away just because it's empty. Finally I'd guess my budget would be no more than around £35 for the stove excluding gas. If possible I would want something that can either disassemble or fold down.

Thanks for any help offered.

 

[kmac]

The problem you are going to have is that as far as I know, the only officially refillable bottles are quite large and not really practical other than for car camping (think Calor gas bottles)

The small portable ones are not officially meant to be refillable although there are a number of devices you can buy on fleabay to refill them from a larger calor gas cylinder (at your own risk, I am not actually suggesting you do this)

In terms of gas stoves there are loads to choose from and the cheap ones on ebay are as good as any

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vango-Com...amping_CookingSupplies_ET&hash=item51ad0798c4

Another solutionif you want re-fillable is to use liquid fuel instead of gas. They have the advantage in that many take different fuels (Coleman fuel, unleaded petrol etc)

Example

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Fire-Mapl...amping_CookingSupplies_ET&hash=item4ab52ddddc

This one is £45 but there are many on ebay for £35 that people have used on here and can certify are fine

 

[Goatboy]

A liquid fuel stove though more expensive initially would be cheaper to run and easier to get fuel to refill. As Kmac asks are you car camping or walking? would make a big difference in choice of stoves.

Cheers,
GB.

 

[mereside]

I have used a coleman fuel stove in the past I dont like the idea of unleaded fuel but i used a panel wipe from an automotive store it is the same as the coleman fuel only alot cheaper it burns clean with little smell, the downside is it doesnt fold down flat but is quite compact I used an old plastic paper developing drum as a container as it was perfect to keep the muck off my gear, can be had on fleabay for around £25 but like the other link the other fuel burners look quite good and are smaller, atb wayne

 

[Lyope]

Rich - it sounds like you might be best served with a little Trangia type stove rather than a gas burner. Sure, they're a bit slower and slightly less powerful, but they're an order of magnitude cheaper to run and you don't have to keep lobbing the old cartridges away.

I own a little titanium Snow Peak gas stove for when I go ultralight overnight, but it's damned expensive to run because as far as I know, there's no safe way to recharge the bottles and the smallest refillable gas bottle isn't something you'd want to cart about by foot (or even by bike).

My absolute favourite meths burner is a little thing made by Tatonka - it's bigger than a standard Trangia one, but still fits in the same diameter hole that most meths stoves have. Armed with a burner like this, an enterprising chap could quite easily make his own pot support and windshield out of a bit of sheet metal!

 

[swotty]

How about an old Primus 110 paraffin stove? I bought one a few months back for about £20, polished it and replaced the seals and haven't looked back!

 

[jacko1066]

One cheap option for you rich could be to get a stove similar to this with a remote feed pipe - http://bit.ly/WtIZxO

And then get the adaptor so you can use the cartridge style has bottles- http://bit.ly/YcAaUO

You would still be throwing emptys away but you can buy the gas from go outdoors for a £1 each of you buy at the right time.

Hope this helps

Steve

 

[kmac]

Rich - you will get lost of recommendations for stoves depending on peoples favourites. Essentially the portable camping types can fall into the following categories:

1) Stoves you take car camping

Here you can use the following:

i) Any stove from category 2) below -if you can use it for hiking/canoeing etc, you can use it for car camping
ii) Gas stoves - usually used with Calor gas bottles which are refillable
iii) Gas BBQs e.g. Cadac, etc
iv) Liquid Fuel stoves - coleman type two burner -can use coleman fule or unleaded
v) Coal BBQs include stuff like COBBs in this category
Vi) Wood fire boxes

2) Stoves when hiking/canoeing etc where you have to carry the load your self

i) Gat stoves - these use smaller gas bottles which you have to discard when empty (as I mentioned you can re-fill but at your own risk)
ii) Liquid Fuel stoves - two categories here- multi-fuel stoves like Primus, MSR etc allow you to use as the name suggests unleaded, coleman fuel, panel wipe, aviation spirit etc
and single fuel stoves e.g. parafin stoves
iii) Meths stoves e.g. Trangia
iv) Solid fuel stoves (uses fuel tablets)
v) Wood fire box

For me the balance between convenience ( i.e powerful stove) versus ongoing cost of fuel means that the liquid stoves are most suitable. I have a Primus Omnifuel which is quite expensive at over £100 but as I mentioned there are perfectly good Chinese clones on ebay. The other type of stove you may like are the modern Coleman paraffin or coleman fuel stoves
e.g. these are dual fuel ( coleman fuel/panel wipe or unleaded)
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/COLEMAN-D...-CAMPING-533-FISHING-CARRY-CASE-/271215351232
There are also older stoves you can get on fleabay that run on paraffin such as the Primus 110 , but other popular brands a Svea, Optimus

 

[rik_uk3]

http://www.wilko.com/camping/wilko-stove-compact/invt/0299806?VBMST=camping stove remember the empty cans go in the recycle bin

http://www.clasohlson.com/uk/Asaklitt-Spirit-Stove/34-3320 runs on meths/methanol/ethanol

Jacko, the Butane gas is £3.99 for four in B&M and Poundstretcher but remember butane performance degrades in cold weather, there are ways round it but the OP wants a simple stove for occasional use. I'm putting together (slowly) a stove article covering the basics for people here new to stoves and we'll look at butane use.

