Better setup for boiling water

[Slowroad]

I do have a windshield like that already (very similar to this one from Decathlon) but had read that you shouldn't use them with canister mounted stoves as they can cause the gas canister to go boom...
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I've never heard this, but of course I'd like to follow it up. Where did you read it? Thanks!

[pjclinch]

I do have a windshield like that already (very similar to this one from Decathlon) but had read that you shouldn't use them with canister mounted stoves as they can cause the gas canister to go boom...
Top

I've never heard this, but of course I'd like to follow it up. Where did you read it? Thanks!

I've never heard that, and if you've ever seen even a notionally empty small gas can explode you'd realise it's pretty heavy stuff to the point where I think if it was an issue then affected stoves would have very, very clear instructions not to do it, especially given the keenness with which stovemongers' legal departments are keen to say don't do all sorts of things with them.

Pete.

[Psamathe]

Last tour (1st with my Primus Omni-lite) I left the supplied alu flexible windshield at home (deliberately). But on-tour decided I was wasting a lot of gas (which is a pain to buy more cylinders) so purchased a ridged panels wind shield - several rigid panels hinged - cheaper 4 panel version of https://www.bever.nl/p/vango-windshield ... olour=1204 (different brand but looks identical/badge engineering).

It shielded the wind but I didn't like it. On a smooth surface (e.g. picnic table) the wind kept blowing the shield into the stove as the facing the wind hinge "reversed".

Next tour I'll be talking the flexible alu wind shiend that came with the stove as it should keep its shape rather than be blown over in the wind.

Ian

[PH]

I do have a windshield like that already (very similar to this one from Decathlon) but had read that you shouldn't use them with canister mounted stoves as they can cause the gas canister to go boom...
Top

I've never heard this, but of course I'd like to follow it up. Where did you read it? Thanks!

I've never heard that, and if you've ever seen even a notionally empty small gas can explode you'd realise it's pretty heavy stuff to the point where I think if it was an issue then affected stoves would have very, very clear instructions not to do it, especially given the keenness with which stovemongers' legal departments are keen to say don't do all sorts of things with them.

Pete.

I don't know how much of an issue it is, though there's plenty of windshields which shield the stove and leave the cannister exposed.
Example:
https://ultralightoutdoorgear.co.uk/win ... as-stoves/

The Jetboil type stoves suffer less in the wind, at least in a breeze, I've never felt the need to carry a windshield for them.

[Bmblbzzz]

That clip-on sort has limitations. Basically, you need to ensure that the arms of your stove and your pot will either fit within the shield, which restricts you to a pretty small diameter pot, or that the arms will be above the windshield, in which case it's not shielding the pot. So that sort will never be as effective as a windshield compared to the concertina style. Against that, they're light and easy to carry by clipping on to the canister upside down.

One final point, if you use both meths and gas, a concertina shield will do for both, but the clip-on type is obviously only for gas.

[bohrsatom]

I've never heard this, but of course I'd like to follow it up. Where did you read it? Thanks!

It's one of those things I saw repeated regularly when looking for ways to improve the efficiency of my Pocket Rocket 2, like here or here.

My gas cartridge doesn't explicitly spell out "no windshields" though - just that the cartridge should not be exposed to heat and may explode if heated.

[Bmblbzzz]

I'm unconvinced. I'm sure it can happen and has happened, but neither of those links mentions actually seeing it, or even of it happening to a friend of a friend, or a tale going round the climbing club of how Old Bob's canister stove exploded on that trip to Snowdonia back in '82. So I don't think it can be anything other than extremely rare. And as the second one (I like the windscreen it features) says "if the canister is “ouch hot” to touch, then it is dangerously hot." I've never known a canister get that hot, with or without a windscreen. Perhaps if you're cooking a lengthy meal for multiple people, it might be a risk, but in that case you're probably better off with something that leans more to cookability than portability anyway.

