As long as they are screw in. Have bought 2 micro tins for a trip 'Jetboil' I assume even though on the tin it says only for Jet boil I can use it as the gas mix is all the same bar altitude.
I bought a Robens lite stove top cheap on e-bay and in the book it states Should use Primus gas but is that just a sales gimmick?
Just checking there are no slight changes in fixings and anything I should know.
Thanks
can you use any gas canister?
Re: can you use any gas canister?
The fittings are universal.
There's a slight caveat that some Coleman canisters don't work with some non-Coleman stoves. On Coleman stoves the proddler (technical term) that opens the valve is at the long end of the spec, with the canisters matching, so a different stove with a proddler at the short end of the range may not open the valve. I've never come across it myself, but have heard reports. It's these slight variations that justify the "use our brand" warnings. All it really means is that if there is a problem using someone else's brand of gas, there won't be any come back. If it's vital, it's good to check that all your canisters actually work before leaving civilization.
The standard gas mix is either 70/30 or 80/20 n-Butane/Propane. When used with the canister upright, the propane gets used faster, with the result that when the canister is more than half used there's hardly any propane left. As n-Butane has a boiling point of about -0.5°, that translates into poor performance towards the end of the canister, and a requirement to keep the canister warm in cold weather (i.e. keep it in your sleeping bag overnight, or no tea for breakfast).
Primus powerfuel replaces some of the n-Butane by iso-Butane (with the 4 carbon atoms in a Y shape rather than a line), which has a boiling point of about -12°, and the Jetboil fuel canisters replace all of it by iso-butane. As a result these canisters work better in the cold and don't fade so much near the end. However, the gas pressure will be a bit higher, so you could find that it's a bit more fiddly to simmer in warm weather.
There's a slight caveat that some Coleman canisters don't work with some non-Coleman stoves. On Coleman stoves the proddler (technical term) that opens the valve is at the long end of the spec, with the canisters matching, so a different stove with a proddler at the short end of the range may not open the valve. I've never come across it myself, but have heard reports. It's these slight variations that justify the "use our brand" warnings. All it really means is that if there is a problem using someone else's brand of gas, there won't be any come back. If it's vital, it's good to check that all your canisters actually work before leaving civilization.
The standard gas mix is either 70/30 or 80/20 n-Butane/Propane. When used with the canister upright, the propane gets used faster, with the result that when the canister is more than half used there's hardly any propane left. As n-Butane has a boiling point of about -0.5°, that translates into poor performance towards the end of the canister, and a requirement to keep the canister warm in cold weather (i.e. keep it in your sleeping bag overnight, or no tea for breakfast).
Primus powerfuel replaces some of the n-Butane by iso-Butane (with the 4 carbon atoms in a Y shape rather than a line), which has a boiling point of about -12°, and the Jetboil fuel canisters replace all of it by iso-butane. As a result these canisters work better in the cold and don't fade so much near the end. However, the gas pressure will be a bit higher, so you could find that it's a bit more fiddly to simmer in warm weather.
Last edited by andrew_s on 14 Aug 2013, 1:11am, edited 1 time in total.
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floppybackend
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Re: can you use any gas canister?
Brilliant - thanks so much for explaining!