Fuel and cooking

[tucker0104]

I have a MSR whisperlite and a 22oz bottle. If I were to be heating water up to add to my meal twice a day then how long will that bottle last?

[rafe]

A long, long time. Probably three weeks or more, I'd wager. 22 oz of white gas is a LOT of fuel. MSR has tables and charts on their website that list the efficiency of their various stove models.

[Tractor]

Agree. Three weeks is safe.

[shelterbuilder]

Easily three weeks.

[Toolshed]

It all depends how you use your stove.
Do you have a good windscreen?
Are you just heating the water to boiling for food or coffee (and using a cozy) or are you actually keeping the stove going to cook food?
Are you boiling a full 4-5 liter pot or just a couple of cups of water for each meal?

I found with my whisper-lite and int'l models that I could easily get a week on a smaller 11 oz bottle of fuel using a cozy and boiling a full 4 liter pot for 2 meals per day.

In cooler weather, you might likely need more fuel. In colder weather when melting snow and Ice for water you need more than double the amount of fuel.

But back when my W-lite was my mainstay stove, I always figured on 2 oz/person/day. Now that ultralight is the word, it seems like luxury for one to carry that much fuel.
So, I'd say safely 2.5 weeks... 3 weeks if you are tight (and leaving a bit left over for emergency needs)

[weary]

It all depends how you use your stove.
Do you have a good windscreen?
Are you just heating the water to boiling for food or coffee (and using a cozy) or are you actually keeping the stove going to cook food?
Are you boiling a full 4-5 liter pot or just a couple of cups of water for each meal?

I found with my whisper-lite and int'l models that I could easily get a week on a smaller 11 oz bottle of fuel using a cozy and boiling a full 4 liter pot for 2 meals per day.

In cooler weather, you might likely need more fuel. In colder weather when melting snow and Ice for water you need more than double the amount of fuel.

But back when my W-lite was my mainstay stove, I always figured on 2 oz/person/day. Now that ultralight is the word, it seems like luxury for one to carry that much fuel.
So, I'd say safely 2.5 weeks... 3 weeks if you are tight (and leaving a bit left over for emergency needs)
The guy with the impossible to pronounce trail name is right. When I was seriously cooking and boiling water to purify it, for the next day, I've used that much in a week.

If you are heating water just for instant coffee, and convenient packages of food requiring just boiling water and wait time, you can expect to get two or three weeks on 22 ounces

. But it takes will power. No letting the stove simmer until you are ready for dishes -- or between starting supper and an after supper hot chocolate. Starrting and stopping gets to be a hassle after awhile. Thats why I gave up on my Whisperlight and switched to a wood burning Zip Stove.

Weary

[gaga]

Weary, whit all do respect, i`m gonna Quote George W. Buss "GOT WOOD?" always for the Zip Stove? ;):D

[LIhikers]

My wife and I hike with an MSR Simmerlite stove which uses white gas. For a 2 week hike this past summer I brought a 22 ounce bottle of fuel that was filled to the full line. Each evening we'd boil up 2+ cups of water for food and then eat. Then, most but not all nights, we'd boil up another 2 cups of water for tea. When we got home there were still several ounces of fuel left. I didn't measure it but I think it was in the neighborhood of 4 ounces left over.

[Peaks]

Conservatively, I'd estimate at least a week. But, best to do your own test. Just weight the bottle after an overnight trip, and figure out your own fuel usage.

[gold bond]

I used that stove with a liter (32oz) MSR bottle and boiled up to 12-14 cups of water a day for 11 days. I really believe that a good windscreen makes all the difference to how much fuel you will use. I was using mine at Philmont boiling water for 12 people at on time.We were using a two quart pot with a lid.I was really nervous at first so three of us carried a liter bottle with fuel just in case. We only used my bottle and a second bottle for one meal!

[Jack Tarlin]

Fuel tip:

This works with white gas, cannisters, alcohol, anything.....

Make sure you have some sort of pot lid, either the one your pot came with, or an improvised one; even a piece of tin foil will work.

Cover your dinner 3-5 minutes before it's "done" and kill your stove. Your food will continue to cook and absorb water and will stay hot enough (in fact, it will have cooled down suficiently so you can eat it after the 3-5, instead of taking it off the stove and THEN waiting cuz it's too hot to eat!).

Do this every day, and you'll add several days worth of fuel to each fill-up; I get 3-5 extra days out of every fuel cannister this way and it'll work with white gas, too.

[Appalachian Tater]

Jack, this works at home to save energy, too! With the stove and the oven.

[bajabackpacker]

I used a whisperlite international (same as a normal whisperlite except it can run many types of fuel) on a NOLS trip to Baja and we went through a 22oz bottle and a half every 2 weeks and we were cooking twice a day for 4 people and usually had hot water at night, so we probably had about 2 hours of cooking every day with a windscreen and a heat reflector. I'd say that 3 weeks sounds like the amount that 1 person who used it casually would get out of it. We were doing things like baking cakes/bread, boiling potatoes, dicing them up, frying them with onions and garlic and then adding instant potatos and making a pie out of them type of cooking, heh.

[Peaks]

I used that stove with a liter (32oz) MSR bottle and boiled up to 12-14 cups of water a day for 11 days. I really believe that a good windscreen makes all the difference to how much fuel you will use. I was using mine at Philmont boiling water for 12 people at on time.We were using a two quart pot with a lid.I was really nervous at first so three of us carried a liter bottle with fuel just in case. We only used my bottle and a second bottle for one meal!

For those going to Philmont, one of the things you should do on your training treks is to check fuel consumption. Our crews have done this, and found that we used about 6 1/2 ounces of fuel per day. Based on this, we only carried one 22 ounce bottle and one 11 ounce bottle of fuel for the trek.

[ozt42]

I carry a 32oz bottle for two people for two weeks, I cook a lot, simmer a lot, like a hot drink whenever I get chilled and always offer he use of my stove to random ultralighters that look cold hungry and miserable. I haven't run out of fuel yet. As a rough estimate being conservative with your usage you could easily get 3 weeks or more out of a 22 ounce bottle.

[WILKEBEAST]

with the amount of places you can get white gas on the trail running out is never really a problem.