I learned an important lesson this week about using upright canister stoves in the cold. Don't count on it.

Our family BOB has included a Peak 1 Micro Stove for the past dozen or so years, but I've never used it in cold weather. We had a major malfunction with it at camp last fall, so I replaced it with a Primus Classic Trail upright canister stove a few months ago. The return of the polar vortex seemed like the perfect opportunity to test it our new stove in extreme cold. bacpacboy has been working on his super shelter in the backyard and asked if we could cook dinner out there, so....

Long, curse word filled story cut short: It was about -30C, it was the stove's first use, I was using a brand new lg canister of Primus Power Gas 4 season mix, and I couldn't get the stove to stay lit. I started with the canister sitting right on the ground, which cut the wind but obviously wasn't enough to keep the canister warm:



I tried moving it on top of a wooden cutting board, but by the time, I think the canister was too cold. It just would not stay lit, so we finished cooking the chilie inside.

I've been told that putting the canister in a pan of warm water helps a little, and using a windscreen is dangerous, but it seems like I'm pretty much SOL when it comes to planning to use this in an extreme cold weather emergency.

For now, we've got hobo wood stoves, esbit stoves, canteen stoves, alcohol stoves, the old 2-burner Coleman propane stove and this new Primus one, and a Whisper Lite or something similar is on the shopping list.

This trial was confirmation of two things for me:

1. Upright canister stoves don't work well in extreme cold.

2. Getting out and testing your gear in the conditions you're prepping for is sage advice and totally worth a little frost nip, even if it is just in your backyard.

White gas stoves (Primus, Svea) have always worked for me. If it ever gets so cold that they won't work, neither will I.

In cold weather, fuel consumption also increases - if you can keep it running !

Thanks for reporting on your results. We can all learn from you without going outside to freeze! Personally, I've never had a pressurized gas stove. No reason in particular, just never thought I needed one. I started out wih a Svea 123R. Boy, I wish I could figure out what I did with that stove! Used a Coleman Peak 1 for a while. Good stove, but heavy. Now I've got alcohol burners and wood burners. But I don't get out as much as before, so I've never actually tried the alcohol burner in extreme conditions. Wood, I image, will always burn in the cold - as long as you keep it dry and shielded from wind. At least I hope it will!

Thanks for the report.

The problem of canister stoves in cold weather is fairly well known, fo example see Stoves for Cold Weather.

One trick I have heard of (USE AT YOUR OWN RISK) is to use tape and ensolite to make an insulating blanket around the canister. Have some thin copper strips with an angle bend in the end. Warm the the canister in your parka so you can start the stove. Before you light it, put it in the blanket and insert the copper strips between the blanket and the canister. The angle at the end of the copper strips should extend over the burner. Now light the stove.

The idea is that once the stove is lit, the heat of the burner warms the copper. The copper conducts the heat down inside the insulation next to the canister, and keeps it warm. I have not tried this myself, but I've talked to folks who have used this method successfully in cold weather. BE CAREFUL THE CANISTER DOESN'T GET TOO HOT!

Personally, I only use my canister stove in milder weather. In cold weather I use an MSR stove with Coleman fuel (white ga).

EDIT: For more background see Gas Stoves: How Cold Can I Go?. Be sure to read Hikin' Jim's cautions toward the end of his article!

"Wood, I image, will always burn in the cold - as long as you keep it dry and shielded from wind. At least I hope it will!"

Not to worry. i have ignited wood at temps well below zero, minus 30 or 40. I have been known to ease the task by adding just a bit if Boy Scout Fire Started (AKA white gas). You only need a little bit....

+1 Svea 123 = old reliable

Everyone should get out there and try their gear in such conditions. It is excellent that you do.

Another option for the cold would be a canister stove that can run in liquid feed mode ... one that has a pre-heater loop and can run with the canister inverted.

One nice, compact stove that I have my eye on (I need a good winter stove too) is the Kovea Spider (thanks to Hikin Jim's high praise). Another option that looks good, especially if you are looking for flexibility, is the MSR Whisperlight Universal ... although at double the cost of the Spider. It runs on canisters or a variety of liquid fuels.

I've also been considering the venerable Whisperlight, but am leaning towards the compactness of the Spider.

I would also consider the Primus Omnilite Ti Stove for an additional $10 over the WhisperLite Universal.

http://www.moontrail.com/primus-omnilite-ti.php

It has a more substantial pump and construction is in lighter titanium.

when the vortex hit the first time and it went down to -12 in Minneapolis i went to a local park where i take photos for the Park Service and fired up and ran this "orange Box" stove.
i had the cart in my parka pocket and used the peizo lighter on the stove and it worked just fine to boil a small pot of water it what seemed normal time.




i did run this cold weather Gaz photo before but i guess the message is don't give up on it.play around at home with different stoves and see what works.

you people are making me cold with your sub zero temps and snow. Have you considered using trioxane in cold weather? While on the subject does anyone know if one is supposed to use red or yellow HEET in a CAR stove? I saw it on clearance at way-mart today.

