Jon, thanks for the link, good info there, even a comment about “O” Ring failure.
Quotes from link:
[QUOTE=”ra2bach, post: 2952616, member: 54965″]
Roy I think you hit the nail right on the head! with the air feed ports on these stoves, keeping the gas turned very low, allows the flame to form inside the nozzle. turning the flame up seems to suspend the flame above the nozzle.
also, as glen1100 mentioned, with the gas flow turned up higher the gas expanding inside the canister gets very cold and provides cooling to both the canister and the body of the stove. this is undoubtedly a critical design function of these stoves that I unwittingly bypassed…
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[QUOTE=”ra2bach, post: 2952616, member: 54965″]
actually, the second stove I used was the Pocket Rocket. it’s much taller than the little BRS titanium stove so I thought it would give a valid counterpoint. turning it as low as possible still allowed heat to be conducted down into the base and would eventually have heated the canister itself.
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[QUOTE=”ra2bach, post: 2952616, member: 54965″]
grendal, I don’t know how long it was on but here’s the thing – I wasn’t reheating/simmering my coffee. I had the stove turned down as low as it possibly could stay lit, like a hot-plate, to keep my coffee warm in an Olicamp aluminum cup and drinking from it as I worked. I would say at least 15-20 minutes but I don’t think it was the time that caused the problem. I have run these stoves at full or medium for a long time before, and never had this occur…
No, I believe it was the flow rate, as Roy and glen1100 pointed out above, that caused the problem. I had it turned down very low, like a candle. I think this allowed the flame to heat the stove burner body itself without the benefit of cooling from the rapid expansion of the gas inside the canister. and because I was distracted, I left it long enough that heat conducted through the body of the stove into the canister itself. Very Dangerous…
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[QUOTE=”ra2bach, post: 2954291, member: 54965″]
I’m following a couple blogs of this years thru-hikers on the Appy Trail and one recently posted a picture of an exploded canister.
the stove was one of those cheap $8 Chinese stoves and it blew the o-ring and gas leaked out between the base of the stove and the canister. which then proceeded to catch fire which immediately heated the canister and created dangerous over pressure, which created a very large fireball which heated everything even quicker!
someone had the presence of mind to kick it out of the shelter and when it blew the metal can was turned inside out. this was the image I had in my mind when I discovered my stove, sitting on the desk right next to me, was far, far too hot…
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