Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board stove question

Here's a twist to the thread. I have a Primus White Gas/multi fuel stove. I haven't used it much, so therefore have questions about it. While on my trek up Whitney starting June 5th. (2 nights/3 days), How much fuel should I anticipate bringing? There will be 3 of us. This stove is about 8 years old and I was never overly excited with it. It always seemed to flare up when starting or always had difficulty starting. This also could be operator error.

Willi, one thing to definitely do: break out the stove NOW, and go through a series of lightings, and run the stove for an extended period of time the first time(say, 10 minutes). This will burn off any carbon/deposits that may have accumulated, and will mess up the stove operation. Also, as you go through the process, you will eliminate some of the "operator error". Make sure you are following the instructions.....I observe that frequently, when folks are having trouble with these stoves, they are not following the procedure, such as the neccessary priming process.

Another problem with these stoves: people sometimes store gas over the winter, which can lead to deposits. Also, older gas often does not light or burn well.

I'm not much of a fan of liquid gas stoves, and generally prefer the cannister types. There are a variety of tips that make them work better. One that helps, is to place the cannister/stove combo into a vessel containing water while operating. The cannisters get very cold, as they are depressurized. In a water bath, that is quickly dispersed, and really helps the operation in a cold environment. I also sleep with the cannisters, to get them going initially.

Man! You people who sleep with canisters!

All the liquid fuel stoves have to be started carefully. The metal parts need to get hot enough to vaporize the liquid fuel before they can operate properly. If you don't heat them up, you will have a big yellow bonfire -- I had a friend along on a camping trip, and he tried lighting the stove, and had a big 2-foot flame going! I shut the valve (which was spewing more liquid into the fire), and it still took a while to burn off the excess fuel.

The trick is to follow these steps:
1. Operate the pump to pressurize the tank.
2. Open the valve, and allow 1-2 teaspoons of fuel to squirt out and wet the cup at the bottom of the burner.
3. CLOSE THE VALVE!
4. Light the fuel, it burns slowly for about a minute.
5. When the flame is almost out, open the valve enough to maintain a low but steady flame. If the burner apparatus is hot enough, it should burn with a clean blue flame. If the flame is unsteady, allow it to burn another 30 seconds or so to continue heating the parts of the stove burner.
6. Once it is heated enough, you can open the valve all the way, and you should have a hot steady flame.
7. Use the pump periodically to keep pressure up in the tank.

When I disassemble the stove to move camp, I remove the burner from the pump, and drain the tube so I don't get fuel inside my pack. My MSR has a valve on the burner, so I open it to allow air into the tube so the fuel drains out.

I also carefully unscrew the pump on the fuel bottle to set the pressure out. Don't want any pressure to cause fuel to leak in the pack. Then I re-tighten the pump on the bottle.

That being said, I am not taking that stove on my next hike. I have discovered the FireLite Titanium Esbit Wing Stove. Fuel sold at REI, takes 10 minutes to heat 2 cups. But weighs under half an ounce! REI sells the esbit tablets.


And the stove doubles as instep crampons in a pinch! ....NOT!

You're to funny Steve!!

On the esbit... Mom and I used esbit both times we were on Whitney last year. Have never had the chance to try on the summit (yet.. give us a couple more months)... but used them to cook all meals at trail camp. Mom made our stoves out of some sort of light wire mesh with an aluminum foil wind screen.. small enough to fit inside our cooking cups for storage when not in use...

Come on you guys. Someone besides me HAS TO SEE the humor in Steve Larsons comment.

Now Doc... if Steve is going to be rude enough to not call his canister in the morning... I think that we shouldn't comment and encourage that kind of behavior.

I always call my canister in the morning

bear canisters or fuel canisters?

Willi - only you can determine how much fuel to bring. If you need coffee and a warm meal in AM and PM, then you might need 2 oz per person per full day. So it depends on your start/stop times and meals. If you are like me (no coffee, one hot meal, efficient camp/cook routine) then 1 oz PPPD is plenty.

As a comparison, we used 8 oz PPPD while subzero temps in the Andes melting ice for drinking water and soup. The oz rule applies ROUGHLY to either the weight of the liquid fuel or the net amount of canister gas that is liquid before you release it. Not having scientifically studied the BTU content, my gut feeling is that an oz of white gas goes farther.
Maybe someone else can look up the BTUs. Harvey

Depends on the mood I'm in...

For completely reliable stove lighting, I use a Swedish Army firesteel. Unlike lighters or matches, it works at any temperature or elevation, and will work when wet.