Gas - how long will it last?

* The air of uk.rec.walking was filled with the delicate perfume
* of violets, as Tom <[email hidden]> descended on a shaft
* of golden sunlight, and announced:

Quoted message said:

I know your mileage may vary, but will 100g last for say two evening meals,
two breakfasts and a few coffees, say 20 mins burning time?

I did a rough test on my stoves recently, boiling a mugfull of water (about
350ml). Whether the stoves were gas (Coleman Alpine, Coleman F1 Lite) or
petrol (SVEA 123, Primus 71), they all used in the region of 6 grams per
boiling. My Brasslite Turbo 1 used over 14 grams of meths, thus confirming
the usual findings that meths is much less economical than gas or petrol.
The times to boil were about 3 mins for the gas and petrol and 5 mins for
the meths.

Regards: Jim Ford

"Tom" <[email hidden]> wrote in
news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

i.e. the little canister things, not the north sea stuff.

I've used meths before, but have just bought a cheapy lightweight gas
stove to give it a try. Buuuut, how long do the canisters tend to
last.

I know your mileage may vary, but will 100g last for say two evening
meals, two breakfasts and a few coffees, say 20 mins burning time?

There is some info here which might help:
http://www.bushwalking.org.au/FAQ/FAQ_Efficiency.htm#Usage

John

Tom said:

Buuuut, how long do the canisters tend to last.

I know your mileage may vary, but will 100g last for say two evening
meals, two breakfasts and a few coffees, say 20 mins burning time?

Non scientific, but for me a 250g canister typically lasts about a week.
So a 100g canister should last a weekend with care. What I tend to do
is write on the canister in felt tip pen how may days it's been used
for.

But that's not really the best method. If you have some accurate
scales, it's best to weigh the can to find out exactly how much is left.
If you weigh a full can and an empty can you can subtract one from the
other to find out how much the gas actually weighs. Then when you get
back from a trip you can weigh it, subtract the weight of the can, and
thus determine exactly how much you've used and how much is left. After
a few trips you should be able to work out your average consumption.

My rule when cooking dehydrated food is to bring it to the boil, then
turn it off. Don't take any notice of that 12 minute or 20 minute
simmer nonsense, you don't need to simmer. Just bring it to the boil,
turn it off and wait for 20 minutes or whatever (keep it covered of
course). If it's cooled down too much after that time, just put it back
on for a minute or two to warm it up a little.

The big variable for me is how many cups of tea I drink. On winter
trips with more time spent in the tent during the long nights, I tend to
make more cups of tea, partly to allay the cold, partly out of boredom.

Paul
--
http://www.wilderness-wales.co.uk
http://www.wildwales.fsnet.co.uk

Paul Saunders <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Non scientific, but for me a 250g canister typically lasts about a week.
So a 100g canister should last a weekend with care. What I tend to do
is write on the canister in felt tip pen how may days it's been used
for.

Thanks for this, I suspected that the 100g would be a bit borderline. I
think I'll take two x 100g. That way I can find out whether one would have
been enough, without the trauma of cold porridge on the last morning...

Tom

Jim Ford <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

My Brasslite Turbo 1 used over 14 grams of meths, thus confirming

Quoted message said:

the usual findings that meths is much less economical than gas or petrol.
The times to boil were about 3 mins for the gas and petrol and 5 mins for
the meths.

Thanks. FWIW, I have found my Brasslite to be a stinky PITA. YMMV.

Tom

* The air of uk.rec.walking was filled with the delicate perfume
* of violets, as Paul Saunders <[email hidden]> descended on
* a shaft of golden sunlight, and announced:

Quoted message said:

My rule when cooking dehydrated food is to bring it to the boil, then
turn it off. Don't take any notice of that 12 minute or 20 minute
simmer nonsense, you don't need to simmer. Just bring it to the boil,
turn it off and wait for 20 minutes or whatever (keep it covered of
course). If it's cooled down too much after that time, just put it back
on for a minute or two to warm it up a little.

I've made a cosy out of radiator insulation (the sort made out of thin foam
with silver backing) to fit my titanium kettle. After the content have
boiled I turn off the stove and put the kettle in the cosy. I can then
potter arround for 10-20 mins and the food will be 'simmered' and still too
hot to eat immediately. The cosy's proved to be a great fuel saver. It also
has the advantage that you can hold the container in it without getting your
hand burnt.

Regards: Jim Ford

* The air of uk.rec.walking was filled with the delicate perfume
* of violets, as Tom <[email hidden]> descended on a shaft
* of golden sunlight, and announced:

Quoted message said:

Thanks. FWIW, I have found my Brasslite to be a stinky PITA. YMMV.

I tend to agree. I used mine in the Cairngorms last summer, but I won't be
taking it on long trips again.

Regards: Jim Ford

On 19 Oct 2004 16:09:12 GMT, Jim Ford <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

I've made a cosy out of radiator insulation (the sort made out of thin foam
with silver backing) to fit my titanium kettle.

