High Sierra Topix

I recently purchased a new backpacking stove. I have been using a wood burning sierra stove for the last 6 years but now my buddies and i are going to higher elevations were fire is not permited and fuel may be scarce. The new stove is a Hi-Tec V-Lite compact gas stove and came with a 4 oz. iso-butane propane canister. We are going on a 4 day 3 night trip, boiling 2-3 quarts of water for breakfast and diner. How much fuel should we plan on taking?

YMWILL Vary...so my advice is to hook the thing up and use it. Weigh the fuel canister before and after a boil, and see how much gas you will have used. We use an MSR pocket rocket, and boil two liters a day. A single 8oz canister lasts us more than a week.

but YMWV!

what balzaccom said. practice at home. expect more burn at altitude. take more than you need. an extra can in a pack costs you very little.

I believe this topic (general burn times) has been discussed many times, with links to informative off-HST assessments provided. Do a search of the archive and see what you learn there.

Regardless of your expected burn time be sure to pack a wind screen for your stove
it will cut your fuel use 25-30%. Roof flashing works well and so does foil cut from a disposable rectangular backing pan/cookie sheet.

frediver wrote:Regardless of your expected burn time be sure to pack a wind screen for your stove
it will cut your fuel use 25-30%. Roof flashing works well and so does foil cut from a disposable rectangular backing pan/cookie sheet.

DO NOT PUT THE WINDSCREEN AROUND THE CANISTER.

Canister stoves have been known to put your pot into orbit - there is a serious explosion hazard. You could be injured *or worse* by flying shrapnel if your canister explodes because it heats up too much due to heat reflected by a windscreen.

Windscreens should be around the burner, not the canister.

Google the kite screen or make something that sits on the pot supports.

Not around the canister, well that is both right and wrong.
Guess I assumed that modern stove users know not to fully
enclosed there stove with a wind screen and how to allow
for proper airflow to prevent overheating.
Yes my windscreen does also shield my canister when I use
my stove but it does not completely surround it. If I gave it a figure
would say it is 70% enclosed, perhaps not even that much if you count
the extra vent holes around the bottom edge.
My screen is also sized to clear the sides of my cookpot by about 1in
but also come up it sides to within 1in of the top edge.
Reflecting some heat back to the can is ok and also helpful with cold weather
performance however you never want your can to be more than warm,
most will get colder as the gas burns off.
I have even seen some larger gas stoves get so cold in use, even during warm weather, that in order to get them to continue operation I had to put
the fuel tank in a bucket of water ( warm only ) to heat the tank. The truth:
this has not yet happened to any of my backpacking stoves but it is also
something to remember for cold or winter canister stove use.

wondering how this stove worked, or didnt work. there be models from $20 to $150 out there, wondered if this one could hang with the big dogs. 1-10, 10 bein best, how would you rate it, or any other users. thx

Burn time is really meaningless. I have one stove with a small burner and it has a long "burn time" becauses it simply has fewer holes for the gas to come out. It generally takes longer to heat water. Another stove has a larger burner (more holes) so boils faster. The idea is to match the burner size with the pot you will use. The big burner used on a narrow solo pot will waste a lot of heat. A big burner is better if you are using a big pot.

What you want to measure is the gallons of water boiled on one cannister. You can test this at home, and then assume that under outdoor conditions, it will be less. To be realistic, refrigerate your water at home before starting to boil - this will approximate using water out of cold mountain streams. Also, if you can, run the stove at home in similar temperatures of your backpack environment . I can get anywhere from 5 to 7 days from a medium 9oz cannister. I use a wind screen and solar heat my water for evenings- but mornings I am stuck with very cold water (near freezing).

AlmostThere wrote:DO NOT PUT THE WINDSCREEN AROUND THE CANISTER.

Well, yes and no. Whatever you do, be danged careful because you don't ever want that canister to get hot (warm isn't so bad, but if it hurts to touch the canister, you've gone too far).

It helps to put a radiation shield (heat shield) between the burner and the canister (see below photo).


I've got a lot more information on my blog (Adventures in Stoving) if you're interested: .

HJ