Temp and Fuel Canisters

[partinj]

Hi everone just wonder about the fuel blend of the canisters. I found a coleman canister
wit a 70 % butane and 30 % propane mix i know the more propane the better it will do in the cold. Do any of you know what the blend is for the snow peak and the msr canisters are. I when to snow peak site did not see anything about what the blend was
they did say it would work down to 15 deg and still boil a 1 liter pot of water in 5 minutes

[Hooch]

Go with alcohol. 0% failure reate, fuel readily available and cheap. If you ask me, go with a Caldera Cone. Love mine!

[Bob S]

I have a Coleman stove that runs on the Powermax fuel (actually it’s my sons) I will throw a cylinder out in the garage overnight and try it in the morning before I start a fire out there to do some work. I will post how it works tomorrow. It’s 13 out right now and going down to 9 according to the weather people. It should give a good test of cold temp operation.

[oops56]

Just get a hand wamer the stick kind or the lighter fluid type sit stove on it my have to make some kind of box so it dont tip over.

[copythat]

i've had good luck with snow peak fuel in the mid-teens.

as for powermax/coleman exponent setup, i couldn't get it to simmer, even with temps in the 40s.

bad karma?

[Dave!]

From the MSR website:

" This premium fuel, an 80/20 blend of isobutane and propane pioneered by MSR, boosts the performance of canister stoves. It outperforms standard butane/propane mixtures and burns clean to reduce soot and clogs. "

[take-a-knee]

From the MSR website:

" This premium fuel, an 80/20 blend of isobutane and propane pioneered by MSR, boosts the performance of canister stoves. It outperforms standard butane/propane mixtures and burns clean to reduce soot and clogs. "

Those MSR cannisters do burn clean, I just bought a Wind Pro and you can barely tell the things been lit after you use it, zero soot.

[Tinker]

I've used the Coleman fuel down into the low 40s with no problem, and the Jetboil fuel into the low 30s. Using a toe or hand warmer pack under a cannister helps keep the stove going. Make sure you break out the handwarmer pack about 1/2 hour before you intend to cook because it takes a while for them to build up heat. Also, if you have a lighter, you can occasionally touch it to the bottom of the cannister to achieve similar (though shorter lived) results.

[ki0eh]

I had a Jetboil canister work last weekend at 25 but I had slept with it first...

[DG_on_AT]

I achieved complete failure with an MSR canister / Wind Pro last Sunday morning on Springer Mt. I figure the temps were in the single digits. I expected the failure because I forgot to put the canister in my sleeping bag the night before.

This weekend I'll be at Spence Field, with an alcohol stove for making hot drinks, and the Wind Pro for cooking food. I plan on warming the MSR canister on top of my 2 cup pot with the lid on while boiling water for drinks on the alcohol stove prior to cooking with the Wind Pro. This is a little bit of a chore, and may not be wise for a thru-hike, but for an overnight, I don't mind carrying the extra weight of the pepsi can stove and 8 oz of fuel. Plus, I'm cooking drinks and food for 3 people this weekend, and an extra stove will help prevent a backlog.

Another tip I've heard but not tried is that if your pot lid is concave on top, to fire up the stove, add some water to the top of the lid, bring the "lid water" to a boil, remove the lid from the stove, and insert the canister into the shallow hot lid water. I can imagine the flame coming to life at this point.

I've had good luck this week testing my cat food can stove and pepsi can stove in the cold night-time temps. It does take a minute to fully heat up, and I am using a pot stand on the pepsi can stove. I did have "flame-outs" with the pepsi can when I attempted to boil water by setting the pot directly on the pepsi can stove. Using the pot stand prevented this.

I've read that the Coleman canisters use 70% propane and 30% Butane, while MSR uses a blend of Isobutane and Propane. The Isobutane performs slightly better at slightly colder temperatures than regular butane.

But my bottom line feeling is that if you keep your canister warm like you were keeping yourself warm, your canister should perform, regardless of blend.

[Tipi Walter]

Okay, let me get this right. We have to now sleep with our fuel canisters IN ADDITION to our water bottles, cameras, cell phones, ipods, wet boots, and eggs(does anyone even take eggs out backpacking??)???? Has winter camping suddenly become just an exercise in babysitting our diapered-gear?

[take-a-knee]

I achieved complete failure with an MSR canister / Wind Pro last Sunday morning on Springer Mt. I figure the temps were in the single digits. I expected the failure because I forgot to put the canister in my sleeping bag the night before.

This weekend I'll be at Spence Field, with an alcohol stove for making hot drinks, and the Wind Pro for cooking food. I plan on warming the MSR canister on top of my 2 cup pot with the lid on while boiling water for drinks on the alcohol stove prior to cooking with the Wind Pro. This is a little bit of a chore, and may not be wise for a thru-hike, but for an overnight, I don't mind carrying the extra weight of the pepsi can stove and 8 oz of fuel. Plus, I'm cooking drinks and food for 3 people this weekend, and an extra stove will help prevent a backlog.

