I know what you mean, everything compacted into the big black mug is a great advantage, but I've always taken tghe second cannister along anyway (god alone knows why, I've only ran out of gas "on the hills" once in 3 years, and that was just through stupidity)
Jetboil PCS
- Thread starter gliderrider
- Start date
I got one of those in black as opposed to lime green from Asda for £3.
It raises a few eyebrows at brew time (although it's actually meant for beer).
Liam
As promised....
After weighing it and calculating with the amounts boiled so far.....
Coleman 100 gr butane/propane canister when full weighs 190 gr, empty it is 90, or at least the other 3, now empty, ones were.
After this weekend it comes in at 160 gram and a total of 6 half liters brought to a boil.
190 - 160 = 30 grams -> 30/6 = 5 gram per half a liter (pint-ish) of boiling water
100 grams of usable gas means 20 times half a liter, means 10 liters, not the stated 12.....
But the average figure when completely tested with this gas canister might change. Optimal conditions, water temp, wind etc are all a factor here. Not complaining, just measuring....
If I go for boil in the bag meals and 1 cup of coffee that equals (about) half a liter, which is not always the case, e.g. a cold breakfast or lunch....., it should last me long enough for most of my purposes....
O yeah and a friend of mine did use his Jetboil on an open fire, as a 'test for survival circumstances' and it went through unscathed.....
Grtz Johan
After weighing it and calculating with the amounts boiled so far.....
Coleman 100 gr butane/propane canister when full weighs 190 gr, empty it is 90, or at least the other 3, now empty, ones were.
After this weekend it comes in at 160 gram and a total of 6 half liters brought to a boil.
190 - 160 = 30 grams -> 30/6 = 5 gram per half a liter (pint-ish) of boiling water
100 grams of usable gas means 20 times half a liter, means 10 liters, not the stated 12.....
But the average figure when completely tested with this gas canister might change. Optimal conditions, water temp, wind etc are all a factor here. Not complaining, just measuring....
If I go for boil in the bag meals and 1 cup of coffee that equals (about) half a liter, which is not always the case, e.g. a cold breakfast or lunch....., it should last me long enough for most of my purposes....
O yeah and a friend of mine did use his Jetboil on an open fire, as a 'test for survival circumstances' and it went through unscathed.....
Grtz Johan
The pan is fine, its the neaprene "Cozy" that got singed, maybe it was dumb of me toleave it on, but never mind.
Also remember that as the amount of gas in the cannister lowers, sodoes the presure,making the temp lower.
Also remember that as the amount of gas in the cannister lowers, sodoes the presure,making the temp lower.
Here's mine boiling water:
[video=youtube;_eMZSAp5t4Q]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eMZSAp5t4Q[/video]
Boil was c. 3 mins for 2 cups which is approx 0.5 litres
[video=youtube;_eMZSAp5t4Q]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eMZSAp5t4Q[/video]
Boil was c. 3 mins for 2 cups which is approx 0.5 litres
The newer jetboils (the Sol range) have regulators which are supposed to counter this - as the pressure in the cannister drops, the regulator opens up more - or something like that. Anyway, they are supposed to be as fierce on the last drop of gas as the first, so you get consistent and predictable boils through the whole cannister. I've got one on order, I'll let you know if it works.
I get exactly the same boil time too. Out of curiosity, does yours have the wirewool type burner? Mine does. I think this is an old design now, it's been upgraded a couple of times and I think the new design is much faster. I've seen 90 seconds for 500mls.
[video=youtube;b0QhKo5VgIs]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0QhKo5VgIs&feature=player_embedded[/video]
Last edited:
I suspect how they work is by the inbuilt regulator regulating the presssure to a very low output vapour pressure. This is then counted by a larger injector (jet) and the corresponding aeration to match.When you put a new canister on the pressure generated will be high and the regulator will knock this pressure back as the canister gets used or the stove is used in low temps the vapour pressure in the canister or the pressure able to be generated is lower so the regulator works to allow the vapor to flow.. A regulator cannot generate pressure in a canister so if the stove is able to work on lower pressure then the burner must be designed for a low pressure supply and the regulator needs to deliver this...The newer jetboils (the Sol range) have regulators which are supposed to counter this - as the pressure in the cannister drops, the regulator opens up more - or something like that. Anyway, they are supposed to be as fierce on the last drop of gas as the first, so you get consistent and predictable boils through the whole cannister. I've got one on order, I'll let you know if it works.
HTH
Yeah, that makes sense John, kind of like a low pressure regulator on a bulk propane bottle! My new Jetbopil Sol arrived this morning, I havent had chance to play yet (just been out watching the fireworks), but one quick test boil and it is certainly fast. It's definitely lighter, but it's also a lot smaller. The neoprene sleve is a lot thinner too and the lid and base are made of thinner materials. They have definitely been working to get the weight down, but I wonder if they have sacrificed a bit too much ruggedness in doing so? I'm going to sacrifice a whole new 100g cannister to some time & weight tests - see if the claimed 12 litres can be boiled and if there is any significant difference between the boil time/gas used on the last boil as the first.
