Problems with Ti Jetboil

[YocumRidge]

Ok guys, I know it is weird but my titanium Jetboil stove annihilates itself.

 

This is what happened to it on Rainier - melted plastic holder, ignitor connection and grill (made of Ti I suppose):

 

 

Did anyone have this problem? Could it be due to the stove tilt while melting snow?

[G-spotter]

Did you have any other kind of windscreen around it? Heat exchanger?

[ryanb]

I read in a review ( http://www.sierradescents.com/reviews/stoves/jetboil/sol-ti.html ) that that will happen if you have it running without water...it sounds like you had snow in it though? Maybe it could happen before any of the snow melts into water?

 

Either way definitely email jetboil and see what they say.

[YocumRidge]

No way, Dru - the heat exchanger is built-in, the stove was sitting on snow all time, and the cook pot never completely dried out but the set up WAS tilted.

 

[DanielHarro]

Sketchy!!!! Googd thing that did not happen on a huge route in the Alaska Range or something!!!

[genepires]

if it was tilted enough, maybe the heat from the stove rose to side if the pot and made that part much hotter than it would have been normally. How much of a tilt was going on? It seems like you would need a 20 degree or more tilt to make that happen.

[ewhack]

I have used this equipment to melt snow for almost all water during a couple 3 day trips. I found the burner need be turned WAY down. The starter water can evaporate quickly, leaving a void under the snow. Regular stir stabbing to make slush helps prevent this. Also reccommend a small foam square or similar to insulate the fuel from the snow.

[spionin]

i'd be surprised if the fluxring was made out of titanium (since it's a very poor heat conductor, and its purpose would be to transfer and disperse the heat from the source, it'd be extremely inefficient). i'm guessing it's aluminum, just like in the regular setup. from the description it sounds like the cup is made of titanium.

 

i'm not sure what the heat transfer coefficient of Al->Ti is, but i wonder if cranking the heat up too high fried the aluminum and the plastic just by the virtue of them being available heat sinks. and since titanium doesn't distribute the heat uniformly, maybe having heated up a small spot due to the tilt has caused the water to evaporate rapidly, and scorched the snow. did the bottom of the cup warp? if the Ti cup was allowed to fry dry, it'd be bluish (oxidized) and likely warped.

 

was this on the first go?

 

p.s. as noted above - don't place your fuel container directly on the snow, it'll make things more efficient.

 

p.p.s. was confused looking at the picture at first, then realized that it's upside-down.

 

[upzmtn]

Hey - A disclaimer that I work for MSR, but even though this wasn't the far superior Reactor (!!!), these stoves do burn hot and the tilt in your set-up, I'm pretty sure, was the culprit. The damage is consistent with running a dry pot. Though you had snow in it, if you don't start with water and then add snow *slowly* (ensuring that water is not fully absorbed into the snow) you're essentially running a dry pot and that heat is not being absorbed by the pot's contents efficiently enough to prevent damage to the pot. Because of the concentration of heat with such stoves, there's little forgiveness in such situations. Bummer if that's the case, but at least now you can upgrade :-)

Edited June 29, 2011 by upzmtn

[YocumRidge]

I appreciate everyone's input!

The stove with the now permanently integrated pot still works , however the ignitor blew for good but thankfully a regular lighter does the job just as well.

Will wait on upgrading it though.

[DanielHarro]

Upgrade to the reactor for your winter time trips!