Camp stove recommendations

[Toxic_Avenger]

I'm currently using a $14 K Mart gas stove with the throw away butane cans. You know, the ones that apparently like to blow up and kill people.

I'm wondering if there is a better option out there?
I've been looking at coleman single burner Dual fuel burners, had a go at making a metho stove out of a coke can (and failed), and have seen some nice looking but pricey arrangements by the hiking mobs like trangia, MSR etc. I've used hexamine stoves before, but the tar-like soot and smell kinda sucks.
Something that is not super bulky would be nice, but on the other hand I don't need to count every gram of weight, as it's mainly for vehicle based camping. Something that has readily available and reasonably priced fuel would be ideal.

Can anyone recommend a camp stove setup?

[rar110]

In the last couple of years I've used a trangia metho stove but also carry a 20 year old gas mate butane stove. The metho stove is a little slower. If I'm in a hurry I use the butane stove to boil the jug etc. I've never had any issue with either. Although the butane stove doesn't work well when the temperature approaches zero degrees.

I bought my trangia 2nd hand. It's big enough for family of four.

[Pocket Rocket]

We have a trangia from when we used to do mountain bike camping but haven't really used it much since going on holiday with the car.

What we used before getting the camper trailer was a 1kg gas bottle and a single burner so we could at least control the temperature - can't do that very effectively with a trangia.

Just depends on whether you want to carry an lpg gas bottle.

[Toxic_Avenger]

Just depends on whether you want to carry an lpg gas bottle.

Not really interested in taking LPG, I've got a fully decked out weber babyQ, but after something more compact for the quick night or two escape where its just basic camping for 2, or even just a quick coffee / picnic.

[rar110]

Although not precise you can moderate the temp on a trangia. I often just turn the temp down to keep warm while something else catches up. We have a 2nd trangia burner.

[Don 130]

The 533 dual fuel Coleman sportster is light and small, will run on unleaded petrol, but runs better on shellite/coleman fuel. I've got two. they're very good. easy to light, good heat and good control. Also you can get spare parts for them.
I think I got mine for about $70 delivered each. have a search.
Coleman - Dual Fuel (http://www.colemanaustralia.com.au/product/dual-fuel-sportster-ii-stove/1217545?contextCategory=0601#.VYaNietRfdk)

[austastar]

Hi,
I bought a Coleman 2 burner dual fuel years ago. It is brilliant, stable and powerful. But it takes up so much room.
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https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/06/305.jpg

The single Coleman dual fuel looked like it would give about the same heat, so I bought one of those as well. It is now my weapon of choice unless the built-in gas stove will suffice.
I use it for heating 10L of water for showering or for cooking when I need heat. It is strong enough to hold a 10L billy, small enough to pack away, and one tank burns for several hours.
Cheers

[Toxic_Avenger]

has anyone had any experience with the small hiking style dual fuel burners like this?
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/06/129.jpg

[SSmith]

has anyone had any experience with the small hiking style dual fuel burners like this?
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/06/129.jpg

Quite a bit.
These days i dont do the long hikes i used to, so the msr dragonfly does my light duties (and a primus lpg does the camping work)

The dragonfly has better flame control than the lighter burners.

Work well above the snow line, fuel efficient, can boil water quickly (about a third of the time a trangia took :p ) and it can be dismantled for cleaning.

Take a bit of practice to light without a flare up or wasting fuel tho. We nickname the dragonfly "the afterburner" - the are a little noisy.

Sent from my GT-S7562L using AULRO mobile app

[Fluids]

Coleman 533 dual fuel ...

... ticks ALL the boxes.

[SimonM]

It depends how compact and light you want to go. For hiking my metho stove weighs 23grams plus fuel.

[The Cone of Silence]

I too had a crack at the beercan stove...got one to work ok but not great...lack of hole width and positional consistency meant a lop-sided flame. Amusing but impractical and also had no windbreak.

I've had a Dragonfly for years which I rate highly. It's a noisy bugger but it's ruthlessly efficient but it's weakness for me is that it doesn't pack down well enough for walk-in, walk-out camping....or for packing in the Defender's 'cooking stuff' storage box!

So, when I got a nice stove-top espresso coffee maker to keep in Monty for camping, I got one of these (from eBay) to go with it

http://www.aulro.com/afvb/attachment.php?attachmentid=95596&stc=1&d=1435272604

Ti Stove (http://www.evernewamerica.com/overview-1-1/)

It runs on the same principle as the beercan stove but it's machine built and comes with a stand and a sort of windbreak. Packs down VERY small, weighs nothing, goes really well when burning metho; perhaps not so good with sticks and twigs but they can be used as a back-up fuel.

