View Full Version : Any witnesses to exploding canister stoves?
Has anyone seen a canister stove explode by wrapping a windscreen tightly around it?
I know it is possible to make one of the canisters explode; but think that someone would have to make conscious effort to do it, given the dummy proofing of the products sold in ligation happy America.
Your drunk uncle/dad Billy Bob attempting to use it to cook meth in the trunk of his car doesn't count, even if it was in Appalachians.
Frolicking Dinosaurs
11-17-2007, 07:46
My experience was many, many years ago - before products were litigation-proofed. I took a friend with no camping experience on a car camping / beach trip along with my then 6 or 7 yo son. I was stung by a Portuguese Man 'o War and the hospital gave me enough of some substance to put down a horse. My friend was attempting to cook for herself and my son......... don't remember exactly what happened, but I do remember the fire trucks and I still have the melted stove. (No one was injured beyond some minor cuts and burns and the loss of bangs, eyebrows and eyelashes.)
I never saw an exploding stove. I know this doesn't count, but years ago when I was a Boy Scout I remember another kid putting an unopened can of pork and beans in the campfire. It exploded like a bomb. everything and everybody was splattered with beans, sauce and burning coals. No one was hurt, and this is probably the highlight of my scouting career.
Nightwalker
11-17-2007, 11:06
I never saw a 'splodin' stove,
I never hope to see one.
But I can tell you anyhow,
I'd rather see than be one.
Jack Tarlin
11-17-2007, 14:12
I have seen several Whisperlite (i.e. White Gas) meltdowns. I've never seen a similar problem with cannister stoves, and if it were to happen, it'd be pilot error. These are fairly simple designs, are very easily used, and if used correctly, are perfectly safe.
Frolicking Dinosaurs
11-17-2007, 14:19
I have seen several Whisperlite (i.e. White Gas) meltdowns. I've never seen a similar problem with cannister stoves, and if it were to happen, it'd be pilot error. These are fairly simple designs, are very easily used, and if used correctly, are perfectly safe.I've both seen and experienced these. Not fun.
I agree with Jack - today's canister stoves are quite safe.
copythat
11-17-2007, 14:21
never seen a canister explode, but i did watch one of those long butane lighters skitter around the ground when car camping once. apparently i left it too close to the campfire and it melted a little hole in the canister part and ignited like those estes rockets i used to pack with explosives and send a loft.
(now THOSE were the days: get an estes multi-stage booster and lay a cherry bomb on top of it in the fuselage and it goes WHOOSH into the sky and BOOM! maybe i'll try a snow peak fuel can next ...)
Frolicking Dinosaurs
11-17-2007, 14:49
(now THOSE were the days: get an estes multi-stage booster and lay a cherry bomb on top of it in the fuselage and it goes WHOOSH into the sky and BOOM! maybe i'll try a snow peak fuel can next ...)Zelph, paging Zelph to the gear forum :D
Uncle Silly
11-17-2007, 15:06
I know someone who had one explode on him, but I wasn't there when it happened. He's quite lucky to be alive.
Haven't been "fortunate" enough to witness an exploding canister stove. Yet. Gimme time.... :D
I remember someone putting a wind screen around an old style gaz cartridge stove and after a bit the stove started sounding different, like a mild roar instead of a quiet hiss ( it had been simmering some concoction for a while ). We shut it down before any thing happened. If I remember correctly the cannister had gotten fairly warm.
After that I always keep my ear open for a change in sound.
I've been lucky enough not to have seen any exploding stoves, however, while camping one time my friend having used a cheap butane disposable lighter to light our stove accidently dropped the lighter on a rock, and it exploded. Scared the bejeesus out of me!
I thought I heard someone paging me!!!!:D
I would think the canisters are made with a safety venting feature to prevent exploding and throwing out shrapnel type pieces.
I believe they would fracture and then let the fuel out in a blazing ball-O-fire.
Ball-O-Fire:-? sounds like the name of a stove.
optimator
11-19-2007, 14:25
I thought I heard someone paging me!!!!:D
I would think the canisters are made with a safety venting feature to prevent exploding and throwing out shrapnel type pieces.
I believe they would fracture and then let the fuel out in a blazing ball-O-fire.
Ball-O-Fire:-? sounds like the name of a stove.
I bid $5
The Weasel
11-19-2007, 14:34
Parachutist jumps out of the plane and pulls the rip cord. Nothing. Pulls the cord on his reserve 'chute. Nothing there, either. Worried, he looks down, and sees a speck growing larger until it appears to be a guy in shorts and a tee shirt. "Hey! You know how to fix a parachute?" he yells. The other guy yells back on the way past, "No! Can you fix a cannister stove?"
TW
Flush2wice
11-19-2007, 14:45
Never saw a cannister explode but....
Was camping with some folks one time and a not-so-intellegent member of our party thought the fuel bottle was a water bottle. He poured it into a pot and put it on the stove to boil. Luckily the strong aroma of coleman fuel alerted a smarter member of the party and disaster was avoided.
Jim Adams
11-19-2007, 14:49
Your drunk uncle/dad Billy Bob attempting to use it to cook meth in the trunk of his car doesn't count, even if it was in Appalachians.
...uh...then , NO!:D
geek
CaptChaos
11-19-2007, 23:48
Hello Everyone:
I have never seen a cannister stove explode but I have seen both a Coleman stove and a Coleman single mantle latern go up in flames.
