Coleman Fyrestorm Ti Stove

John,

How cold is cold? I have used canister stoves for years and have never had a problem until last winter when the mercury dipped to 0° on a trip. My Primus Micron became useless putting out heat a smidgen less than a match flame. Fortunately we had a Pepsi can alcohol stove which seemed to operate unaffected by the cold and allowed us to have a hot beverage and breakfast. From the high teens on up, I have never encountered any problems with the canister stove.

I'm familiar with the normal limitations of a canister, but wondered if the inverted canister, as this model has, would make it useable to a much lower temperature. Right now, I'd need it to function to at least -10F and I have my doubts if even inverting would help. In normal conditions I've used canisters down to about 5F, but that was after sleeping with it in my bag.

Sorry John, I don't have any experience with the inverted style canister. I will be following this thread to hear what others have to say about this.

Hi John and John

I assume you have read BPL review of Fyrestorm Stove

John Kays – Tinnny, stove designer of MiniBullDesigns, wrote me in an email that alcohol stoves are useless below 45-35F. What are the lowest temps in which you can use an alcohol stove?

E.J.,

All I can state with first hand knowledge is what I have experienced as stated above. I couldn't tell you what the limitations are below 0º, nor would I be out there in these temps intentionally. Would you really venture out in that type of weather and plan on using an alcohol stove? I hope not. In our case we had both, but ironically, it was the alcohol that worked in this unusual cold front moving through the area.

By the way, we have a trip planned for the first weekend in December and I will be taking only my alcohol stove based on last January's experience. I don't expect temps below 30º, possibly down to 25º, unless again, an unusually severe cold front comes through. If I run into trouble will be buming hot water off of my buddies if they happen to have the type of stove that will operate in those temps. However, based on my experience, my Pepsi and V8 can stoves will do the job down to 0º.

E.J.,

I just read a related thread where the poster, responding to you, used his alcohol in 9º temps. This post reminded me that last January, my Firesteel would not ignite the alcohol and I had to use a match. Additionally, it took a few seconds of holding the match flame in the cup before the alcohol would ignite. Once it ignited it boiled the water without incident. The amount of fuel was significantly increased accounting for the cold.

John,

I think you hit the nail on the head. It's not that alcohol won't light when it's cold. The chalenge is to bring enough alcohol to overcome the temperature differential between the atmosphere and the boiling water.

Alcohol simply doesn't put out as much energy as gas stoves and therefore needs a lot more fuel quantity to do the same job. Consider too, that the "job" is significantly increased in freezing weather because all the water you want to drink has to be defrosted; not just the cooking water. (Plus, on those chilly nights there is nothing like sharing your sleeping bag with a warm bottle of water)!

I guess at some point, it is simply more efficient to go to gas. That being said, my inverted WindPro has never sputtered, much less failed, into the single digits.

Hi John

> I'm familiar with the normal limitations of a canister, but wondered if the inverted canister, as this model has, would make it useable to a much lower temperature. Right now, I'd need it to function to at least -10F and I have my doubts if even inverting would help.

The Fyrestorm is one of the best inverted canister stoves around, along with the Xtreme.

However, -10 F (-23.3 C) is close to the lower limit for an inverted canister stove **if left to its own devices**. But you can greatly improve its performance if you can pour a little (liquid) water into the bowl-shaped base when you fire it up. Since liquid water is by definition above 32 F, it will help the gas pressurise the canister. A little bit of radiation from the stove while it is running will give the canister enough heat to keep it functioning very well.

Cheers