[Bmblbzzz]

And going off on a wide tangent, there are some entries on that second site that, to a European mind at least, seem slightly odd:
https://momgoescamping.com/collect-roadkill-bones/

[Tangled Metal]

...
Trangia with meths isn't great in the cold. I gave up on boiling water and went to the pub to eat crisps and drink beer for dinner after 40 plus minutes without getting even close to water too hot for touch! Seriously meths trangia burner went through 3 or 4 refills without getting hot enough. Whereas a caldera cone easily managed it quickly in wind and cold higher up the hill than the valley campsite the trangia failed in. Get a gas kit if trangia is even a consideration.
...

It sounds to me like you were using a mini trangia, or maybe a trangia triangle, and that the wind was blowing away the relatively small (compared to hydrocarbons) amount of heat that you get from meths.
A proper full size trangia 25 or 27 should be very similar to the caldera cone.

Not all trangias are the same.

Nope the Trangia 25. That's the large trangia with meths burner and large pan about 3/4 full of water straight from the tap in a campsite (the one at Braithwaite near Keswick). I gave up and joined mates in the pub and bought a couple of packs of crisps and possibly a few too many beers. For the calories obviously, not any other reason of course!

I did try a mini trangia clone bought for a tenner. Better made than trangia original too. That was bought for a overnighter with a mate. It didn't work well in the wind, actually blew out a lot. I ended up using my ancient primus micron gas stove to get my boiled water on that trip.

[Tangled Metal]

At the weekend using our trangia25 with trangia gas burner and a kettle full of water for 3 cups worth was actually rather slower than last trip. One issue and a second possible option. First was that the wind clearly affected the gas burner such that a lot of heat energy must have been ineffective. Not what should happen with the design. Second is the burner itself might possibly have some of its jets blocked or affected by spills.

Whatever the issue we ended up using a can top burner for boiling water then if cooking transferring it to the trangia for simmering over the gas burner. The can top without windshield was a lot quicker. 2.5 minutes to boil a trangia kettle compared to easily over 15 minutes.

I have no idea why my trangia experience is so irregular. I've been using them for decades now on and off with good experiences but also bad experiences. The bad ones have been truly bad though. I don't rate it as a truly bad weather stove and have often needed to resort to a second windshield as well as the built in one..

[andrew_s]

One possibility is that the vent holes in the base were positioned away from the wind, rather than towards it.
Postioned away, the air flow tends to be in round the edge of the pan, down, and out of the vent holes, to the extent that the base can melt around the holes.

[andrew_s]

Perhaps if you're cooking a lengthy meal for multiple people, it might be a risk, but in that case you're probably better off with something that leans more to cookability than portability anyway.

I'd guess that's the most likely scenario - something like a group cook, with a large pasta or rice pan left on top of a stove running full blast, being ignored whilst the rest of the meal is in progress on other stoves.
I've not seen it with gas, but I was present when a Svea 123R petrol stove blew its safety valve in just such a situation, firing out a jet of flame about 3' long (according to possibly exaggerated memory, anyway).

[pjclinch]

TGO have a stove review in the current issue and online, so those in the market for something shiny might want to look it over... https://www.thegreatoutdoorsmag.com/gea ... ng-stoves/

[Bmblbzzz]

Perhaps if you're cooking a lengthy meal for multiple people, it might be a risk, but in that case you're probably better off with something that leans more to cookability than portability anyway.

I'd guess that's the most likely scenario - something like a group cook, with a large pasta or rice pan left on top of a stove running full blast, being ignored whilst the rest of the meal is in progress on other stoves.
I've not seen it with gas, but I was present when a Svea 123R petrol stove blew its safety valve in just such a situation, firing out a jet of flame about 3' long (according to possibly exaggerated memory, anyway).

Nasty! I thought petrol stoves were almost always remote, but I've just googled the Svea 123R, so no.

One possibility is that the vent holes in the base were positioned away from the wind, rather than towards it.
Postioned away, the air flow tends to be in round the edge of the pan, down, and out of the vent holes, to the extent that the base can melt around the holes.

Are you referring to a Trangia here? I think every concertina windshield I've seen has vent holes in each panel.