Fire Maple QuickBoil Pro Mod…

Question: Do you think it’s possible to modify the pot to work with a BRS stove that hasn’t had the arms bent? And ideally leave most of the bottom, wind protection structure, in place?

Not bending the arms could work, but you’d have to cut out some of the HE fins for it to do so:

I took off the least amount of the bottom of the QB pot as made sense in order for it to retain as much of its “wind-screening ability” as possible:

The BRS burner head is flush with the bottom cut-off of the QB pot:

Not sure what, if anything, the bottom flange will provide the BRS in terms of wind-screening… when I get a moment I’ll do a wind test. Honestly, given Jon Fong’s experiments with the BRS, I am doubtful it will provide much. We’ll see…

Not sure what, if anything, the bottom flange will provide the BRS in terms of wind-screening… when I get a moment I’ll do a wind test. Honestly, given Jon Fong’s experiments with the BRS, I am doubtful it will provide much. We’ll see…

So I did a wind test with the Modified QB Pot and BRS Stove:

Wind Speed – 5mph (avg)

Air Temp – 71*F

H2O – 500 ml

H2O Temp – 57*F

Altitude – 5,010′

High-ish Setting Fuel Usage – 8.9g

Boil Time – 3:46

I have to say, I was a bit stunned. I repeated the experiment, and got essentially the same result. I had fully expected to have a tough time keeping the BRS lit, and if I could keep it lit, figured fuel usage would be well above 10g… not the case at all!

I have to say, for 5 oz’s, the BRS Stove and Modified QuickBoil Pro Pot combo are a real winner!

Would also add, knowing what I now know about the BRS’s compatability and wind-worthiness with the QuickBoil Pro pot, I wouldn’t have cut the slots in the side (which I did for the pot to be used with the Soto Windmaster and MSR Pocket Rocket Deluxe). Those slots are obviously letting in wind.

I plan on getting another and modifying it without slots, just for the BRS.

I made a little Titanium Windscreen for the QB Pro pot. It’s 1.5″ tall, hangs down 1/2″ below the bottom of the pot. I re-ran the 5mph wind test. The windscreen made no difference – the BRS still used 8.9g of fuel to reach a boil with 500ml of water.

With such a small burner gap, I’d be concerned about CO production if ever needing to boil in my vestibule in a storm:

https://backpackinglight.com/forums/topic/50284/#post-3825324

With such a small burner gap,

the gap would be the same as if you were using a standard mug.  Not sure that the HX features would increase CO production.

With such a small burner gap, I’d be concerned about CO production if ever needing to boil in my vestibule in a storm

I’m unconcerned – the gap is the same 21mm that is found on a Jetboil. And as Jon points out, I can’t see why an HX mug woiuld make any difference.

I’ve brought water to a boil in a vestibule for decades with a huge variety of stoves, and never found it a problem. But I’m not “cooking” for extended periods of time, just making coffee or a FD meal with boiled water.

The video I linked clearly shows measurements of elevated CO production with hx pots and them potentially reaching dangerous levels. Data over anecdote.  The British Mountaineering Council also warns against them at elevation.

The video I linked clearly shows measurements of elevated CO production with hx pots and them potentially reaching dangerous levels. Data over anecdote.

Absolutely true, the HX system put out 4-5 x the amount of CO in his test conditions.  You realize that he is boiling 1.5 liters of wate in about 4-5 minutes, I would say that is a pretty high burn rate.  Secondy, his test is inside an enclosed tent.  Now the beauty of something like the Quickboil is that you don’t need to tuck it away inside your vestibule to get efficient boils, and I am not sure why you would ever want to do that anyway.  Well, users be warned.  This is probably not going to be an issue that I worry about.  My 2 cents.

I remain unconcerned. Who in their right mind is boiling 1.5L of water in 5 minutes?

In the late fall/winter I often eat in bed, and always have a cup of coffee in bed in the morning. I roll over, and fire up my stove in the vestibule. I’ve done this forever, and exclusively with an HX pot for the last 15 years (Jetboil).

But I’m not a British Mountaineer… :)

The British Mountaineering Council also warns against them at elevation.

If you could point us to a link, I would aprreciate it.  The only thing that I found from the British Mountaineering Council was the following blurb.

Remember that cooking in an enclosed space, such as a tent porch, is a potentially hazardous activity. The obvious risk is of a stove malfunction, burner flare or fuel spillage causing fire. Only cook inside if you have no other option. Ensure the stove is well maintained, keep it as far away from the tent sides as possible and have an escape route if things go wrong.

