UKH

I would appreciate any advice on choosing between either an alcohol or a gas burning stove, so that I can heat food. It will be for use when travelling/staying at climbing camps in Europe and Asia, so the main issue will be being able to easily to get hold of fuel. I assume the alcohol burner would be better, since it should generally be easier to find fuel for this rather than with gas where there are different size cannisters etc.?

In reply to Paulos:

How about a pressurized liquid stove/ multifuel, such as the MSR whisperlight or primus milti/omnifuel?

I would have thought kerosene (paraffin), diesel, petrol and 4-stroke alkylat are far easier to acquire around the world than methylates. White gas may be a little harder to come across.

Would mean you don't have to rely on finding specific types of canister or alcohol.

These stoves have a number of downsides too, plus they are expensive. The primus stoves can also use canisters.

In reply to GarethSL:

Thanks a lot for your detailed reply, much appreciated. So I take it that the advantage of models like the MSR whisperlight or primus multifuel is that you can burn anything like petrol from a shell garage or white spirits from supermarket?? That would be ideal for me and make it worth the extra cost. Do these have downsides then also??

In reply to Paulos:


Somewhat, mostly people use Kerosene/paraffin, white gas (coleman camping fuel) or 4 stroke alkylat fuel ( for lawnmowers chainsaws etc). These are the main recommended fuel types, are the cleanest, most efficient and safest.

Diesel is ok but smelly, its a love hate thing there. For Petrol, low grade (the cheapest?) is best for these types of stoves and should really be considered a last resort. Petrol from a petrol station has a lot of additives that can clog the jets, rot rubber seals, or have ethanol mixed in that can corrode the fuel canisters, but will work well in terms of cooking.

White spirit doesn't work very well at all and it doesn't burn well without a wick, so is not recommended! You cannot use alcohol (methylate) in these stoves safely either.

But put simply yes, you can fill up the fuel bottle at a station (assuming there is no minimum sale quantity) and off you go. Kerosene/ paraffin lamp oil is probably as widely available as diesel, but often sold by the bottle (more convenient), if petrol stations don't have it, hardware shops will. 4 stroke alkylat stuff should be pretty easy to come by at a petrol station and I've found it is quite common in rural areas where there are a lot of farms.

The real advantage is that there is a wide range of fuel types and they are often available at any time of day, anywhere. So you don't have to worry about eating cold when you pitch camp at 2am.


The downsides are generally; the weight, the stove gets dirty, smell, needs good maintenance to work well, can't be primed inside a tent (but stove can be moved inside afterwards if you dare), require a bit more thought to set up, need to be pumped to get pressure. In addition I've also found that you get less choice of heat/power if you want to warm something slowly. Its really a hot or off option, but this is with old stoves so new ones are probably better.

These stoves also need to be 'primed' before you can cook, where a small amount of liquid fuel is burned to heat a dissipator. This then evaporates fuel to gas that is subsequently burned as a blue flame. So its not a simple screw it together and fire it up job.

In reply to GarethSL:

Yeah petrol and diesel sound a bit nasty, I will look out for bottles of kerosene/ paraffin lamp oil. I much appreciate the time you took to reply, really helpful thanks mate.

In reply to Paulos:

Are you flying anywhere? Getting an MSR fuel bottle and stove on a plane is basically a game of check-in roulette...

Flying out to S America years ago I kept the (new, unused) labels on the stove and bottle to prove they didn't have some magical trace of combustible material that might spontaneously explode in mid air. Flying back I think we had to leave the bottle behind.

b

In reply to ben b:
Swish the bottle out with cooking oil. Make sure the top is off.

There is a previous thread about this, I will see if I can find it.

Thanks to Captain Paranoia

2.3.2.5 Camping Stoves and Fuel Containers that have Contained a Flammable Liquid Fuel

Operator Variations: LX-04, MA-05, PR_03, SN-01, SV-11

With the approval of the operator, as checked baggage only, camping stoves and fuel containers for camping stoves that have contained a flammable liquid fuel may be carried provided the fuel tank of the camping stove, and/or fuel container has been completely drained of all liquid fuel and action has been taken to nullify the danger. To nullify the danger, the empty fuel tank and/or container must be allowed to drain for at least one hour, the fuel tank and/or container must then be left uncapped for a minimum of 6 hours to allow any residual fuel to evaporate. Alternative methods, such as adding cooking oil to the fuel tank and/or container to elevate the flash point of any residual liquid above the flash point of flammable liquid and then emptying the fuel tank and/or container, are equally acceptable. The fuel tank and/or container must then be wrapped in an absorbent material such as paper towel and placed in a polythene or equivalent bag. The top of the bag must then be sealed or gathered and closed with an elastic band or twine.

Note:
Provided the above cleaning method is followed in accordance with these regulations, the fuel stove or container can be classified as non-hazardous. However to control the carriage of these items, they are listed in Table 2.3.A Provisions for Dangerous Goods Carried by Passengers of Crew.

In reply to Paulos:


Dunno about the above venues but the former would definitely help down here in Upsidedownland.
Sorry,
(Defo barred by the mods now ...).