Average length of time fuel canister lasts?

[ToeJam]

I know it varies by person etc, but I know I have read here before others' experiences in this regard, so I can figure a rough estimate. But now I can't seem to find that info/post!

Starting our section hike this week in Deep Gap NC, plan to send a mail drop to NOC, which I am figuring will be 4/5 days at 51 miles. Just bought the Brunton stove so am not real familiar with it yet.

Do you think we could expect one canister (says 8 oz. net, 12 oz. gross) to last us that 4-5 days on average? We normally have boil water type meals, and cook maybe half the time in the morning, for oatmeal and hot cocoa... I'd rather send a second one to NOC if it seems that will last that long? The container itself says 1-2 hours, which is quite alot of leeway!

Thanks in advance...

[Pencil Pusher]

Take only one cannister and see.

[Frosty]

The container itself says 1-2 hours, which is quite alot of leeway!

The engineer in me reads this as the container is not likely to last less than 1 hour or more than two. Figure out your total cooking time (this is more obviously more significant than number of days on the trail). If your total cooking time is less than one hour, you are golden. If it is more than two, bring a second. If inbetween, it depends on how you will feel if you run out of fuel. Will it be a minor inconvenience or a disaster? Then carry a spare or not.

[Panzer1]

When I did my section hike in 2001, my 8 ounce container for my Pocket Rocket lasted 44 days during the summer. (Note: it was summer, I only boiled about 1 cup of water per day for Ramen noodles, and on the days where I ate in resturants I did not use the stove at all, and that was a bunch of days, don't remember exactly)

Panzer

[chris]

A single canister will be fine. Unfortunately, the different makers of the canisters use different blends and some seem to have a longer run time than others. But, for 4-5 days one canister will be fine. If you want some backup, Snowpeak makes a mini canister as well and you could toss one in for security. Or, bring along a few solid fuel tabs.

[Footslogger]

Using it mainly for dinner, with an occasional cup of coffee in the morning (and cooking for 2) I average about 9 days per cannister with the pocket rocket as my burner. That's when I used to use propane/butane regularly. I should qualify my answer as follows: Once I obtain full boilage I turn the gas completely off, cover my meal and let it sit for about 3- 4 minutes before eating.

'Slogger
AT 2003

[peakbagger]

I used to get about 10 days off of one MSR cannister on a pocket rocket. This was heating two cups in the morning to boiling and 2 to 3 cups to boiling with a couple of minutes of simmering in the evening. When I started using a heat shield (similiar to the heat shild that MSR uses on the hanging version of the pocket rocket), my fuel usage went up to 13 to 14 days per cannister. With the heat shield, the flame is barely lit while simmering. The heat shield also helps out a lot when there is a breeze.

[TJ aka Teej]

One regular sized MSR cannister gave me 32 two cup 'cooks' w/Pocket Rocket, drop down wind screen, & pot cozy. Other empty cannisters had 26, 30, 36, and 25 marks on them. YMWV. As always with cooking I recommend at home practice, just scratch tally marks on the can and see how many 'cooks' you get. Use this method all the time and you'll know how many cooks are left in a cannister, which is always good to know.

[TakeABreak]

ToeJam,

A canister the size you are talking about last's me 10 - 12 day's. That is heating water for oatmeal in the morning and cooking dinner, dinner usually consist's macaroni & cheese or noodle's with dehydrated vegetables and a some kind of meat added in.

Here are some pointer's, if dehydrated vegetables are part of your dinner, heat the water to a boil, shutoff the shove, add vegetables let it sit for about 15 - 20 minutes, add the rest of your dinner and cook it, you may to add a little water after re-hydrating the vegetables.

If you cook dinner at the same place you staying at (campsite or shelter) leave the canister connected overnight to the stove, seperate it after you cook beakfast, every time you seperate the two that little hiss you hear, is fuel being wasted.

[Kerosene]

I concur with the above, you should easily be able to get by with a single canister for 5 days with the type of usage you describe. I got 7 days of similar usage with the tiny 100g JetBoil canister and a SnoPeak GigaPower stove, and even then I know I wasted fuel when I didn't position my aluminum foil effectively to block a breeze.

[ToeJam]

Thanks! I see a majority of you are using a pocket rocket, we have the brunton optimus crux I think it is - assuming they are all pretty close in useage, though.

We are going with one and mailing one, thanks for input...