Hi, I'm new to canister stoves and had a problem on my last trip. While boiling water the stove just went out. Temperature was about 60 degrees with a very light breeze, certainly not enough to blow out the flames. I was cooking on a low setting to maximize fuel efficiency. I can feel the fuel inside sloshing around so I know it wasn't empty. I tried and tried, but it wouldn't re-light. Fortunately I had packed another canister and it worked fine.
I have read that these things like warm temps, but I can't imagine the temps I was experiencing (low 60's) would cause failure. I packed the canisters in socks and put them inside the sleeping bag the next morning before breakfast.
Again, temps in the low 60's
I used the fullest canister and after about 10 minutes it went out and so I switched back to the less full one (the original one that went out the day before) and had no problems finishing breakfast. I'm using the "big" canisters (8 oz), starting weight 12.7oz, and when I returned home the weights of the canisters were 8.5 and 12.2.
Like I said, I'm new to canister stoves and don't know what the empty can weight is (4.7oz?), but I can still swish the fuel around in the 8.5oz one.
I switched from a rather heavy white fuel stove and am second guessing that decision. If I have to bring two cans each time and the thing konks out halfway through the meal, and then I've got to wait till the stove cools down enough to change canisters… To me, all that hassle is definitely not worth the weight savings from white fuel.
What am I doing wrong?
Oh, it's a brand new Coleman Ultralight F1 stove, rated very highly here in BPL's canister stove reviews.
Bill
