How often do gas canister stoves break, and what would be a good backup?

I will disagree with Jerry here. The BRS-3000T CLONES may have problems, but many of us with genuine ones have had no problems at all. Amazon and ebay are filled with copies of very debatable origin.

My 2c.
Cheers

I have mixed feelings about BRS-3000T.  There are a lot of reliability problems reported so some people may choose not to use it.

Nice little stove though.  Most of the reliability problems can be eliminating by just testing it first to make sure it’s a good one.  To make sure that what you have isn’t a clone : )

My own preference is for a stove with an ignitor like the Soto Windmaster.  Put on pot with water, click.  Regulator will keep stove at same power level.

I have more confidence in a product from a company with a reputation to defend rather than a product from an unknown source.  MSR, Jetboil, Optimus,…

For alcohol or esbit anything would be fine because it’s simple, not much to fail.

I like how whenever I type Soto Windmaster it get’s replaced with a link to the BPL page about it

I had a canister stove break once at the beginning of a trip. So I switched to cold-soaking my food. It’s not that bad. You cannot cold-soak macaroni noodles very well, but you can soak ramen, mashed potatoes, dehydrated meats. Stuff like crackers and cheese and salami don’t need soaking at all. As for coffee, well, you can drink that cold mixed with powdered milk. It’s actually really good that way. You can soak food in ziplocks or in leftover mountain house type bags. Just keep a spare or clean one out after use and save it just in case. You have to carry trash anyway so there’s no weight penalty.

Hi Diana

It might be interesting to people here to hear just how the canister stove ‘broke’. Could you?

Cheers

About 8 years ago I lent my only (at that time) Brunton Crux canister-top stove to a stoveless friend in our Grand Canyon backpack group and used ESBIT fuel tablets in a Caldera Cone stove. Never had any problems actually cooking spaghetti, the sauce or Pad Thai noodles. I used a BGET tablet holder, a DIY

And two years ago a friend and I backpacked the Grand Canyon North Rim to South Rim in 4 days and the same setup proved light and easy to use.  I’m a geezer and am lightening my load every year. Carrying that light Ti Sidewinder roll-up stove is easy and it stows small. ESBIT tablets are carried in a coffee bag to keep the fishy smell in. (I eschew alcohol. ;o)

As a “backup” a folding 3 leg ESBIT burner and MSR aluminum windscreen is about as light as it comes.

Canister stoves don’t usually break and not work. O-rings and plugged jets/valves are the most common problems. Whatever stove you get, make sure the O-rings are in good shape and will seat properly. Look them over really well, and clean them with a touch of silicone grease once per year. Make sure there are no hidden cracks and wear areas. Dry them with a non-linty cloth (no globs, just a light film is left) as you replace them. Sometimes valves can leak. Do not leave the stove coupled for any length of time (like over two hours.) Again, this is usually bad O-rings. The Caffin stoves have a canister disconnect. These are good because the actually allow the Lindal valve at the canister to seat, essentially disconnecting the canister from the stove. I carry a small piece of 28 gauge copper wire wrapped around the stove base. This is handy for clearing clogged jets. The FMS 300t can be completely disassembled with a mini-leatherman which I carry with me anyway as a general tool kit.
ANyway…
The most common problems:
1) Out of fuel and/or running out of fuel
2) Canister is bad or incompatible with your stove
3) Operating without a windscreen (can blow flame in odd places.)
4) leaks (usually O-rings)
5) Plugged up somethings (connectors, lines, valves, jets)
6) Physical damage (like inadvertently stepping on the stove and cracked parts)
7) Cold weather won’t allow gas to fully pressurize the stove
8) Stove is wet and/or frozen
9) Stripped threads
There are a lot of odd problems (like broken pot stands) that *can* occur. But most problems are one of the ones above. But the odd failure is like one out of 500 and usually it will still work after minor fiddling. It is not worth it to carry another stove, generally. Just rely on your knowledge of other ways to cook (like getting a small cook fire going.)

Again: using a Caldera Cone outer titanium piece as a windscreen will serve double duty in the unlikely event of a canister stove failure. The slots at the top allow tent stakes to serve as pot supports; dry twigs will work for a flame. At most, it’s a two ounce weight penalty for windscreen and backup combined in one piece!

Marco wrote:

But the odd failure is like one out of 500 and usually it will still work after minor fiddling.

