Mini Trangia Stove Questions

[nerdishgrrl]

I just purchased a mini Trangia stove. I just had one question, which might be kind of silly...but the pot seems reallly small to me. Is it big enough for a solo hiker? I haven't found any fuel to put in it yet, so I haven't had a chance to use it...has anyone had experience with this stove?

Also...to get the fuel, I just go to the hardware store and ask for denatured alclohol, right? The salesperson gave me the wierdest look when i asked for it...Then when I asked for HEET, he said that it wasn't winter, and wandered off like I was insane....

[SGT Rock]

I just purchased a mini Trangia stove. I just had one question, which might be kind of silly...but the pot seems reallly small to me. Is it big enough for a solo hiker? I haven't found any fuel to put in it yet, so I haven't had a chance to use it...has anyone had experience with this stove?

Also...to get the fuel, I just go to the hardware store and ask for denatured alclohol, right? The salesperson gave me the wierdest look when i asked for it...Then when I asked for HEET, he said that it wasn't winter, and wandered off like I was insane....

Yes the pot is big enough for a Liptons and some extra room which is about what a solo backpacker needs. The first time I went to make something in my pot that size (I don't have that exact kit) I thought "this will never work". Of course I had been using a 2 Qt pot up until then.

If you are having problems finding denatured alcohol, it is probably because besides hikers, a lot of folks don't use it. So a lot of those workers aren't familiar with it. Look for paint thinners in the paint department and you will find it.

[neo]

I just purchased a mini Trangia stove. I just had one question, which might be kind of silly...but the pot seems reallly small to me. Is it big enough for a solo hiker? I haven't found any fuel to put in it yet, so I haven't had a chance to use it...has anyone had experience with this stove?

Also...to get the fuel, I just go to the hardware store and ask for denatured alclohol, right? The salesperson gave me the wierdest look when i asked for it...Then when I asked for HEET, he said that it wasn't winter, and wandered off like I was insane....

i have one,it works great,great solo kit neo

[Toolshed]

I used one for a few years before I moved to the pepsi can stove 5 years ago. The small pot and frying pan are perfect for one person. any larger and the stove would take much longer to boil and cook your food.

Ditto on SGT Rock. Most young sales folks have no idea what you are asking for, so you need to be in the paint section when asking for denatured alcohol, or else stop at a quickie mart and look at the display case for heet or fuel line antifreeze.

[kyhipo]

yes the pot will be fine in most cases multi talented you wil find out.I was in cali last summer and took my alcohol stove with me ,i went to walmarts in fresno and they could only sell me a limited amount plus i had to show my ID ky

[Two Speed]

...to get the fuel, I just go to the hardware store and ask for denatured alclohol, right? The salesperson gave me the wierdest look when i asked for it...Then when I asked for HEET, he said that it wasn't winter, and wandered off like I was insane....

Sounds like that salesperson may not have any business working in a hardware store. On the plus side the Trangia is a great little stove and you'll get many years of dependable service out of it.

[SGT Rock]

Sounds like that salesperson may not have any business working in a hardware store. On the plus side the Trangia is a great little stove and you'll get many years of dependable service out of it.

Good point. There are a lot of places like that, just visit some outfitters to find someone there that doesn't know his third point of contact from a hole in the ground.

[Alligator]

You'll be fine. I carry a piece of hardware cloth (wire mesh) with mine so that I can cook in a sierra cup on it. This lets me have hot drinks or cook a small side dish like rice or couscous separately. This is just personal preference though. I find the fry pan lid to be very useful also.

[Footslogger]

I own the Trangia but switched over to a titanium 0.9 Liter pot. Also went to a different stand and have noticed much greater efficiency out of the stove. Check out this link:

http://www.clikstand.com/products.htm

Carried the Trangia all the way from Springer to Katahdin on my thru in 2003. Very dependable and durable stove.

'Slogger

[Youngblood]

HEET is sold where they sell things for automobiles and not every hardware store does that. Denatured alcohol is primarily a product used to thin shellac and is sold where they sell paint.

