Gas stove efficiency?

OwenM

Thru Hiker
At the moment I'm using a cheap Vango remote canister stove. Works well pack up small and I know how much gas it's likely too use for however many nights I'll be out. Only problem is it doesn't have a pre-heat tube so it's not so good in the cold.

I'm thinking of getting a Maple fire stove because it does have a pre-heat tube, and it's lighter. The question that kept me awake half the night is, "with the pre-heat tube is it likely to use more or less gas"?
 

dovidola

Thru Hiker
I think that while it's burning in inverted/liquid mode it will use more fuel than in 'normal' vapour mode, but hardly otherwise.

If you're counting the grams that much, you might prefer one of those c45g canister-top burners for less cold conditions. Stability is poor however, which is why (one torched tent down the line) I stopped using them, and it's an Alpkit Koro (similar to the Maple you're considering) for gas, otherwise a meths burner.
 

OwenM

Thru Hiker
That's what I thought but wasn't sure. I don't like canister-top stoves far too tippy and I prefer gas to meths.

I guess the only way to be sure is too do some short trips and carefully measure the gas before and after.
 

Whiteburn

Thru Hiker
IMO most folk run gas stoves inefficiently...……..small pot with the valve wide open. You can get better fuel efficient by throttling the stove down & putting up with a slightly slower boil time.
With a remote stove used in inverted mode this can be even worse, a lot larger flame possible.....throttle it down.
 

Rog Tallbloke

Thru Hiker
I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. Preheaters don't use any more gas (or at least they shouldn't). You will use more gas than in summer for other reasons though. Lower ambient air temperatures robbing heat from your pot, lower water temperatures mean more Btu to boil.
 

Michael_x

Section Hiker
My first trip with Koro I used 17g on two hot meals and two hot drinks. First hot meal and drink was with temp 3c in shelter. Second was with ambient temp 10c and outdoors, drafty, partial wind shield. I was however experimenting e.g. boiling water in a titanium 400ml mug in the wind at one point just to see how newish stove coped. So sensible usage would be less.

Additional impression of preheat tube is stove keeps burning for some while after the valve is switched off and next time used the cannister starts off supplying liquid, so even if not inverted one gets a small, or more, whoosh. Turning the cannister back upright for a short while before switching off seems to help with both, and thus waste less gas and improve safety, but it is early days of experimenting.
 

Bmblbzzz

Thru Hiker
Stability is poor however, which is why (one torched tent down the line) I stopped using them,
Ouch! I never did anything worse than scorch a small patch of grass (on an official campsite) and have to scrape my pasta off the ground. Good job it wasn't couscous, that would have been difficult.

IMO most folk run gas stoves inefficiently...……..small pot with the valve wide open. You can get better fuel efficient by throttling the stove down & putting up with a slightly slower boil time.
With a remote stove used in inverted mode this can be even worse, a lot larger flame possible.....throttle it down.
Probably true, and obviously if you've got flames licking up the side of the pot, that's plain silly, but... I need my tea now!

To address the original question, I've found my remote stove with preheat loop (a Coleman) seems to be both quicker and more efficient than the cannister-top stove I used before.
 

Foxster

Section Hiker
At the moment I'm using a cheap Vango remote canister stove. Works well pack up small and I know how much gas it's likely too use for however many nights I'll be out. Only problem is it doesn't have a pre-heat tube so it's not so good in the cold.

I'm thinking of getting a Maple fire stove because it does have a pre-heat tube, and it's lighter. The question that kept me awake half the night is, "with the pre-heat tube is it likely to use more or less gas"?
I've got a used-once Alpkit Koro (exactly the same as the Fire Maple) you can have for £20 incl postage if it's any good to you.

My limited experience with it indicated a big flame even with a gas bottle I put in the freezer for an hour. You'd probably want to throttle it back for a smallish pot.
 

Foxster

Section Hiker
Too late it's in the post.
Oh it can just gather dust for a bit longer then ;)

Just be a tad wary with your new stove if you invert the gas bottle while the stove is lit. When I tried this, for a moment the flame shot up to about a foot high and singed the hair off the back of my hand. It quickly settled down to a normal flame but if my face had been over it it could have been nasty.
 
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