You forget easily, RJ had 4 out of seven fail in his recent testing.

I like James’ list. Comments follow.

1) Out of fuel and/or running out of fuel
So often … :)

2) Canister is bad or incompatible with your stove
This should NOT happen. It means the canister crimping machine was faulty. You can avoid this completely if you do a brief 5 second test burn before leaving home.

3) Operating without a windscreen (can blow flame in odd places.)
Very foolish. Yeah, I am saying it.

4) leaks (usually O-rings)
Very rare. Yearly service check. You can, if you wish, carry spares: they are very light.

5) Plugged up somethings (connectors, lines, valves, jets)
Can happen, especially with Chinese-brand canisters (usually cheap).
Learn how to service your stove in the field. It’s easy.

6) Physical damage (like inadvertently stepping on the stove and cracked parts)
Um …

7) Cold weather won’t allow gas to fully pressurize the stove
Indeed. Put canister in a bowl of liquid water, preferably warm.

8) Stove is wet and/or frozen
One wonders how it got that way. User problem.

9) Stripped threads
Can happen after much use. Check the stove before you leave home.

Cheers

It might be interesting to people here to hear just how the canister stove ‘broke’. Could you?

Short answer: User error.

Longer answer: Don’t put a wind screen around a canister stove.

Longest answer: I put a wind screen around my canister stove, the plastic valve knob melted, probably other stuff melted, the canister began shooting out all the gas almost like a bomb. It discharged fully with no way to shut it off. Oddly the canister itself was very cold. I threw the whole thing away. Fortunately I was in a car campground, blowing up my canister while it sat on top of a creosote log parking lot marker, with a dumpster nearby for easy disposal of the evidence.

Hi Diane

I put a wind screen around my canister stove, the plastic valve knob melted, probably other stuff melted,
Blimey.
I did this once with a Bleuet/Campingaz stove, only I may have had a toasting rack on top glowing bright red. The knob only partly melted: I was faster. I still have the stove.

Off the top of my head, I cannot think of any upright canister stove which has a plastic knob apart from the Campingaz ones. Um, correction – one of my Vortex stoves has a plastic control knob, but I have never heard of any problems there. You have me concerned.

But I must point out that I have had a windscreen around all my other canister stoves (and kero ones) for decades and never had this problem. In fact, I strongly advocate using a windscreen, albeit with a large enough diameter.

So, I am curious: what sort of stove was it? Any other details to mind? Please!

the canister began shooting out all the gas almost like a bomb.
Obviously something went very wrong here. I love examining the details so I can learn from them.

That the canister got very cold would be normal: the liquid fuel extracts heat from itself as it evaporates. But it does mean the canister itself did not get too hot. Strange.

Cheers

I’ll just add: I don’t entirely enclose my canister with a Caldera windscreen, but leave an opening on the downwind side; and I touch the canister often to check the heat…altho Diane’s canister was cold when it blew. I can boil a pot of water in about three minutes or less with a windscreen. never had any issues. maybe luck o’the draw! But I’m usually solo and only getting one small boil at a time.

Following with interest.

The windscreen I had was similar to a caldera cone in that it was tall enough to encircle the gas canister and the stove to about an inch around the bottom of the pot. The stove itself was something I bought from an army surplus store for $15. It screwed into the canister and was otherwise the same as any of the ones you can get now, just with a plastic knob instead of a metal thing for turning the valve and steel instead of titanium. I bought it way back in the 80s or early 90s. Probably the 80s.

@Diana

Thank you.
EpiGas ‘invented’ the screw-thread canister, late 60s or early 70s.
If you bought yours in the 80s and it was steel – understood. You can still buy ye olde-style steel stoves, possibly (I think) with plastic knobs, if you look around. Much heavier than the modern ones though. I my still have one somewhere.

So what went wrong? Given the age, I suspect the O-ring underneath failed. It might have been a cheaper rubber, rather than the Viton used today. That would explain a LOT.

Can I suggest you try a modern one? Kovea, Fire Maple, even a BRS-3000T, although there are so many clones, copies and fakes sold with that model number it can be difficult to make sure you get a good one. I counted about 12 different stoves on Amazon recently, all advertised as ‘BRS-3000T’, and some of them looked REALLY dodgy-brothers.

I don’t think the windshield was the problem at all. We all use them.

Cheers