Companion forum thread to:

Stoves, Tents and Carbon Monoxide - Deadly or not?
Part 6: Measurements on Liquid Fuel Stoves

Nice work! It's easy now to see why some of my stoves have worked fairly well and others so poorly over the years.

But your comments on the Optimus reminded me of a trip in the late 60's with a Svea stove when, late in the evening in near total darkness, the red-hot flame spreader deformed and suddenly shot into the air. Of course, my natural reaction (I didn't want to LOSE it!) was to stick out my hand and catch it on the way down. I had a nice 3-corner brand in the palm of my hand for weeks.

Edited by EricStechmann on 01/13/2008 19:53:48 MST.

> I just wanted to remind everyone that Sil-Nylon is extremely flammable and burns into a fiery mixture of flame and burning ooze
Two comments.

First of all, you just DON'T prime a liquid fuel stove inside a tent! Seriously!

But I have tested silnylon fabric myself, and I found it far less flammable than PU-coated nylon. It did not burst into a fiery mixture for me - I had to apply flame for a little while to get it to burn in fact. I think it would be best for everyone to conduct their own tests on this matter using any scraps they might have spare. Outside.

Hi Roger,

Another great article in the CO series.

Would it be possible to do a companion series of performance/efficiency tests for all of the stoves mentioned in the CO series. This would help us in making a good choice of stove to suit our uses.

The MSR XGK is called “conversation buster” in my circle of walkers. I experienced this in New Pelion Hut on the Overland Track Tasmania, one walker who was walking with his very pregnant wife and young child kept his XGK going for about an hour cooking lunch we found it very noisy and annoying.

Tony

Hi Tony

> Would it be possible to do a companion series of performance/efficiency tests for all of the stoves mentioned in the CO series.
I don't have any plans to compare ALL the liquid fuel stoves at this stage. To my mind they are all far too heavy for fully paid-up BPL UL party members ... :-)

I do have some plans to do some comparisons between some of the canister stoves in the not-too-distant future (like within the next 3-6 months). After that ... we'll see what can be done.

> The MSR XGK is called “conversation buster” in my circle
It's been like that for the last 20 odd years! Well, ever since the first version was released.

Cheers
Roger

I tried to click on the Part 5 link on top. It doesn't work.

Eins

> I tried to click on the Part 5 link on top. It doesn't work.
Neither did the links to Parts 2, 3, 4. Sigh.
OK, try again: all fixed.
Thanks for spotting this!
Cheers

Edited by rcaffin on 01/11/2008 13:25:49 MST.

Yep, Now it works.

Eins

Roger, well done! I have a couple of the stoves tested in your article - the MSR International and XGK - but seldom use them because of the weight. However, when I forgo an alcohol burner for a gas stove, it's the Brunton Crux that goes with me, a stove that seems popular with many UL hikers, as is the similar Vargo Ti. One feature that caught my attention right away with the crux was how close the pot was to the burner and how wide the flame pattern was, which precluded using small diameter pots like the Snow Peak solo. Anyway, I think the Crux would be a worthy candidate for you to test, given its popularity. Just for grins, I think I'll fiddle with the clearance and see if that improves performance.

Edited by TarasBulba on 01/18/2008 12:11:41 MST.

Hi Monty

What you call the Brunton Crux is actually the Optimus Crux. For a while there was a link between the two companies and Brunton marketed the stove as the 'Brunton Optimus Crux'. it is now just the Optimus Crux, and this was included in Part 3 with other canister stoves.

It emitted far too much CO at the factory clearance, but improved with an extra 10 mm. The heating rate was not very high at either clearance.

cheers

Is it possible to make a pot, rather like teh bottom of a canister and concave, that would reduce CO emissions from having a smaller area of contact at the CO producing small distances? The curve could be slight to still allow most of the heat absorption, but would probably a pain to clean

Hi Jonathan

> The curve could be slight to still allow most of the heat absorption, but would probably a pain to clean
Hum ... not sure what effect it would have. I admit to reservations.
Making it would be a hassle; cleaning it would be worse!

Hum ...

Would a pot like this raise the center of the pot enough to reduce the CO, yet retain any heat lost by doing so?

Price and weight wise this might be better than a separate (msr) heat exchanger, and might work better as well.

interesting idea in using it to raise the center.... I can't find the pic... but I've seen one of the bottom and the there is a ring under the heat exchanger that would allow the stove legs to not fall inside of the heat exchanger...

> Would a pot like this raise the center of the pot enough to reduce the CO, yet retain any heat lost by doing so?

Don't know ... YET.

Hi,

There appears to be a glitch. The part 6 article ends on the what appears to be the first page - the CO table.

It has been like this since I first tried to access the article two days ago (2009-Feb -01.

Hi Robert

Thanks. I don't know what has happened, but it WILL be fixed!

Cheers

"Note that while it is possible to use unleaded petrol or auto gas in such a stove, it is very unhealthy and we recommend strongly against doing so."

What is the problem with unleaded? The only time I willingly use my whisperlite is when I go somewhere like Africa, where to my knowledge the only fuel readily available is unleaded. It is usually no problem cooking well away from the tent, in the open, in these circumstances. Is that enough precaution?

Hi Roger,

Yes it is fixed now.

Note for Derek re unleaded petrol....it will, if used a lot, clog up the jet. In Scotland I use Aspen4T, which is a fraction of the cost of Coleman fuel (approx £15/5 litres against £6/500ml for Coleman fuel. Aspen 4T is virtually odourless and is essentially the same as Coleman Fuel/ Naptha. Optimus recommend the alkylate petrols for their petrol stoves.

Aspen fuel see:http://www.aaoil.co.uk/environment-Aspen-4T-alkylate-petrol