Originally Posted by
Dedicated Hanger
Matt65, have had several stove failures over the years, and almost all could have been avoided if I had just been a little smarter. My go-to stove for many years was a MSR whisperlite type of white gas pump up stove. I then suffered pump failures on the trail the original wisperlite and went to the MSR international, then to a Primus, then to a SOTO. They were all white gas pump up stoves. I would typically carry two and a few spare parts just in case I could repair it while out there. Sometimes I could and sometimes I could not. During that 15 years I had two serious leaks of the system which spewed gas into the flame. Both times I picked the stove up and threw it like a hand grenade to get rid of it. Both incidents were rubber o ring failures. They get old and crack, and unless changed out in a routine maintenance program, will fail over the years. This is an important point that is missed by pea brained people like me. I just kept using them expecting the wear parts to last forever and acted very surprised when my stoves acted up from lack of maintenance. Anyway, those failures led me to alcohol stoves that do not have any moving parts to fail....or so I thought. I proved myself wrong there too. Seemed a little obsessive but I purchased nearly every alcohol stove known to man and tried them all from just boiling water to cooking for six. Here is what I discovered, that is only a truth for me, but it may help you. Once you understand the dangers of an alcohol stove, i.e. the flame is invisible during the day time, the fumes are highly flammable, and the flame is not as sturdy during windy conditions meaning that some type of windscreen is needed. The windscreen is the double edged sword here. With my Trangia I suffered fuel boil over twice on one trip. The stove was half full of fuel and I had a large pan on top with the stove in a wind proof base. After about 8 to 10 minutes the fuel started boiling and spewed out the top of the Trangia creating a large spitting fire. Both times I was able to put the fire out without burning the woods down. Those incidents led me to go to the internet and see if anyone else had the same problems with a stove that had been around for more than 20 years and had a very loyal following due to lack of problems. My investigation led me to reading about serious explosions (rare, but they do occur) of every type of stove. To me, (again, this is just me) canister stoves had the worst reports and witnesses described them to be like claymore mines going off. I put the windscreen boil over of my alcohol stove hat on of trapping heat under the stove and thought what a tight windscreen would do to a canister stove. It made me shudder to think about it. I also put my cracked o ring brain to think about stoves under pressure and your life actually depends on that o ring to hold. For example, if you purchased a canister in a shop, you do not know how long that canister sat in storage before it was sold or if it was in a hot, dry warehouse that would lead the o ring to deteriorate. And if my life (just me) depends on that o ring not to fail, then I am no longer willing to take that chance. All this led me to another conclusion, a person is probably safer with a stove and stand that is designed with cooling holes so you can not trap heat at the base even if you are cooking for a long period of time using a large pan. Since I have such varying needs and can not use a jet boil which is a one person type of stove, I have switched to a Evernew Titanium stove with it's base and windscreen. Again, it is designed as a system to work with cooling holes at it's base and it throws a great flame to boil water with a heat exchanger pot and will simmer if you arrange the burner in the top of the windscreen to simmer and cut off half the jets. But again, what works for me, may not work for someone else. What I do advise is for anyone to look at their system with a critical eye toward heat entrapment. When you realize that all manufacturers of canister stoves advise users not to utilize a windscreen, then the heat entrapment issue comes to the forefront. It is a dangerous situation that took me years to understand. I hope that I have helped you sir.
Sounds like it's time to perform the Simmerlite's over due maintenance.
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