I have a Trangia that I like. I bought one for myself (just the burner) and one for my daughter (the entire Trangia cook kit with windscreen, etc.) and she reports it heats slowly. I understand that alcohol burners are not going to be fast, especially if she's comparing it to her pressurized gas outfit. She is thinking that her burner might be defective.

So I just did a side-by-side test of the two burners. Inside. 65 degrees. No wind. Both performed identically. They each bloomed after about 30 seconds or so. Then they both had fairly tall flames (several inches) for the remainder of the burn, mostly orange for the great majority of their flame height. Some blue color right where the gases escape from the holes in the burner. I am using Yellow HEET for fuel.

Is this typical for a Trangia burner? I always assumed so (I've had mine and used it longer than my daughter has used hers). I don't have any other Trangia burners to compare these two against. They certainly don't settle down to a nice controlled blue-only flame like you can get with a pressurized gas stove. But I didn't really expect that. I think my daughter did.