I found my old Coleman stove many years ago that I used to use when I was a Boy Scout. I am fifty now so you know if was some time ago. It was green and was always a good stove. Never had any problems with it at all and it always lite first time. About 10 years ago my wife and I went up to the Mamouth Cave National Park and were camping by the river when my stove that was heating some water started to make a noise. By the time I got over to see it I had a major fuel vapor leak and there was to much fire to reach in and put it out. As you can guess the tank got hot and just a cycle of more vapor being produced until it nuked itself. Sure miss that old stove for the good old days.
About the same time I had a Coleman single mantle latern that I used for a number of years when I would go caving by myself. I had electric torchs with me of course but I liked to go caving with the Coleman. It cast off a nice light and in the cave when you stopped to rest you had the benefit of heat that kept you warm in the cave. I gave my son the latern to take to Scout Camp in Western KY and the night I was there it was on a table when it did the same thing as the old stove did and it nuked itself. Went up and did a lot of damage to the picnic table before we could get it knocked off the table and took a fire ext to it.
But since then I have not went back to the Coleman products but have stayed with my cannister stove and light and have not had any issues at all for the last 10 years.
Happy Holidays to all
John "CaptChaos" Knight
Bowling Green, KY USA
Two Speed
11-20-2007, 09:00
Any evidence of corrosion on either the lantern or stove that you could see?
NICKTHEGREEK
11-20-2007, 09:09
If you use a stove like a pocket rocket where the burner mounts directly on the canister with an outback oven there is an increased risk of explosion. There was a specific warning concerning this issue in my outback oven when I got it 6-8 years ago.
The reflected heat can cause the canister to overheat and rupture.
Never saw it happen.
CaptChaos
11-20-2007, 12:40
Well, at the time I had pulled them out of the shed and they were in their boxes that I always stored them in. The Stove looked good to me but I don't remember any rust except for the burner which is about normal on that old stove.
On the mantle light it looked good and I had never had any damage to it. I never did figure out why it decided to nuke itself. In the case of both of my units it is proof why you would never take them into a tent with you regardless of how they have worked in the past.
John
Jim Adams
11-20-2007, 14:33
Well, at the time I had pulled them out of the shed and they were in their boxes that I always stored them in. The Stove looked good to me but I don't remember any rust except for the burner which is about normal on that old stove.
On the mantle light it looked good and I had never had any damage to it. I never did figure out why it decided to nuke itself. In the case of both of my units it is proof why you would never take them into a tent with you regardless of how they have worked in the past.
John
I too have seen MANY Peak 1 stoves burst into flames. As a past R&D tester with Peak 1 and assisting with the design changes from the 400A to the 400 Featherweight I can relate one very important piece of info that Coleman provided me with.
The stove / lantern MUST remain level when filling and then filled no further once full in this position. If you tilt the stove / lantern so that the filler is level, you will overfill the chamber and cause raw fuel to be blown out around the seals while under pressue and the item will indeed burst into flames!:eek:
geek
Two Speed
11-20-2007, 14:55
Hmmm, then once again I'm a refugee from the law of averages because I always tilted my lantern and stove to get more fuel in them. Maybe it's a good thing for me that both of them are defunct.
Jim Adams
11-20-2007, 15:02
Hmmm, then once again I'm a refugee from the law of averages because I always tilted my lantern and stove to get more fuel in them. Maybe it's a good thing for me that both of them are defunct.
It could be that you just may have not over pumped them with pressure.
Alot of macho, more is better, has to have the most, can't take enough gear hikers tended to fill the tanks as full as possible and then pump the hell out of the plunger. Usually if the problem occurs you will hear the raw fuel gurgling out instead of a nice smooth hiss.
geek
Midway Sam
11-20-2007, 15:52
I NEARLY had one explode...
I was using an MRS Isopro canister on my Primus Technotrail stove. I had fashioned an aluminum windscreen that sat on the ground and wrapped around the stove & canister. there was 1/2" or so of room between the canister and the screen.
All of the sudden, the stove jumped up a couple of inches then tipped over. After quickly shutting it off and inspecting, the concave "bottom" of the canister had popped out causing the "jump & tip" routine.
I never used the windscreen after that.
Flush2wice
11-20-2007, 16:01
..... the concave "bottom" of the canister had popped out causing the "jump & tip" routine.
That's what happens to a can of beer when you throw it in a camp fire. I know, I know, what fool would throw an unopened beer into a fire? I was young and dumb, and the beer was Yuengling before it got yuppified. ($2 a 6 pack) Anyway the bottom pooched out loudly so we took cover. 30 seconds later it exploded sending burning embers everywhere.
How many Scouts does it take to blow up two canisters (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90hsmfBwkyU)????
.
otterman
11-21-2007, 08:52
That's what happens to a can of beer when you throw it in a camp fire. I know, I know, what fool would throw an unopened beer into a fire? I was young and dumb, and the beer was Yuengling before it got yuppified. ($2 a 6 pack) Anyway the bottom pooched out loudly so we took cover. 30 seconds later it exploded sending burning embers everywhere.
I saw a Mythbusters episode where they threw an entire keg into a bonfire. One of my favorite episodes.
I saw a Mythbusters episode where they threw an entire keg into a bonfire. One of my favorite episodes.And...... what happened?
The best Mythbusters recently was the episode where they eliminated the safety devices on an electric hot water heater and allowed it to run wild.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmJoyuUJj2Q
Flush2wice
11-21-2007, 10:34
The best Mythbusters recently was the episode where they eliminated the safety devices on an electric hot water heater and allowed it to run wild.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmJoyuUJj2Q
That was very cool! Here's the link to the exploding keg (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CR3ZdzIJKUE).