MSR windpro in the snow

[Paul McLaughlin]

I'm curious as to what experience people have with the MSR Windpro stove for snow camping, using it with the canister inverted. Beyond general impressions,I'd especially like to hear about:
Any comparisons of fuel usage between white gas and c canisters – i.e.,"I used to use a liter of white gas for a week of snow camping, now I use 2 canisters" or whatever the numbers are.
Anyone who has experienced what Roger Caffin has with some substance gunking up the valve.
And what means you use to hold the canister in an inverted position.
Thanks!

[Michael Ray]

I can only speak to keeping it inverted, which is I use it that way ALL the time. Loosened the adapter connection, rotated it 180 degrees and retightened. If it's windy I suspect you may need to lean the canister against something. I've heard others have used like small butter tubs with a slot cut to place the inverted canister in.

I haven't had the chance to use in the snow or long enough to worry about a gunky valve.

[Drowned Lemming]

Primus folding legs and a bit of epoxy resin:

[Greyson Howard]

Hi guys, I just got a Windpro I plan to use for winter, but the adapter connection is really tight, how did you loosen it and make the adjustment?

Thanks.

[Roger Caffin]

A large vice and the RIGHT-sized spanner.
I suspect there may be some thread-lock on the nut, which makes it a bit hard the first time.

Cheers

[Greyson Howard]

Thanks Roger, I have the hose disconnected from the valve, should I be able to rotate the two brass pieces separately to flip it upside down once it's tightened back down?

EDIT: Never mind, I figured it out. Thanks for the help; I look forward to using the stove in the snow soon.

[Roger Caffin]

Hi Greyson

From memory … I loosened the connector and rotated the hose, but it sticks in my mind that at one end of the hose there was no 'free' rotation. That is, the final angle depended on how tightly I did the nut up. But since the thread is quite fine, I was able to get a seal at the desired angle. It may be that you can only make the adjustment at one end, not at both.

Can you take a photo or two and report back how it goes?

Cheers

[Greyson Howard]

Hi Roger, I ended up completely unscrewing the hose from the valve, then rotating the crimped brass piece independent of the brass nut roughly 180 degrees. I didn't hit 180 exactly but came close enough for easy inverted operation. I then screwed the hose tightly back into the valve. Hopefully rotating the two brass pieces independently didn't cause any problems with the internal hose.

[Michael Ray]

Likely not an issue. I don't recall having any problem rotating mine to exactly where I wanted it. FWIW, I let it and a used canister sit outside for a couple hours last night at 10* F, and it fired right up inverted.

Did the same test with my SuperCat and HEET and it also seemed to work fine though I did have to put the match pretty much right on the HEET and it did take longer before I heard the HEET boil. This was mostly just to satisfy my curiousity since most say alcohol stoves don't work well at cold temps.

[Greyson Howard]

Thanks Michael,
My stove did indeed light up when I got home, so no problems with the modification.
Now I'll be tinkering with a stand for the canister, likely just a rubber band and 3 Y-stakes.

[Roger Caffin]

Hi Greyson

> I'll be tinkering with a stand for the canister
Yeah, I went down that route for a while. Eventually I gave up and realised that I could stick the canister upside down on the ground leaning against a shoe or anything handy. Rocks, sticks … In the snow I have used lumps of hard snow (snowballs?) to prop the canister upside down. It all works fine, and has zero carry weight.

Cheers

[Eric Blumensaadt]

… you can get a Brunton hose & canister stove adapter for taking any Lindal valve thread stove like, say a Pocket Rocket, and do the same thing – i.e. invert the canister end atatchment.

[John S.]

Eric, I thought the Brunton adapter will get the canister away, but it's not the same as having a preheat tube on those setups like MSR Windpro or Colement Exponent Xtreme. Maybe Roger will comment.

[Roger Caffin]

We have an article on that:
http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/myog_winter_stove_summer_upright_stove_brunton_stnd.html

Cheers

[Eric Blumensaadt]

Roger,

Yes, your article was the one I was thinking about. I should have been more specific and referred to it.

Your heat sink strip/clamp and flow reduction rod are the heart of this adaptation. Nice engineering and very safe to use.

But I am of the "liquid fuel persuasion" when it comes to winter camping. My MSR Dragonfly and SVEA 123 will do fine for me.

[Greyson Howard]

Hey guys,

I got my windpro out in the snow finally during a winter camping trip, and it worked OK…
It lit fine and would burn fine, but it seemed each time I turned my back to get more snow, it would start to die. I'd turn it up another 1/4 turn, and it would become a blow torch again. Then the process would repeat – maybe 5-7 times each time I'd just open the valve a tiny bit and it would fire up again.
Any thoughts, suggestions? I'd like to have that figured out before I go out again.

Thanks,
Greyson

[M G]

I would recommend checking your hose connection for leaks before regular use. When I rotated my connection and checked for leaks in the fall I noticed a lot of gas bubbles escaping. Loctite on the threads before tightening back up solved the problem.

[Roger Caffin]

Hi Greyson

Known problem, especially for the Windpro. Have a look here:

.
Strip the needle valve out and look at the tip. There will be some gunge on it – see F in the photo. I suspect this is the remains of the odorant put into the canister so you can smell any leaking gas. Pity the stuff used in some brands doesn't vaporise very well.

Cure: clean the valve (tip and seat) after every trip, or even before you fire the stove up if last night was suspect. But keep the valve clean if you do.

Cheers

[Mike M]

Roger how do you go about removing the needle valve (don't won't to break anything :))?

thanks

Mike

[Roger Caffin]

Hi Mike

> how do you go about removing the needle valve
Depends on the stove. Some stoves have a retaining pin which has to be pushed out, while other stoves have a lock nut as shown in my pic. For the lock nut, you need the right-sized spanner for the nut and something to hold the body of the stove. The connection may initially be tight, or even Loctited in, so some careful force may be needed to get the nut loose.

If the factory put the valve in the hole, you can get it back out again!

Cheers and Merry Xmas

[Mike M]

thanks Roger- looks like the wind pro has a small roll pin that has to be removed

<– searching for small roll pin punch :)

Merry Christmas to you as well!

[Roger Caffin]

> Would Gimp do the job?
Try a suitable drill bit in a bench-press drill.

Cheers

[Mike M]

the roll pin is being rather stubborn, stubborn enough that it feels like the drill bit (smallest one I own) might break- I'll wait till Monday and get a punch

on another note, I backed out the fitting on the hose side a 1/2 turn and put a little blue thread block on- fired up and it ran like a champ (non-inverted and inverted)

[Roger Caffin]

Hi Mike

> the roll pin is being rather stubborn
Yeah, the metal tends to 'stick' to the aluminium – if it hasn't actually been glued in as well. So there is usually a bit of a 'break-away' force required.

Have you tried a broken drill bit? You probably only need to move the pin 1 mm to get it freed up. Usually.

Cheers and Merry Xmas

[Mark Hudson]

I have been reading this thread and prior to this had decided on the windpro.

After reading this, I am concerned about the hose removal required and the apparent needle valve maintenance required as well.

Is there a canister stove made that is already set up and designed for inverted use that doesnt reqire all this?

On another site someone recommended the reactor for winter use, but darn is that thing heavy (although it does seem interesting that it uses so much less fuel so weight over time seems not too terrible).

Thoughts?

[Author]

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