Choosing a Stove

The Burning issues…

I shall begin this article with a disclaimer: A Stove can be very dangerous when in the hands of a seemingly rational and coherent individual. Strange things happen on climbing trips. I recall a certain individual, he shall remain nameless, who emptied a fuel bottle full of stove fuel into his buddy’s cooking pot, thinking it was water. He then lit up (or was the stove on already, who knows and what does it matter) and Whabam - burnt down said buddy’s pride and Joy, 1 x Bibler Eldorado. Eish. It happens. Although not very pleasant when on top of the Drakensberg and the proverbial Fangs of the Storm are rapidly approaching…

I cannot claim innocence in regards these strange acts of complete idiocy. Once upon a hike in the Drakensberg, I decided to take along a gas lantern. On the first night, super keen to try out my new lighting solution, I whipped out the canister of gas plus said lantern and proceeded to try and put the two together. A slight malfunction arose which became immediately evident owing to the vast amounts of Butane which started gushing forth. In my infinite wisdom I grabbed a lit candle to see better….

“Dude, what’re you DOING???” shouted one of my mates in steadily increasing volume, whereupon, hearing this brief but very useful feedback, I hastily shoved the candle back where it belonged and removed myself + canister from the vicinity of flame. “Eish”, I can hear you saying, “he’s so thick he doesn’t deserve to have eyebrows. I’ll never do something that dumb…” While I hear you saying this, I have been privy to many other similar tales. Who knows, maybe one day you’ll be telling one…
Thankfully these little anecdotes had happy endings but a number of lessons are evident. I shall draw out three:

1) Don’t be silly. Silliness can lead to injury and ignorance is only bliss if you come out unscathed.
2) Always try out your new kit at home first (so if you do blow yourself up there’s a hospital near by)
3) Never Assume, a maxim we’ve all heard in many different arenas and one which certainly should be applied in your favourite stretch of the mountains!

The above are applicable to all outdoor activities, not just stoves, and they are well worth remembering! If you’re an experienced outdoors user, my apologies for boring you with the (seemingly) obvious. If not, hopefully I’ve provided a small but solid foundation for future trips.

Some points to Ponder:
There are three major categories of stove:
Pressurized Liquid Fuel, Gas, Solid Fuel (into this I would place the old style Trangia meths stoves). All three categories are available on the market and all three have their pro’s and con’s. What stove you choose will largely be determined by what you want from the stove . If you are a hiker, you would consider weight, bulkiness, fuel efficiency: none of which is a particular problem when car camping. If you’re travelling or going on a road trip/expedition, you may consider fuel type and ease of maintenance quite carefully as for example, gas canisters are not always readily available and you don’t want your stove clogging up all the time. Weather conditions are also an issue, the most notable being temperature and wind, both of which can have a marked effect on stove functionality and efficiency. With any luck, by the time we’ve finished you’ll know a bit more about stoves and armed with said information be able to make a better choice when you go shopping.

Pressurized Liquid Fuel
These stoves work off a variety of fuels such as white gas, unleaded fuel, diesel, paraffin, kerosene etc depending on the stove in question. Without exception all of them have a mechanical pressurizing pump of some kind housed on a fuel bottle/container. They also require priming, the purpose of which is to heat up the stove to the point where fuel can begin to vaporize. Obviously the quicker this can happen the better! It can be a real mission struggling in the wind and cold trying to ignite a stove. Liquid fuel stoves have a reputation for solid dependability under most conditions including high altitude and extreme cold. They also have a rep for generating lots of heat, which is certainly the case but this is often used as a counter argument for using gas which, many think, does not generate as much heat. This is not the case. In fact gas (Butane, Iso Butane, Propane) actually generates more energy per unit mass than any of the fuels used in these stoves. This has been very comprehensively discussed by Roger Caffin of Backpackinglight.com (1).
• PRO’s: Reliable, usable in any environment, high heat output, fuel availability
• CON’s: Maintenance, priming required, weight, some are difficult to simmer
Gas