Kettley Thing, Kettley Thing, Rah! Rah! Rah! :-)))

Best wishes,
--
,,
(**)PeeWiglet~~
/ \ / \

On Tue, 19 Oct 2004 18:21:52 +0100, Peewiglet <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

On 19 Oct 2004 16:09:12 GMT, Jim Ford <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

I've made a cosy out of radiator insulation (the sort made out of thin foam
with silver backing) to fit my titanium kettle.

Kettley Thing, Kettley Thing, Rah! Rah! Rah! :-)))

w00t!

Kettley Things rock

SteveO

NE Climbers & walkers chat forum;
http://www.thenmc.org.uk/phpBB2/index.php

NMC website: http://www.thenmc.org.uk

* The air of uk.rec.walking was filled with the delicate perfume
* of violets, as Peewiglet <[email hidden]> descended on a shaft
* of golden sunlight, and announced:

Quoted message said:

Kettley Thing, Kettley Thing, Rah! Rah! Rah! :-)))

BTW Pewiglet, are you the 'Kettley Thing Koordinator' for this NG, just as
we have/had a 'Argos PA Tent Coordinator'?

Regards: Jim Ford

"Jim Ford" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...
<snipped>

Quoted message said:

I've made a cosy out of radiator insulation (the sort made out of thin
foam
with silver backing) to fit my titanium kettle.

Regards: Jim Ford

How about a brief guide to the construction?
Which way about do you use the insulation, for example? 🙂))

John S-M

On 19/10/04 4:35 pm, in article [email hidden], "Paul

Saunders said:

The big variable for me is how many cups of tea I drink. On winter
trips with more time spent in the tent during the long nights, I tend to
make more cups of tea, partly to allay the cold, partly out of boredom.

That's right. It's tea, soup and stuff that takes up the power!

--
Andy Howell
Birmingham, UK

Chris Street <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

If you haven't slung the instructions yet then it should say somewhere how
much gas the jet uses per hour.

Ah.

<rustling sound in bin>

Tom

On Tue, 19 Oct 2004 14:11:28 +0100, "Tom" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

i.e. the little canister things, not the north sea stuff.

I've used meths before, but have just bought a cheapy lightweight gas stove
to give it a try. Buuuut, how long do the canisters tend to last.

I know your mileage may vary, but will 100g last for say two evening meals,
two breakfasts and a few coffees, say 20 mins burning time?

Using the MSR Pocket Rocket (excellent stove BTW) in the Alps last
week we found that for all use with plenty of hot drinks we used just
short of 100g a day.

regards

Tim

Quoted message said:

Chris Street <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

If you haven't slung the instructions yet then it should say
somewhere how much gas the jet uses per hour.

But doesn't that depend on how high you turn it up?

I suspect that it's less efficient to cook at full blast.

Paul
--
http://www.wilderness-wales.co.uk
http://www.wildwales.fsnet.co.uk

Paul Saunders said:

Quoted message said:

Chris Street <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

If you haven't slung the instructions yet then it should say
somewhere how much gas the jet uses per hour.

But doesn't that depend on how high you turn it up?

I suspect that it's less efficient to cook at full blast.

It's more likely to be more efficient to cook (aka boil water) at full
blast because the heat lost will be minimised. Think of it as filling
a leaking bucket, the faster you run the tap the quicker it will fill
and the less will fall on the ground.
--
Phil Cook looking north over the park to the "Westminster Gasworks"

Chris Street said:

Quoted message said:

I suspect that it's less efficient to cook at full blast.

Depends. If the pan is capable of accepting the full size of the
flame then it's more efficient as there is less time for heat loss.

I have quite small pans, so some of the flame is wasted at full blast.

Also, my fuel estimates seem to be somewhat better than others that have
been quoted, so either a small flame really is more efficient, or I
don't cook as much as other people.

Paul
--
http://www.wilderness-wales.co.uk
http://www.wildwales.fsnet.co.uk

Chris Street said:

Depends. If the pan is capable of accepting the full size of the flame then
it's more efficient as there is less time for heat loss. Sadly most pans
lose copious amounts of heat out the side. The best pans are designed like
a kettle for a gas stove with fins on the bottom of the pan - sadly it
makes them heavy and unweildy!

I remember having a large aluminium kitchen kettle like that. But when
it boiled dry and melted (!), the replacement was a much thinner
stainless one that had no fins. Instead, there was a flange around the
edge that contained a spiral 'spring', conducting the heat from larger
flames back into the kettle. I've no idea whether anyone makes a
camping pan made like that, but it seems to have many of the
advantages without the excessive weight of thick fins.

-adrian

Adrian Godwin said:

I've no idea whether anyone makes a
camping pan made like that, but it seems to have many of the
advantages without the excessive weight of thick fins.

-adrian

Sounds like the MSR heat exchanger:
<URL:http://www.msrcorp.com/cookware/heat_exchanger.asp>

--
Giles Chamberlin