Another tip I've heard but not tried is that if your pot lid is concave on top, to fire up the stove, add some water to the top of the lid, bring the "lid water" to a boil, remove the lid from the stove, and insert the canister into the shallow hot lid water. I can imagine the flame coming to life at this point.

I've had good luck this week testing my cat food can stove and pepsi can stove in the cold night-time temps. It does take a minute to fully heat up, and I am using a pot stand on the pepsi can stove. I did have "flame-outs" with the pepsi can when I attempted to boil water by setting the pot directly on the pepsi can stove. Using the pot stand prevented this.

I've read that the Coleman canisters use 70% propane and 30% Butane, while MSR uses a blend of Isobutane and Propane. The Isobutane performs slightly better at slightly colder temperatures than regular butane.

But my bottom line feeling is that if you keep your canister warm like you were keeping yourself warm, your canister should perform, regardless of blend.

Did you try inverting the cannister?

[partinj]

Here how i plan to keep it warm i have blue foam so the stove don't sit on the cold ground also have the wind screen that you can get for it and will bring a few small hand warmers
also made a warmer out of the the things you use to keep cups warm or sode cans it that foam stuuf you can buy and i also have pot cozy to put my greese pot in. I also have wind screen that will go almost all away around the stove not sure about that might go boom also it weight 9ozs.

[peakbagger]

It has been said before on the site, but be aware that the operating temperature of the fuel goes up as the cannister is emptied. So just because it works once at 30 degrees, it may take 40 degrees when the cannister is nearing empty.

[Bob S]

Coleman PowerMax cold weather test.


Yesterday I said I would test the PowerMax fuel & stove to see how well it worked when it was cold. I put the stove, PowerMax canister and also a Coleman Xcursion lantern (I have 2 of these) in the garage to sit all night. It got down to 4 last night, it was 9 when I tested how well they worked. Both the lantern and the stove seemed to work just as well as they do in the summer. The stove worked on high and when turned down it simmered as it normally does. The lantern also seemed just as bright as always. I did not warm up the stove or fuel before I tested them. I don’t use this stove when hiking as it’s my sons.




I bought the lanterns because I got tired of putting generators in my Coleman lanterns every year or so. And I wanted the PowerMax powered lanterns as a hassle free light source. I did have a problem with the mantle falling of them when I first got the lanterns. The metal ring on the base of the mantle would slip off the tube. This destroyed the mantle, these mantles are expensive almost $3.00 for 2 of them. It would some times fall of within 5-min of being put on. I got tired of this real quick. I found that the metal ring on the mantles are made just a touch too big. Once I discovered this, it was easily fixed. To insure a good snug fit. I corrected this easily by gently squeezing the (very little reshaping was needed, only a few thousands of an inch) tube in the lantern with pliers. This allowed a snug fit and it’s been 2-years and no mantels have fallen of either lantern.

[partinj]

Thank for the info Bob S and everone else to

[Blissful]

Snow Peak works great in colder weather. MSR not so great. I got way more use out of Snow Peak.

[fiddlehead]

I've used my snow peak fuel, GAZ fuel and MSR fuel in winter conditions. They all work BUT, you have to warm them up if you want it to burn hotter. Just holding the cansister in your hands will make it burn faster. Holding a lighter (lit of course) under it is quicker if you have no wind (inside your tent) and a good lighter with lots of fuel.
If someone else has a stove, put your canister in their flame is the fastest way.

I've hiked a lot in the Himalayas and can tell you that all the mountaineering expeditions that we saw going up the 8,000 metre peaks were taking along butane/propane fuel canisters for their high camps. (most recent trip was 2004) (so don't know if something new has come out since then)
I have had trouble with whisperlite stoves, zip stoves, and kerosene stoves at the high altitudes/cold weather camping. (don't know if it was because of cold or altitude) but never had problems with my pocket rocket once i warmed up the canister.

[Wanderingson]

I had posted this in another thread, but I'll post it here because it deals directly with canisters.

Try these little tricks for canister fuel in winter months.

Keep it well insulated in your pack

Throw it in your bag at night

and now a cool little secret:

Use the lid from your cooking system as a turbo booster.

Put a little water in your lid and heat it on your stove during initial fire up. Sure, you will get a little sputtering, but get the water in the lid good and warm. Then carefully put the lid with the warm water on a flat surface and put the canister in the warm water. If you CAREFULLY do this while it is lit, you will notice it immediately kick in like a turbo booster and come to life.

Give it a whirl and report your results back here for the rest of the crowd.