canister stove problems

[William Mitchell]

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

[Brett .]

Bill, your case is unusual; I've never seen it. Try another stove to see if the problem 'follows' the stove, or the canister.
There are slight differences in canister threading based on manufacturer, but if you are using a manufacturer recommended canister we can rule that out.
Keep the faith; hundreds of thousands of people wouldn't be using canister stoves if this problem was typical.
I carry only one canister sized for the trip, and a few esbit tabs as backup if the stove is damaged or lost. And I mix brands of stoves and canisters with impunity.
Let us know what happens.

[Richard Nisley]

The Lyndal valves sometimes fail even after operating for a few minutes. In the course of a 1 1/2 month expedition along the Alaska coast last year, I had two MSR 8 oz IsoPro canisters fail. I subsequently tried the failed canisters on three different brands of backpacking stoves (MSR Wind Pro, Jet Boil, and Burton Crux) and none of them would work. I then used an awl, on my Swiss Army knife, to depress the Lyndal valves in the failed canisters. The gas would flow freely when the valve was depressed with the awl but all of the stove’s relatively shallow and narrow protrusions would not push the valve down far enough to open. I surmise that the plastic piece that seals the valve opening was too soft on the failed canisters and it deformed rather pushed down against the cartridge spring.

I now run each canister for about 5 minutes before taking them on a trip to verify the valve is working properly.

[JASON CUZZETTO]

I haven't seen this either and have been through years of canisters… Has anyone asked the manufacturer? What stove is it you are using?

Thank you

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