Snow Peak Gigapower windscreen: probably not worth it. Also, a cold canister isn’t that inefficient

good video, your conclusions are good

one thing is, you said it takes 6 grams of fuel to boil with a cold canister, and 7 grams and a minute less with a warm canister

I think that's because when the canister is warm, the flame is bigger, so the hot gases flow all over the place so less of the heat is transferred to the pot. If you the flame is smaller, the hot gasses tend to flow over the pot better so the heat is transferred better

Interesting that that tiny "windscreen" wasn't very effective. Your sheet of aluminum windscreen looks pretty good.

May I make a suggestion?

I realize that Snow Peak calls that thing a windscreen, but it is not really a windscreen. It is a stove heat reflector. Its primary job is to prevent excess heat from the flame from going down and maybe causing a canister explosion. The metal foil that goes around the circumference is the effective windscreen, and your test results showed that.

So, I suggest that you use a teeny tiny bit of aluminum foil below the flame and above the canister, and that should serve to shield the excess heat from hitting the canister. A small fraction of an ounce of foil should do it. You need only a bit of waste heat to get to the canister.

Your main foil windscreen is good, although your piece is on the heavy side. Currently I take two or three thicknesses of aluminum foil and mash those together for flexible strength, and I use that for my windscreen. If you want to cut back on weight, you can make the foil windscreen go from above the cook pot to below the flame, but it doesn't need to go all the way to the ground. If you can support a narrow one on rocks, you can leave the canister space open to wind, and that also helps to carry off excess heat that could cook the canister. Yes, keeping the wind off the cook pot is very important.

–B.G.–

I dunno, the one I have on my Giga seems to help.

"So, I suggest that you use a teeny tiny bit of aluminum foil below the flame and above the canister, and that should serve to shield the excess heat from hitting the canister. A small fraction of an ounce of foil should do it."

Great suggestion, I'm gonna look into that. That would make me worry less about blowing up the canister too! But I've used that black windscreen for years and haven't blown up one yet (knock on wood!).

"But I've used that black windscreen for years and haven't blown up one yet (knock on wood!)."

I have not blown up one either, but I have heard some nasty stories. Some people seem bent on fastening that windscreen around as tightly as they can get it, and that just causes the waste heat to focus down onto the canister. This is especially true if you are using a big cook pot and there is a large thermal mass to reflect heat downward.

–B.G.–

Hi Marshall

Welcome to stove land.

Following on from what others have already said:

The heat reflector (it's NOT a windscreen) is only ever needed when you have a very big pot on the stove and it's running full bore. That can reflect too much heat downwards – sometimes. For ordinary use – say cooking for two with a 1 L pot, it is either not needed or it's actually counter-productive (like in the snow). The justification for dismissing the heat reflector is thousands of hours of happy operation by hundreds and hundreds of users, with no problems.

If you are cooking in the snow or extreme cold, you may WANT some downwards heat to keep the canister between, say, 10 C and 20 C. Just don't let the canister ever get so hot you can't touch it: that's the standard 'Ouch test'.

A real windscreen should NOT (ever) wrap right around the pot. That way lies trouble. A 3/4 cover from ground to near the pot rim at a gap of 20 mm is considered good.

It is well-known that running at a high flame is much less efficient as you lose too much heat up the side of the pot.

Good stove though.

cheers

Great responses, thanks!!