Far more insidious – and the cause of several deaths over the past few years – is asphyxiation from carbon monoxide poisoning. Carbon monoxide is a colourless and odourless gas, most commonly formed by incomplete combustion of almost any fuel type, from charcoal to propane. All stoves will release carbon monoxide if the fuel is only partially combusted due to a lack of oxygen or an insufficiently hot flame, so cooking outdoors or allowing plenty of ventilation when cooking in a tent is essential. Hot blue flames release little carbon monoxide but if the flame burns white or orange the risk increases. Heat exchanger pans are more prone to carbon monoxide generation, but the very worst culprit is the barbecue, with its relatively cool flame. Always endeavour to cook in a well-ventilated space, and have a healthy respect for this invisible killer.
While we’re talking about cooking outdoors, please remember that disposable BBQs should never be taken into the hills.

CO is a significant concern and needs to be dealt with appropriately. Every year, people die using charcoal to keep warm. The biggest takeaway for me is

HX pots can generate more CO (agreed)

Not recommended to for use in enclosed places (agreed)

Ensure that the stove is burning with a hot, blue flame (agreed)

My 2 cents.

Yes, to all of these, that’s my position as well.  The video results were another step ahead quantifying the CO in one use case.  I’m pretty sure Roger tested stove CO production for a BPL article years ago but it was with old stove models (I don’t have access to my notes with the results but iirc some were quite concerning).

I’m confident that for my use case, if stuck in an hours long rain storm having to cook in my tent with only the peak vents due to the severity of the rain (been there), I’d want a system with a decent pot/stove gap (data on the CO vs gap has been hard to come by)

I’d have to dig through my notes back at home but for now hopefully these help:

https://services.thebmc.co.uk/stove-danger-heat-exchanger-pots-warning?utm_source=chatgpt.com

https://www.naturalbushcraft.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?8593-Pot-with-heat-echangers

I remain unconcerned. Maybe start a separate thread on the subject.

.

Back to the original topic, the BRS’s burner head is 21-22mm from the bottom of the pot. That’s exactly the same as my Jetboil Sol’s (both Al and Ti).

As @JonFong pointed out, it also seems that the small diameter head of the BRS is working well with the small diameter of the QuickBoil pot (I tend to think the PRD and WM are too large to be at peak efficiency with this pot and the Petrel G3 pot).

Also, very importantly, the lower portion of the QB pot is absolutely a legitimate windscreen for the BRS stove. And, keeping the lower aluminum ring on the QB pot also helps protect the relatively fragile heat exchange fins

All in all this is a real contender for the lightest, most efficient HE combo I’ve found to date. I genuinely can’t believe I’ve found any value in the BRS 3000, but there it is. If you’re willing to get by with a 550ml pot, and are willing to make the mods,  you can have a very efficient 5 oz HE pot/stove combo that is also quite wind-worthy.

I have another QuickBoil en-route, and will make the same modifications, except for the pot stand support cutouts that I made on the original for the MSR Pocket Rocket Deluxe, and Soto Wind Master. This will make it a BRS3000 specific setup, and possibly even more wind-worthy.

I did a quick overnight, and brought the BRS (Basic Recreational Stove?) and the Modified QuickBoil pot. I did four boils totaling 1380ml, and used 14.5g of fuel. That averages 5.2g per 500ml, which is darn good for field conditions with a bit of wind. I still find the BRS a bit janky, but I’ll keep messing with it.

So, you do need to bend the arms of the stove to fit.  If you are willing to do that; good functional alternatives (small burner head / Larger gap) to the BRS are the Fire Maple 300 and the new TOAKS Ti Backpacking stove.  Personally, I like the Fire Maple 300 a lot.

A stove similar to the Soto WindMaster is teh Fire Maple GreenPeak at about $20.

My 2 cents.

So, you do need to bend the arms of the stove to fit.  If you are willing to do that; good functional alternatives (small burner head / Larger gap) to the BRS are the Fire Maple 300 and the new TOAKS Ti Backpacking stove.  Personally, I like the Fire Maple 300 a lot.

Yes, further back on this thread I pointed out the arms need to be bent, and posted a photo. I suppose anyone that can modify this pot will have no problem bending the BRS’s arms!

Jon, what’s the burner head gap on both the FM300 and Toaks Ti?

Stove / Burner Diameter / Burner to Pot gap

BRS 3000t    / 0.71″ / 0.78″

Fire Maple 300    / 0.79″ / 0.86″

TOAKS Ti    / 1.17″ / 0.59″

Thanks Jon