Another GREAT stove review Jim, Thanks for doing this. Mike

I've got one of the Kovea adapters. Good product -- with some important caveats.

First, be really careful if you buy one. There's a tube inside the canister that, when properly oriented, feeds gas into your stove. If you mis-orient the canister, you could have liquid fuel going into your burner, which is a problem (unless your stove is built to handle it). Not all remote canister stove can handle liquid feed gas.

As to improved cold weather performance, maybe not. OK, let's say you've got the basics in place: a stove that can handle liquid feed and a way to orient the tank and Kovea adapter such that you get liquid feed. All well and fine. Now then, what exactly will push that gas into your burner? Vapor pressure of course. And in cold weather with a canister full of 100% n-butane, you have how much pressure? Not much. So, would that adapter somehow allow you to have improved cold weather performance using the inexpensive "long" butane cans? I don't see it happening.

Well, then why does it work on something like a Coleman Xtreme? Well, recall that the Xtreme's fuel is not 100% butane. In fact it's about 40% propane. That propane creates quite a bit of vapor pressure, pressure sufficient to pressurize the tank and convey fuel to the burner.

Not trying to say anything bad per se about the Kovea adapter, but a) make sure you know what you're doing in terms of the orientation of the canister and b) don't expect improved cold weather performance.

HJ

You're welcome, Mike. I hope it's useful.

HJ

Thanks, I'm sticking with the tripod adapter for my pocket rocket, and when it's cold enough my liquid fuel stove.

Nice job and a real service. Thank you!

Jim,

Another good review. Thought I would pop in here with a comment about using butane canisters in cold weather. As you note, everything with stoves is a compromise. Necessity being the mother of invention, I discovered some years ago that one of the hand warmer packets (like this: http://bit.ly/eAFc4o) will do wonders for cold weather performance. Never did any testing to see how low they will help with, but it was at least a few degrees below zero (F) when we used 'em.

Hi, Doug,

Thank you.

It's a good idea to keep a few tricks up one's sleeve for those "oh, shoot" moments when you realize that the weather forecast is off by 20 degrees (colder) than expected. It happens, particularly on multi-day trips.

Basically, anything that adds warmth to one's canister will make it run better. Peeing on the canister, putting the canister in one's groin area, chemical hand warmers, wrapping a copper wire around the canister and running the ends of the wire into the flame, putting the canister into some warm water, a tight windscreen, all of these can be used. Some more dangerous, some completely safe. The thing to remember if you're ever in a pinch and need to warm a canister is that the canister should never be hot to the touch. Pay constant enough attention to the canister, and pretty much any work around can be used.

All that being said, if you know that the temp is going to be much below 32F/0C, I think my approach would be to get a stove appropriate for the weather. I mean at a certain point it's time to stop screwing around and get something specifically for the situation at hand. For cold weather, I'd bring one of the following:
a) A gas stove where I can invert the canister, turning the stove into a liquid feed gas stove.
b) A specialized gas stove designed to run in liquid feed mode.
c) A liquid fueled stove (Coleman type fuel or kerosene).

If one weren't as concerned about weight or bulk, 100% propane stoves will work in very cold weather. Propane will continue to vaporize down to -44F/-42C. Of course the process of vaporization causes the canister to get colder, so a more realistic expectation for vaporization would be higher. Disclaimer: I'm speaking here about the physics of gas at 1 atmosphere of pressure. I have never been in temperatures even approaching -44F/-42C. There are many other factors affecting gas stoves beyond just fuel vaporization temperatures. If you're heading out into that kind of weather, you'd do well to spend a lot of time talking to people with field experience. Anecdotally, I know that the US Army Northern Warfare school uses liquid fueled stoves, and every article I've read about Polar expeditions talks about liquid fueled stoves.

HJ

I think that playing it safe is always a good idea. Having said that, just bear in mind that those canisters are designed to be safe at very high temperatures, as I recall, approaching 200 (F) not that I am suggesting anyone try to stray into the safety margins. Too hot to touch is good advice for a working limit.

HJ,

Thanks for another exciting episode!! I enjoyed it very much. This one my wife may like as well, because I am not interested in rushing out to buy one (unlike the Borde) Thanks also for letting me look at another view. I always thought of the Reactor as a solution looking for a problem. But, then, I have spent much of my working life in high alpine or arctic conditions. Even in summer I have always taken a liquid fuel stove, but that is mostly for fuel availability issues. The thing that first got me to buy an XGK was the fact that I could use fuel from the aircraft (80 then 100LL from the piston engines and "kerosene" from the turbines) when white gas or coleman fuel were not available (both are common in the north). I only had to carry some empty bottles. Since I almost always went commercial air to the region, not having to look up fuel was a great advantage.

During winter, I never even tried anything but liquid fuel in the field. I will say that a propane grill does not work very well at -40 - then most are not wanting to grill at that temp (some think I am a little strange). The natural gas grill worked fine but the gas lines were buried and well above 0 F.

Respectfully,

Jerry

Hi, Doug,

Yes, my fairly conservative approach is just that, conservative, but it isn't meant to be alarmist. Those canisters are actually pretty safe and aren't some kind of ticking time bomb. When I say "hot," I mean "ouch!" hot. Warm to the touch or even relatively hot but not so hot that you need to draw your (unfrozen!) hand away should be fine.

In the face of hypothermia, I wouldn't hesitate to do what it took to get that canister going.

HJ