For the OP's need I'd say opt for the meths cooker, its 100% reliable, works in any weather hot or cold, thrives in high winds and you can use the pots over a fire.

Don't run Coleman type stoves on unleaded the additives in the fuel have a habit of blocking the generator tubes.

 

[wingstoo]

I have a refillable gas stove that I use lighter gas to re-fill.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/SAMS-Innovations-Rapijet-Portable-Stove/dp/B000F6YXA2

 

[IanM]

Have a look at 'Adventures In Stoving':

http://adventuresinstoving.blogspot.co.uk/

Dig around and you will find instructions on how to refill cylinders and how not to. (February 2012)

 

[petrochemicals]

+1 for sounds like meths.

Trangia burner and windshield for heavyweight use

brasslite or triad for lightweight or occasional use.

 

[rg598]

There are several considerations here.

First off, if you want a refillable bottle, you need to go with a liquid fuel stove. I have the MSR Whisperlite International. It is reasonably light, but puts out a lot of heat. It really shines in cold weather, and has been tried and tested under all conditions for many years. It will run on virtually any petroleum type fuel. You could also go with an alcohol stove, but they are very limited in cold weather.

If you want a gas stove, either because it is lighter, or easier to operate, the type of stove you get will depend on what temperatures you plan on operating it in. Even with the best fuel mixes (butane being the worse, and isobutane/propane mix being the best) an upright canister stove will have a hard time functioning at temperatures below -18C (0F). If you want to go to lower temperatures, you need a remove gas canister than can be inverted. That will allow you to use it in liquid feed, and function at much lower temperatures.

You also have to think about what type of cooking you do. If you like fast stuff, and plan on operating in warmer temperatures, then something like the Jetboil or MSR Reactor systems is great and very efficient. If you like to change pots, then the MSR Pocket Rocket or GSI 1000 are great and light. If you want a remote canister system for colder temperatures, I personally use the Kovea Spider. It is cheap, light, and works very well: http://woodtrekker.blogspot.com/2013/02/kovea-spider-kb-1109-long-term-review.html

 

[petrochemicals]

a few points rg598 that I'd like to disagree with(I was thinking of going to see Bumbler anyway, maybe Bivouac will be there!).

Cannister stoves without regulators that are top mounted stop working far higher than -18¤c, those with regulators are credited by the manufacturers to go down to -5 if using isobutane mix, and thats wishful thinking from what I've read. Stoves without regulators probably loose use about +5¤c if not higher.

Meths stoves are sworn by in alpine climbing circles as they are easy to light and work far lower than gas.

 

[Rich.H]

Thanks for all the options folks, turns out I have an old triangia set but had totally forgotten about it. Seems meths are the best option for my needs but in reality how long does it burn for? Roughly how much liquid fuel would folk take for just themselves for say two nights and two full days away?

 

[petrochemicals]

Meths if like you say its only when not using your wood burner. But if your planning on ditching that, get a multifuel one, obviously.

Meths burns around 50ml to 100 ml a litre boil or about 40g to 80g depenging on conditions.

 

[rik_uk3]

a few points rg598 that I'd like to disagree with(I was thinking of going to see Bumbler anyway, maybe Bivouac will be there!).

Cannister stoves without regulators that are top mounted stop working far higher than -18¤c, those with regulators are credited by the manufacturers to go down to -5 if using isobutane mix, and thats wishful thinking from what I've read. Stoves without regulators probably loose use about +5¤c if not higher.

Meths stoves are sworn by in alpine climbing circles as they are easy to light and work far lower than gas.

Not really. Butane does not like the cold, Propane will work in temps far below 0c. With a top mounted stove using a Propane/Butane mix in sub zero temps the Propane component of the mix will burn off first leaving the Butane behind but...in reality when you use a good windshield and a pot goes on top some heat will work down to the earth and keep the butane running.

 

[petrochemicals]

rik-uk3.com, now your just taking the **** ! If you heat the fuel to above freezing it will work below freezing OBVIOUSLY ! Propane onlys work far further down the temprature range probably to -50¤c, and yes you can take the 20g to 60g of propane from the top of a 370g mix cartridge, enough for 3 litres using a jetboil. And it does heat the fuel a little but years of using them means I know they truly underperform before freezing, even with a wind shield by god ! Really you need to take it up the corporate route and talk to soto !!!

Edit :

for a member of spiritburner forums who'se graced with the input of the venerated messeur Townsend, and the Primus etapacklite you really should know better

 

[rik_uk3]

You need to slow down and don't talk to me like that on an open forum. I know what I know from my own personal experience and what I said in post 17 holds true.

 

[petrochemicals]

90, 000 post in kit chatter ! Waited up fo 19 hours.

Anyway rik anything you say