Backpacking stove recommendations?

[Dedicated_Dad]

Wow - the kelley-kettle looked familiar, so ... CDT FTW!

http://www.cheaperthandirt.com/WX130-1.html

Here's my $0.02: Propane stoves are cute, nice, high-tech... What happens when you can't get the little bottles?

I have a doo-dad that lets me fill them from a BBQ bottle, but one's not likely to be carrying a BBQ bottle in their backpack...

With something like this, you have options. Stick your can-burner in the bottom, use sticks, pine-cones, triox-bars, homemade alcohol, gasoline - even junk-mail as SeekHer pointed out. As I see it, no matter where I am I should be able to find SOMETHING to burn...

DD

[SeekHer]

Wow - the kelley-kettle looked familiar, so ... CDT FTW!

http://www.cheaperthandirt.com/WX130-1.html

Here's my $0.02: Propane stoves are cute, nice, high-tech... What happens when you can't get the little bottles?

I have a doo-dad that lets me fill them from a BBQ bottle, but one's not likely to be carrying a BBQ bottle in their backpack...

With something like this, you have options. Stick your can-burner in the bottom, use sticks, pine-cones, triox-bars, homemade alcohol, gasoline - even junk-mail as SeekHer pointed out. As I see it, no matter where I am I should be able to find SOMETHING to burn...

DD

It isn't that you'll find something to burn but if you'll be allowed to burn it--fire hazards etc.

Also going above the tree line on a mountain means very little in the way of burnables but crossing it into the Arctic area has some but not a lot except certain lichens, scrub bushes and very stunted trees--thickness of my thumb and they're 70 yrs old...

[blackeagle603]

yeah, well gotta cut DD some slack for not thinking about treeline. Coming from VA they'd call the hill I live on a mountain.


Our Explorer troop was a SAR auxilary to the Lewis County Sheriff. We'd do our cold weather survival training on Mt Rainer. That's a mountain.

[workinwifdakids]

The reason why they say "propane will freeze over", is often, because when you buy "propane" it's actually, Butane - which is all but identical in terms of burn characteristics(BTU/lb, jet size, etc), except heat of vaporization, and freezing/boiling point). - The reason why they do this is simple, it's cheaper. Most people buying it for they're summer grilling, won't notice, because the summer temps are high enough that the difference is irrelevant. BUT, when you're in cold weather, the difference between the boiling point of Propane(-44C) and Butane(-.5C) is VERY IMPORTANT - if it's below 31 deg. F, BUTANE WON'T VAPORIZE.

Did not know! Wow. OK, so how does one tell the difference? I always buy those little green Coleman bottles. Not the skinny li'l ones, but the fatter ones that are still GTG for a backpacker.

[HTRN]

There is no set formula for LPG:

Varieties of LPG bought and sold include mixes that are primarily propane, mixes that are primarily butane, and the more common, mixes including both propane (60%) and butane (40%), depending on the season—in winter more propane, in summer more butane. Propylene and butylenes are usually also present in small concentration. A powerful odorant, ethanethiol, is added so that leaks can be detected easily. The international standard is EN 589. In the United States, thiophene or amyl mercaptan are also approved odorants.

My guess? Email Coleman, or at least, don't use the stuff you buy in the summer without say, putting it in the freezer and testing it.


HTRN

[Johnnyreb]

What I like about that Kelly stove, aside from that's also my first name, is that you can do two things at once with it.

You don't put soup and such in it, only water. You can buy an attachment, a little grill, that goes on top that you can put a small pan or pot on. So you can heat water for whatever you need it for, coffee, hot cocoa, soup, dehydrated mountain house stuff, etc. While at the same time you can be heating up a can of something on it too. Using the same fire, the same heat, and no extra space.

And as long as you are only putting water inside it, not much of a cleaning problem either.

[Dedicated_Dad]

Wow - the kelley-kettle looked familiar, so ... CDT FTW!

http://www.cheaperthandirt.com/WX130-1.html

Here's my $0.02: Propane stoves are cute, nice, high-tech... What happens when you can't get the little bottles?