Cools down within seconds for packing up.

[tact]

I'm currently using a $14 K Mart gas stove with the throw away butane cans. You know, the ones that apparently like to blow up and kill people.

I'm wondering if there is a better option out there?

Can anyone recommend a camp stove setup?

Like you for semi light weight vehicle based camping, I have been using something like the Kmart butane stove.

Interesting you raise this at this time as my searching for an alternative in just this past week had me stumble on the age old "rocket stove" concept.

These are biomass burning stoves (twigs and kindling) that due to the (really simple) design of airflow and fuel positioning are extremely efficient and effective. There are some interesting commercially made units coming out now and one in particular has caught my attention.

Attached is an image showing how simple the design can be (make it out of a few baked bean tins and a a milo tin!)

[tact]

The Minuteman rocket stove is the commercially made rocket stove that has caught my eye for its practicality:
- it is built into a metal ammo box form factor that locks all the dirty bits inside when packed for travel
- rugged and reasonably compact
- seems to handle reasonably big jobs (refer the YouTube link below where the maker boils up 5lb of spuds in a large cast iron Dutch oven with a bunch of small twigs as fuel)
- and it actually looks like Man's stove! Not a prissy Barbie toy. :twisted:

Pic is attached.

Here is the YouTube link:
http://youtu.be/rQkWCl3yjsA

[Avion8]

I have been using a Jetboil for the past 8 years, & it has done the Cape to Cape, & large parts of the Bibbulmun track on multi day hikes. Can cook for two with boil in the bag stuff, has a coffee press weighs very little & packs away small with the burner & gas canister stored in the titanium cup. It also works in gale force winds & sub zero temps, although a little slower.

I also take it on the Series 1 trips along with the exploding single burner stove we have had for 12 years & purchased in South Korea, where every BBQ restaurant has dozens of the things.

I'm also liking the sound of the BioLite energy camp stove, which sounds similar to the concept Tact mentioned, but this can also charge USB devices whilst you cook, and uses twigs as fuel.

[nismine01]

I have used small gas bottles with screw or simply clip on tops when hiking, bit like the dragonfly but using gas, very efficient, not exploding. Check out most fishing camping stores, they are inexpensive but you might want to find a tin can to put it in as a wind break.

Mike

[p38arover]

Have a look at this thread on camp stoves (another forum I Mod): Stromtrooper Forum : Suzuki V-Strom Motorcycle Forums (http://www.stromtrooper.com/camping-grub/74015-your-stove-preference.html)

[Toxic_Avenger]

Thanks for all the suggestions!
The rocket stove is a good idea, but for my needs, something that runs on an easily accessible liquid fuel is a winner.

Visited the local camping joints today and picked up a coleman dual fuel 533 stove, running on shellite (camp stove fuel).
First test was some billy tea this afternoon. I boiled 1000ml of water in a billy can on the verandah, took about 7.5 minutes to boil on a 19 degree day with about 5knots wind. Timing started when the stove was choochin' at operating temp.

So its maiden voyage was a success, if I ever find I might need something more compact or with more heat in the future, I might look at one of the backpacking options out there, but pretty pleased.

For the nerdy ones amongst us, I did some calculations... Tune out now if you are not a geek like me. :p

1L of water raised by 81 celsius needs approx 338580 Joules of energy (using 4.18 J/g.K specific heat of water, and a Delta T of 81 Kelvin (ie degrees celsius) )
The blurb on the box of the coleman stove claims 10,500 BTU burner (ie 10,500 BTU/h).

So if we divide the 10500 BTU/h by 60minutes x 7.5minutes burn time of my experiment, we get 1312.5 BTU imparted from the burner into my billy over that time, which assumes we got 100% heat transfer from flame to water with no other losses.
Knowing that 1BTU = 1055 Joules...
1312.5BTU x 1055J = 1384687.5 J used to heat my water

The more astute would ask: "if I theoretically only need 338,580 Joules to raise my litre of water by 81 degrees, but the burner used 1,384,687 Joules given the BTU rating on the pack, that sounds like a pretty bad deal to me! Where'd my other 1,046,107.5 Joules go?!"

As Bob Dylan would say, 'The answer my friends, is blowing in the wind'... most of my heat was being blown away, much of it was just licking out the side of the burner. There is always the possibility that the 10500BTU rating has some fudge factor in it (Marketing departments love doing that), but in this case, most of the error was introduced by my own scientific method.

