I’ve been following all the different recent threads on gas stoves and there’s one thing that puzzles me about the weight of the empty canisters.
The canisters I’m used to (typical Lindhal valve, butane/propane; Primus, Coleman or Markill brands) weight around 160 gr. (5.8 oz) empty (I’ve weighted them all) for the medium size (the one with 220 gr. or 8 oz of gas). They’re supposed to be that heavy because they have to keep the gas under enough preassure to keep it liquid, right? This is a known disadvantage for canister fuel so one could expect manufacturers have tried to make the canisters as light as possible.
Then I see in the Modified Xtreme Stove thread in the MYOG forum the canisters for the Powermax fuel (which I’ve never used) are apparently far lighter: 100 gr. for the canister that holds 300 gr. of gas.
What’s the deal here? I know these latter are aluminium while I think the Lindhal valve canisters are usually (always?) steel but that doesn’t help. The question remains, how come the Lindhal valve ones are still that heavy if it’s possible to build lighter ones that work?. I’m sure I’m missing something but what? Is the fuel any different? As far as I know, Powermax fuel is also butane/propane, is the mix any different? Maybe it’s the design of the canister (more like a bottle for the Powermax)?
