Winter Stove

[William Zila]

I was at 10,000 feet and using snowpeak isobutane. I had to move the canister closer to the windscreen to keep it going good. But personly I'm a wuss and 10 degrees is plenty cold for me lol.

[Jeffs Eleven]

used my Primus Spider at 10F this Jan at Crater Lake. Worked wellish… I believe it was around the limit without heating the can… which in writing this, am realizing I should have opened the wind screen a little and heated the canister… duh!

[Hikin’ Jim]

@Franco,

That's really strange that the stove ran better with the canister right side up (if I'm understanding your post correctly) in cold weather. Weird. Maybe your canister was getting near empty?

@William,

Sounds like your Bulin could have taken you down a little lower if you had wanted it to, but completely understandable if 10F is your limit. ;)

HJ

[Yuri R]

I really like whisperlite for several reasons

1- it is lighter than some other "Expedition" stoves
2- it can actually simmer if you are not heavy handed with pump and flow needle (despite what many reviews say)
3- it is very simplistic, with very few parts to break
4- they have self-cleaning jet (shaker jet)
5- the international version can run on many types of fuel.
6- every decent outdoor/sports store carries the maintenance kit for these
7- there are a lot of them being sold in used condition for half the price of the new (good source of parts too)

I've got 2 whisperlites – one regular version (old but working) and one brand new international. Then I also have MYOG Ikea stove for wood which i plan on using with a small alcohol burner for summer/light-weight trips.

It's a classic what has been proven to work and which has been used in all the corners of the planet. It may not be titanium or have a piezo starter – but it works well.

[Franco Darioli]

Hikin' Jim
Not sure what was happening there but it happened on a couple of burns.
I only used about 110g in total so I still have over half a canister.
I was using a short version of the Caldera Cone ( I had to open It up after I melted some of it…) so I put the gas canister upright against the wind screen but still sitting on snow.

It worked well like that and was melting snow about as fast as I cared for using the stove at just over half power.
(I was always able to start with some water in the pot)
Franco

[Rob Lambert]

What's the lowest temperature to use an alcohol stove ?

[Robert Cowman]

it's usually -30 to -40 here and I melt snow with a wood fire. canisters are useless except for MSR reactors and jetboils.(reactor is better IMO)

[Franco Darioli]

Rob
Often it is mentioned that mushers use alcohol stoves.
The bit that is not taken into account is that those stoves are nothing like the ones we use and fuel efficiency runs well second after safety.
The trick is to start it ( a fire steel will do) and once alight it will keep going.
With a small stove it will arrive to a point that the flame cannot overcome the low temperature, so it will bun but will not melt your snow or not fast enough…
Having said that I have used a couple of alcohol stoves below freezing but only down to around 23f. Much slower than the gas stove and white gas.
BTW, this reminds me of the "pyramid tents are used in the Arctic" bit …
Same thing . Yes the "shape " is roughly the same but not the size nor the structure /weight of them…
Details, details
Franco

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