In short... there is more efficient designs out there, but I'm happy with what it's capable of given my basic needs of heat to food in a relatively compact package.

[p38arover]

19 deg ambient. What was water temp? Usually it's much colder.

I have a Coleman Peak 1

http://www.spiritburner.com/fusion/gallery/1/1213141355-coleman_peak1.jpg

[Fluids]

Great choice Mitch. I use 2x of these. One of the flat sheet metal folding windshields is worth its weight in gold if there's even a slightest breeze. Should be a lot less then 7.5min for 1L of water. Thanks for the nerdy calc's ! :)


When you run out of fuel, ULP is a valid and good substitute ... But if you use ULP regularly run some Shellite thru it every now and then to help keep the gum from the ULP building up. I run Shellite and only use ULP if I've run out of Shellite ... Very rarely.

Cheers


Sent from my iPad using Braille

[Toxic_Avenger]

Temp was 19 celsius ambient, water was sitting in the billy for a while before I started heating it (30-45 min), so there could have been more accuracy with initial water temp, but near-as-damnit I think.

I'll have to keep my eye out for a folding windshield, thanks for the pro-tip fluids.

[p38arover]

Thanks Mitch.

I, too, use a wind shield. Mine has pins at each end to drive into the ground.

[landy]

has anyone had any experience with the small hiking style dual fuel burners like this?
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/06/129.jpg

Everything SSmith said. I campaigned mine for many years in the British Army as I could Use the petrol in the Jerries on the gun tractor.
It is (still got it) very dirty, noisey, and flares up. But works well in very cold temps. Now a days I use a jetboil. Great for boil in the bag meals and boiling water. Really very quick. But food burns if cooked directly in the pot. I was so impressed I bought another that stays in the back of the Defender permanently for brews on day trip. Along with Tea sugar and long life milk.

[tact]

has anyone had any experience with the small hiking style dual fuel burners like this?
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/06/129.jpg

I bought one close to exactly the same (older model) to use burning diesel on jungle trips. (My car a diesel burner so no need to pack reserve stove fuel)

It worked well.. Bit dirty/sooty on diesel til it got a good burn going. (Retired it when the pump plunger cap broke and cannot buy parts)

We used the same kind of stoves (albeit much more robust, less lightweight) burning diesel in the Antarctic. Takes longer to vaporize the fuel and get that good hot/strong pressure flame going but worked well in very subzero temps melting snow for water. (And of course below -20C substitute Jet A1 for diesel as diesel waxes at very low temps)

[Toxic_Avenger]

Achievement get: Cheap eBay spec wind deflector!
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/06/122.jpg
Should see it in a week or so, nice and compact and relatively cheap (<$15 shipped). The comparable large panel deflectors in the camping store were approx $40. Thrifty purchase is thrifty.

[Fluids]

Ooooo yeah! That'll work a treat. Wrap that around your stove and 1L of water and see how long it takes to boil :p ... Be warned, when using a windshield (and especially a large frypan on top) the fuel tank on these stoves get ****ing hot!!! Like HOT HOT !!! :eek:

Never heard of one blowing up, but a few times I've checked mine and I freaked out about how hot the fuel tank was ... Couldn't pick the stove up !

Sent from my iPad using Braille

[SSmith]

Retired it when the pump plunger cap broke and cannot buy parts


Mine broke 6 months ago :(
Parts are much more readily available (and cheaper) these days. The new design is supposed to have addressed that design flaw, only time will tell.


Toxic: my biggest tip would be to pay close of attention to the priming process, both phases - the number of times you pump it to get the right pressure (over pressure makes the flame difficult to control, under pressure and the flame will lack intensity) and how long you burn it before opening the fuel up properly (improves how quickly and how fuel efficiently it gets up to working temp).
Once it is up and running a flare up generally means you have a dirty jet/fuel valve.

Best of luck, it ought to serve you well.

[BMKal]

The trusty old portable butane cooker is coming back onto the market.

They’re Back – New Portable Butane Gas Stoves Back On The Shelves | Expedition Australia (http://www.expeditionaustralia.com.au/2015/08/theyre-back-new-portable-butane-gas-stoves-back-on-the-shelves/)

Bunnings is selling the single burner Gasmate, and I was told yesterday that Rays Outdoors will have their Wild Country models in single and double burner versions available shortly.

I still have my old single burner Primus and will continue to use this, but I wouldn't mind a double burner model - or maybe I'll just stick with two single burner units.