I have a doo-dad that lets me fill them from a BBQ bottle, but one's not likely to be carrying a BBQ bottle in their backpack...

With something like this, you have options. Stick your can-burner in the bottom, use sticks, pine-cones, triox-bars, homemade alcohol, gasoline - even junk-mail as SeekHer pointed out. As I see it, no matter where I am I should be able to find SOMETHING to burn...

DD

It isn't that you'll find something to burn but if you'll be allowed to burn it--fire hazards etc.

Also going above the tree line on a mountain means very little in the way of burnables but crossing it into the Arctic area has some but not a lot except certain lichens, scrub bushes and very stunted trees--thickness of my thumb and they're 70 yrs old...

Sure - in a trip or location like that you'd need to carry fuel, were I heading up above a treeline I'd scrounge a bag of fuel on the way...

Even so I like my odds much better knowing I've got a "backup plan" that I can feed with whatever. I've never seen a Propane stove that was anything more than an ultralight paperweight without propane, and never found a bottle of propane while foraging...

Serious question: How is a "stick stove" (esbit, triox, alcohol, whatever) any different from a propane stove in terms of fire-hazard? I've done a fair amount of camping in no-fire zones, and in real mountains (including Ranier) -- but we're not talking "campfire" here...

DD

[SeekHer]

Sure - in a trip or location like that you'd need to carry fuel, were I heading up above a treeline I'd scrounge a bag of fuel on the way...

Even so I like my odds much better knowing I've got a "backup plan" that I can feed with whatever. I've never seen a Propane stove that was anything more than an ultralight paperweight without propane, and never found a bottle of propane while foraging... ;)

Serious question: How is a "stick stove" (esbit, triox, alcohol, whatever) any different from a propane stove in terms of fire-hazard? I've done a fair amount of camping in no-fire zones, and in real mountains (including Ranier) -- but we're not talking "campfire" here...

DD

For a home 72 hr kit they're fantastic, for car/canoe camping they're great, for horseback they're a little bulky and for backpacking the same as well as heavy...The first two I'd buy it for with no hesitation, the latter two sorry but there are better products for those specific adventures...

Logic and government bureaucrats don't go together in the same sentence...that said, the fire of a propane or alcohol stove is spark less where "found solid fuels" may ignite a forest from the hot sparks floating in the air...granted not as prolific as a campfire but all it takes is one...The other thing is the disposal factor of the remains, the ashes, as there may still be a live spark in there...Many a time I've coaxed an evening fire back for morning coffee by just blowing on it--and appropriate tinder of course! At least that's what was explained to me by various Wardens around the country(s)...

The cooking attachment thingee wasn't available when I bought mine (around 1983?) and it's a damn fine idea and if I was buying another one today I'd certainly get it...Whether not made then or just not available at the store I bought it from, we'll never know! I will have to check around to see if one can be had locally as I'm liking the idea of getting a replacement but the one we had before wasn't being used as much since everyone started using propane cylinder stoves that were smaller, lighter, faster to boil and no waiting for the fire to burn down, the surface cool enough to pack or the reamins to dispose of...

The Kelly is neat as it will burn lots of different materials to give off heat for cooking or warmth, as I said, we used junk mail lots of times, newspaper although I don't believe we ever used sawdust but always carried "fatwood" for it...

[Termite]

I have a Coleman 502 single burner stove and an aluminum pot w/lid that the stove will fit tightly in. I've had it since.......1983? Still works just fine. I've heated shaving/"whorebath" water(in the military), fried fish, cooked soup/stew; it's done it all. It may be a little big & heavy for pure backpacking, though.

Why not consider a Coleman Feather 442 dualfuel stove? LINKY
Coleman parts availability, and $75 retail; I bet you can shop around and beat the price, too.

[Termite]

Weetabix,

If you're a curmudgeon, you could always get a vintage Coleman 530 stove, like this one.
Coleman still has some parts available for them, and they even have some collector value. Don't be fooled by the low price on the auction before the last 10 minutes, though.
A 530 in good shape with all accessories generally goes for $70 or more, an unused one in original box(very rare) is $100 plus, and both types often get "sniped" in the last 30 secs of the auction.