Jetboil problem - or gas problem?

[B Deleted_Beck]

Howdy

 

I bought a new Jetboil Flash on Friday. This weekend I took it up on a climb and was irritated to discover the gas knob was super touchy and inconsistent- crank the gas up, it flares up then starts to die off and pitters out unless you crank it up even more.. then when your shit is boiling and starting to spill over, it seemed like it was all or nothing- full blast, or off. If I was SUPER careful, I could get a happy medium for simmering, but only after spilling soup all over the place and burning myself and forcefully stopping my angier alter-ego from throwing the thing into the void.

 

Anyway... I was going to throw it in the truck tonight and take it back to REI tomorrow after work, but the thought just occurred to me- maybe it's just the gas canister that sucks. I don't have another one to try out...

 

Experiences?

 

Thanks

 

-Ben

[chris]

My Jetboil has a fill line at about 1/3 of the pot - if you fill it up above this line, it will boil over. And it has two speeds - on and off.

 

I don't cook in it except for pasta noodles, and when I have filled above that 1/3 mark, I watch it carefully to turn it off as soon as it boils. With pasta, you don't have to keep it simmering - you can bring to a boil, turn it off and give it a few minutes, fire it back up and repeat until the noodles are cooked.

 

The MSR Reactor operates much the same way. Both are meant to boil water and melt snow - not really anything more. They're awesome alpine stoves. If you want it to be a backcountry gourmet cook switch back to a Whisperlite.

[genepires]

any of the propane or butane canister stoves (without the built in heat exchanger) simmer well too and prolly better than a whisperlite.

[tvashtarkatena]

Jetboils do have their problems.

 

Boiling water too quickly isn't one of them.

 

Their one and only use is kind of implied in the name, no?

 

Jetboils give you two signals that they're about to scald everything in your tent:

 

Early Warning: Rising pitch of the characteristic whoosh

 

Core Breach Imminent: The pot starts shaking. You've got about 5 seconds to hit Shut Down before detonation.

 

Edited September 5, 2012 by tvashtarkatena

[rob]

MSR makes (or used to) a stove called the simmerlight (?) or something, it had really fine temperature control for cooking.

[layton]

working or not, it's fun to return things to REI

[tvashtarkatena]

REI: You'll hit it, but don't admit it.

[Luzak00]

Simmer soup in a jetboil? Ha!

 

Sorry, these stoves were not designed for that purpose, and all your attempts towards that end will lead to failure.

Edited September 6, 2012 by Luzak00

[B Deleted_Beck]

Well I've simmered on 'em before, and I was able to get this one to simmer, after some frustration and finesse. I guess the problem is with my expectations- which have now been altered.

 

Problem solved!

 

Thanks for replies