Last edited:
Just did a quick test, opened up to full crack, the Sol boiled 500mls (water measured to 500g on scales) in 1:58 and used 7g of gas.
Super fast, no question. But 7g of gas is on the heavy side, it means only just 7.14 litres boiled on one 100g cannister - that's a long way short of the claimed 12 litres. I'm gonna let the stove cool down and try it again with a less fierce setting. I tell you what I did notice, I used to be able to hole the old PCS in my hand while it boiled, but there is no way I'll be doing that with this stove. The sleeve is very thin and the pot gets almost too hot to handle.
Super fast, no question. But 7g of gas is on the heavy side, it means only just 7.14 litres boiled on one 100g cannister - that's a long way short of the claimed 12 litres. I'm gonna let the stove cool down and try it again with a less fierce setting. I tell you what I did notice, I used to be able to hole the old PCS in my hand while it boiled, but there is no way I'll be doing that with this stove. The sleeve is very thin and the pot gets almost too hot to handle.
Second test, medium heat, a measured 500g of water took 2:31 to boil and used 5g of gas.
Slower to boil, but still pretty nippy and a much better fuel efficiency. At 5g per boil, it'll do 10 litres on one cannister.
Now to try it on a really low heat. Fortunately, the new "crux" style wire flame adjuster that has replaced the old round knob, makes it pretty easy to set the level of heat at a given postition using the Mark I eyeball. Providing the regulator does it's job, this should make it possible to get the most from the stove time and again.
Slower to boil, but still pretty nippy and a much better fuel efficiency. At 5g per boil, it'll do 10 litres on one cannister.
Now to try it on a really low heat. Fortunately, the new "crux" style wire flame adjuster that has replaced the old round knob, makes it pretty easy to set the level of heat at a given postition using the Mark I eyeball. Providing the regulator does it's job, this should make it possible to get the most from the stove time and again.
Last edited:
Third test, same again, 500g of water, very low heat, time to boil 4:41, gas used 7g.
Heat was too low.
Heat was too low.
This time 3:46, 6g.
I dunno what you have to do to get a 4g, 500ml boil with this thing, but I dont think I can achieve it reliably, possibly not at all. I do think a 5g boil is pretty straightforward, which means 10 litres (20 x 500ml boils) from one 100g cannister. That seems to concur with other peoples findings too. So I think I'll call it a day - or night - at that.
I dunno what you have to do to get a 4g, 500ml boil with this thing, but I dont think I can achieve it reliably, possibly not at all. I do think a 5g boil is pretty straightforward, which means 10 litres (20 x 500ml boils) from one 100g cannister. That seems to concur with other peoples findings too. So I think I'll call it a day - or night - at that.
Tada - 2:53, 4g used.
I just had a face palm. I was weighing the whole jetboil, including water before and after boiling. It occured to me that as well as loosing weight from consumed gas, that maybe I was loosing some weight as steam? Doohhh! First go measuring dry weight instead of wet weight, bang on 4g with a medium flame. That's 12.5 litres boiled, per 100g cannister. I'll do it a few more times tomorrow just to confirm, but certainly a light right foot gets better mpg.
I just had a face palm. I was weighing the whole jetboil, including water before and after boiling. It occured to me that as well as loosing weight from consumed gas, that maybe I was loosing some weight as steam? Doohhh! First go measuring dry weight instead of wet weight, bang on 4g with a medium flame. That's 12.5 litres boiled, per 100g cannister. I'll do it a few more times tomorrow just to confirm, but certainly a light right foot gets better mpg.
I'm pretty impressed with it so far. It's certainly got the horsepower and it's super frugal. To put it into perspective, my Evernew Titanium alcohol stove uses 30g of meths to boil 500mls. That means to boil 12.5 litres, it would need 750 grams (950mls). That makes the Evernew + fuel almost twice as heavy as the Sol + fuel (providing you need to boil 12.5 litres).
I've been weighing up the fuel to weight ratio for a long hike next spring, a meths stove along with a Bushbuddy was my original choice but now I'm leaning towards gas.
Over 12 days, a litre a day should be just about right for dehydrated breaky and main meal along with a couple of brews
Over 12 days, a litre a day should be just about right for dehydrated breaky and main meal along with a couple of brews
You'd be cutting it fine with one 100g can, you'd have to be very strict. That said, depending on what meths setup you were considering, I think even 2 cans of gas might be lighter - and would give you loads of headroom, plus ease of use, speed, convenience etc. Sol + 2 cans of gas = 782g and the ability to boil 20 to 25 litres. As I said above, my Evernew stove would need that weight in meths alone, to boil half that much water. There are other factors, but it'd be a no brainer for me.
Last edited:
shewie said:
I'm taking 2X100g cannisters for my jetboil to do 10 days. I keep being tempted to to mail myself spare kit to the campsites at strategic points along the route though.