When you want HEET, what you are looking for is a gasoline antifreeze or moisture (water) remover. People that don't fillup their vehicles when they get gasoline are prone to get moisture buildup due to condensation of warm humid air being trapped in the fuel system when the air temperature drops below its dew point. HEET is just one brand of a series of alcohol products that go in the gas tank to absorb some of this water that doesn't mix with gasoline and allow it to be harmlessly burnt as fuel for the automobile. What you prefer for alcohol stoves is methyl alcohol in these gasoline products... some use isopropyl alcohol which doesn't burn as well behaved in your burner and leaves a messy black residue on your cookpot. HEET sells both types of alcohol, one in a red bottle and one in a yellow bottle... I think the prefered methyl alcohol is in a yellow bottle, but if you check the fine print on the back of the bottle you should see it mention which type it uses, methyl or isopropyl.

Youngblood

[Nearly Normal]

I can't get Denatured alcohol at Mall Wart (your source for cheap plastic crap)
either. I try not to shop there anyway.
It seems the Meth labs use it to make the evil brew.
I have found it at hardware stores and some hostels will have it for hikers.

pete

[justusryans]

I can't get Denatured alcohol at Mall Wart (your source for cheap plastic crap)
either. I try not to shop there anyway.
It seems the Meth labs use it to make the evil brew.
I have found it at hardware stores and some hostels will have it for hikers.

pete

Try paint stores. Shrewin Williams carry's it. Look under paint thinner

[Doctari]

As of yesterday, Home Depot had it in the paint dept. The one I shop at in Cinti had: 4 - 1 gallon containers & about 6 - 1 Pint.

If you use Heet, choose the yellow bottle. I have found that at: Big Lots, Every gas station I have ever been in, Walgreens & CVS drug stores, K-Mart, Sears, etc.

I currently have an "Off brand" of fuel additive that burns as well as heet. I don't know what brand as I put the last of it in my fuel bottle just last week & no longer have the bottle it came in.

I have met more people lately with the (apparent) opinion of "If I don't know what it is, it dosn't exist. Since it dosn't exist & you asked for it, you are crazy!"

Whats up with that?

Doctari.

[rocket04]

Like Youngblood said, if you don't see something clearly labeled "Denatured Alcohol", just look for something with methyl alcohol. I had to do that a few times. I remember buying some here in Ottawa and the label said "Methyl Hydrate". And echoing what others have said, the pot is big enough, although it'll be pretty full if you make a pack of mac & cheese. But I used it during my entire thru-hike in '04 without any problems.

[nerdishgrrl]

I'm glad that my teeny little pot will be big enough. I'm also glad that i'm not the only one who has been treated like a fool just cause the hardware store guy didn't know what i was talking about. I guess I'll hit the sherwin williams next, maybe they'll be nicer?

[Two Speed]

As far as the pot goes, I'd suggest that you try a couple of your favorite recipes out at home. Some folks eat smaller meals, others like to have a small hot side dish and augment that with munchies on the side, and then there are folks that want a massive amount of boiling water for the meal and a hot drink like coffee or hot chocolate. Obviously that's going to affect the size pot you use so you really should try a couple things out and see if it works for YOU; what works for someone else may not turn out to be the way for you to go.

The reason I like to try new recipes out at home is that it gives me a chance to see how it turns out, how much effort is required, how much clean up, how much fuel is consumed, etc, before I'm on the side of the trail. On the trail you pretty much got to eat what you brought; at home you have options for working with a larger selection of spices, or just chucking the mess and eating something else if the meal just doesn't suit you. A little fooling around at the house can prevent suffering through a god awful meal on the trail.

Can't guarantee anyone's going to be any nicer, but I wouldn't waste a great deal of time on that last salesperson. Could be that there's someone else in that store that's more knowledgeable or it may turn out that you just get along better with the folks at Sherwin-Williams. Either way, Happy Trails.

[foodbag]

I had one once and I lost the gasket. I think what happened was I used the lid to snuff the stove out and the gasket lost its elasticity after being burned a few times, then fell out. After that I couldn't carry any unused fuel in the stove, which was one of the really nice features.

IMO the pot is too small to be of much use except when boiling water but the stove is a quality product and I used mine right up until I discovered the lightweight joys of Pepsi can stoves.

[Nearly Normal]

Replacment gaskets at http://www.thru-hiker.com/
pete