Cold weather and canister stoves tips

[setnei]

So I picked up a Snow Peak Gigapower stove at Second Ascent last fall, and haven't had a chance to use it in the cold yet. I'm heading up to Paradise this weekend to do some snowshoeing, and wondered if anyone could offer some advice as to how best utilize this little beast...

 

From what I've been able to find, these kinds of stoves are not at their best in cold temps. When I picked it up at Second Bounce though, the guy mentioned something about using a coil of copper tubing as a heat conductor to keep things hopping in the cold...

 

Would anyone be able to offer any more details on that?

 

Thanks

[specialed]

I think that operation is mostly self explanatory. Run a copper tube around the canister, with one end going up to the flame. I think there's even a more detailed description in the Book of Twight.

[Rodchester]

I think the problem is actually the fuel, as opposed to the stove itself. My understanding is that the fuel, a mixture of butane and propane, separates and therefor is less efficient. But don't quote me on that.

 

Anyway, do you best to keep the fuel canister warm. Put it inside your puffy when you're setting up camp. That should help for a bit.

 

I've never used the coil around the canister idea, so I can't comment on it. I usually use liquid fuel for winter / cold trips.

[boatskiclimbsail]

Flatten a piece of copper pipe about a foot long. This is the same pipe used to run gas and water in your house. bend it into an upside down "U", with the middle of the "U" over the burner (so it will get hot). The two ends should get a sharp bend that will "snap" into the rolled edge at the bottom of the canister. Needless to say, this isn't really "safe" but neither is climbing in general, and this works really well. Don't blow yourself up.

[specialed]

Flatten a piece of copper pipe about a foot long. This is the same pipe used to run gas and water in your house. bend it into an upside down "U", with the middle of the "U" over the burner (so it will get hot). The two ends should get a sharp bend that will "snap" into the rolled edge at the bottom of the canister. Needless to say, this isn't really "safe" but neither is climbing in general, and this works really well. Don't blow yourself up.

 

[fern]

you can also sit the fuel canister in a pan of water and

periodically add more warm water from the pot you are heating.

 

Or use a chemical hand warmer on the bottom of the canister.

 

there was a thread on this before ... do a search.

[setnei]

Cool. I'll give it a shot and see what happens... I know a buddy is bringing the Whisperlite, so I thought this would be a good chance to do some experimentation.

 

If I do blow anything up, I'll be sure to get some good pics...

[Skip_M._Kliphiem]

I have used Heat Treat Hand Warmers duct taped to the bottom of the cannister with success. Much safer than the copper tubing! The trick is getting the tape to stick to the metal...warm up the tape and make sure there is no condensation on the cannister.

[setnei]

Some add'l research turned this up: http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/00041.html

 

and I'll be picking up the Mark Twight book this evening... Can't believe I'd missed that!

[Dru]

you could build a little fire and put the canister in the fire to warm it up

[Blake]

either the propane or the butane doesn't do well in cold, which is why they have the mix of the two. I'm not sure the advantages of each one individually (ie. why they would just have 100% the stuff that does OK in cold). Maybe someone can explain that nonsense to me.

[cracked]

Propane has a much lower boiling point than butane. As such, it is impractical to keep pure propane under high enough pressures so it's liquid (cannisters would be too heavy and dangerous, etc). Since propane is more volatile, it performs better when it's cold. But since it's more volatile, the propane burns off first, and then you're left with the poorly-performing butane, and your stove is no longer hot. Cool, huh?

[Greg_W]

A large Jiffy peanut butter top is just the right size for a fuel canister to sit inside of. A buddy and I have used that with a bit of water in it and set the whole canister/stove contraption inside it. It works pretty well. Like Fern said.

[lummox]

A large Jiffy peanut butter top is just the right size for a fuel canister to sit inside of. A buddy and I have used that with a bit of water in it and set the whole canister/stove contraption inside it. It works pretty well. Like Fern said.

damn dude. you eat jiffy? aint that like peanut-flavored crisco or sumpin?

btw. the isobutane fuel mixes burn pretty damn well without any cannister heating. if you dont believe me then try to use one of them old 'gaz' bluet fukers.

[marylou]

1. Warm with hands

 

2. Keep off ground (set on ensolite pad)

 

3. if flame sputters while trying to make hot water, set pan of warm water on the ground and dip the canister (stove is still lit) in warm water. Repeat as necessary. Slight flareups a possibility.

[Alpinfox]

 

The "problem" is over-rated. Your stove will most likely work fine unless its really ball-shrivelingly cold out, which it isn't in WA very often. Use the MSR Iso-pro fuel; it works better than the others.

[marylou]

Well, Alp, for whatever reason I've had performance problems with isobutane at maybe 30 degrees and 6000 feet, so I'll have to disagree with you on that one.

 

Just got to warm the canister though.

[jon]

Instead of an ensolite pad you can get this stuff at the hardware store that is a foam like insulation with a foil reflective side. This stuff won't burn like a foam pad in case you have a accident, and it's much cheaper then cannibalizing a pad.