Stove vs Wind

Look here – Al Foil, Ti, Aluminum screen, and …Danger!

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/xdpy/forum_thread/9505/index.html?skip_to_post=82370#82370

Aluminum will melt if you get carried away.

I'd venture a guess that the Caldera would have been your most effective solution in that situation.

Other options would have been a remote canister stove with a carefully-arranged foil windscreen, and a Primus ETAPower EF stove. But aside from a Windpro, those stoves hardly fall in the same weight category as a Gigapower or Caldera.

Hi John

Well, what I have done for the last few decades is to get inside my tent and cook there, with a windscreen around the stove at ground level. Far more comfortable, far more reliable for meals, and perfectly safe if I monitor the temperature of the canister. **As long as I can touch it all is well.**

There are many articles here on BPL on this subject – many. Look through the techniques section for articles by me and Will Rietveld.

Especially in colder weather the danger of overheating has been greatly exaggerated by one or two lawyer-driven stove manufacturers.

John,

I know that most authorities/manufacturers say that you should not use an enclosed windscreen with a canister stove. The thinking is that the heat reflected down onto to the canister will cause it to overheat.

However, I tried it for myself and found that you have to use the stove for a long period of time before the canister begins to heat to a dangerous level. As I normally just boil water and maybe simmer a pot for 5-10 minutes at the most, the canister never reaches anywhere near a critical level. As Roger says above, you just have to monitor it using the 'touch test'. I was surprised at how little heat is transferred to the canister. Often it is hardly even warmed.

I use the titanium foil from BPL as a screen. At 9 inches, it reaches most of the way up the pot and wraps all the way around.

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/titanium_foil_windscreen_large.html

To carry it I just roll it up tightly and secure it with a rubber band and place it in my food bag. Keeping it rolled up like this means that when it's unrolled for use, it hugs the stove/pot so you don't need to use anything to support it.

The only stove I've ever used that can pretty much laugh at windy conditions is the Trangia meths burners (not the smallest, but the medium and large sized storm cookers.) Indeed, a strong wind causes the stove to burn hotter and cook faster, although it eats through more fuel as a result.

With everything else it's a matter of finding the right spot and putting together a screen that works for your particular set-up. I'm wary of enclosing canister stoves too completely, even though the danger is perhaps overstated. A taller screen is the obvious answer; it might take a bit of experimentation to get it right. That said, I've successfully used a sheet of cardboard wrapped in tinfoil before now, at a pinch.

Hi John! I, too, once tried using a MSR foil windscreen, but it was a tad short, though it did provide some relief from the wind. Now I use a BPL Ti foil windscreen, as Andrew previously suggested, and get much better results. However, I would caution against allowing the wiindscreen to hug the pot as airflow from the bottom holes is essential for good combustion; I allow about a 3/8" space all around the pot whether I'm using LP, alcohol, petrol or esbit.