DW, I am not sure what you mean by a car stove, but I understand that yellow Heet is the preferred fuel for alcohol stoves.

Hikermor
My bad. CAT stove. I thought it was yellow but was not sure, Four bottles for four dollars.
Thanks.

Yellow Heet should be just fine in those terribly complex and expensive CAT stoves (I have one myself). Heavy, too, aren't they?

LOL, Haven't made one yet, so not sure how well it will work, but I have an empty cat food can ready and waiting to be c0nverted. I have read that HEET is rather sooty. Tried 90% isopropyl alcohol in a tiny can using my el cheapo Esbit knock off. Can't say that I was impressed with the performance.

Denatured alcohol is what I use and it burns nicely. Easy to stay lit and burns clean.

Can't find it here 6Pac. I was using 90% isopropyl alcohol in the little burner that came with my swiss mess kit (The lid was cracked so can't carry it with alcohol in it. I was a bit disappointed in it's performance. Someone suggested grain alcohol but all I could find was Everclear, and it was to expensive to be used as fuel.

Rather than use isopropyl alcohol, use a Trangia or Tatonka Alcohol Stove burner with some commercial Bio-ethanol. A Trangia Triangle is also reasonably lightweight and provides a good windscreen and support for a Trangia or Tatonka alcohol burner.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLiRg2_zBtk

To improve efficiency use something like a Primus EtaPower Pot with the built in heat exchanger on the base of the pan. I use a Vango PowerEx Kettle and will improve fuel usage by about 30% and reduce boil time considerably.

I can also use the Trangia Triangle with Gelled Bio-ethanol by replacing the Trangia burner with a cleaned out aluminium dessert can from a French RCIR ration pack (weighs around 5 grams). It is a perfect fit to act as a burner using gelled bio-ethanol such as Firedragon or Vango F4 fuel. This setup will boil 500ml of Cold water in around 4 1/2 minutes.

A couple of things you could try with you cannister stove starting with the easist:

1) Put the cannister in your pocket or next to your body initially to warm it up.

2) Use a small insulated pad under the stove in milder winter weather to keep it off the snow. I've heard of people sewing a kozy for their stove.

3) Use a charcoal handwarmer(s) under the stove or rubber band it to the side. You probably have handwarmers in your kit in the first place!

4) Put the cannister in a pan of water to warm it up. Even water right at 0*C will be warmer than the outside air and it will counteract the lowering of the cannister temperature as the gas is consumed and the internal pressure drops.

5) Use a wrap-a-round windscreen. They always say, "don't do this because it will overheat your cannister and it will go boom." Nonsense, when its -30*C with a little breeze, that worry is gone. The heat from the flame will reheat the cannister and help evaporate the gas. You can judge for youself by touching the top of the cannister, if you can hold you hand on it you are fine. If too warm then open up the screen a bit more. Just don't wrap it tight to the stove and you will be fine. If you are still not convinced, then add a circular bit of tinfoil under the burner as another shield to moderate the heat on the cannister.

I've got a Coleman X-treme from the '90s. I can't find fuel for it anymore but luckily I anticipated this and have a stock of about 12 cannisters. It works pretty well in moderate cold, but I've never used it at -30*C. (When a local outdoors store renovated they threw out a whole box of these things, I told them I would take it off their hands... but alas I just missed out on it.)

Thanks guys! I did try the stove recently, during a thaw with above freezing temps, and it worked beautifully. So, I assume the only issue is the extreme cold. I appreciate the suggestions to combat it!

Methanol, Methyl hydrate, wood alcohol, fondue fuel, all the same stuff. It is poison so you can't drink it, only burn it.
Usually you can buy it at paint supply stores because it is used for thinning shellac. If not there then in a place that sells cooking stuff because it is the standard fuel in fondue and chaffing dish burners.
I buy it at the hardware store in 1 liter jugs but they sell it by the gallon too.

You might also find methanol as a fuel for model airplanes or for race cars.
Somebody mentioned it might be available as biofuel at the gas station, but I am not sure if that is true.
It is corrosive to aluminum so do not store it in aluminum containers. The best thing to store it in is clearly labeled plastic bottles.

I never found isopropyl alcohol to be any good for fuel, it has too much water in it to make much heat and it burns greasy because it is more like paraffin than methyl hydrate is.

We backpacked with Peak 1's for years. We used to chuckle at they guy in our backpacking group who would insist on bringing his Bluet along. Compared to the Peak 1 it never cooked well at 10,000 feet and the lowest temps we were in were 25-30 deg F in the mornings.

I bought a MSR Whisperlight international myself for backpacking and disaster. During my ultralight phase I bought a Snow peak stove. I like to use it for day hikes and low altitude fair weather hiking.

I owned a MSR Dragonfly which is a water boiling champ but way to loud so I sold it. Diesel burns a neat white flame in the Dragonfly.