lightweight alcohol stoves with positive shut off. Do they exist? Could they?

[Bruce Tolley]

It looks like in California it is likely that one El Nino winter will not end the drought.  That leads me to posit that the land management agencies might ban this summer all stoves without positive shutoff.

My recollection from books I read years ago is that Nansen and Amundsen when preparing for their polar expeditions convinced Swedish makers of (alcohol?) stoves to invent stoves that burned benzine/naptha leading eventually to Primus (the first) and Optimus and Svea stoves that burned white gas. (I assume folks who really know this history will chime in. Hikin’Jim?)  I know that some boats are equipment with alcohol stoves presumably with a positive shut off valves.

So my question is could someone build a lightweight stove with a shut off valve than burns alcohol?  I supposed I could dig my Svea out of my garage and try filling it with alcohol and igniting it. :-))

[Franco Darioli]

I suppose it depends on the exact definition of positive shut off valve.

Mini Bull Designs for example does have several stove with a separate fuel reservoir. The fuel can be shut off but is that a positive shut off valve ?

[Chad B]

Not sure if it will qualify as “positive” but I seem to remember reading somewhere Zelph is working on a version of the StarLyte with a shut off valve.

[Bob Moulder]

Check THIS.

[Franco Darioli]

I have made a snuff cap for several alcohol stoves (unfortunately too cheap and easy to make, so not much sex appeal there) and they do work but I hardly think they would be accepted as positive auto off valves.

[Jon Fong / Flat Cat Gear]

I think that it is possible to build an alcohol stove with a fast, instant shut-off valve (that is safe, user friendly and can be used in an emergency situation).  I believe that there are additional requirements such as anti-spill/leakproof, the regulations are not the clearest.  At some point, the cost/benefit of such a stove may not pan out.  Particularly with stoves like the BRS-3000T out there.  I prefer to use alcohol and Esbit, however; living in Los Angeles, I understand why extreme drought conditions trigger fire bans.  My 2 cents.

[DAN-Y/FANCEE FEEST]

Yes, stoves with shut off valves exist. Packafeather and minibuldesigns.

[Paul Magnanti]

Wise words from Nick:

http://popupbackpacker.com/stove-bans/

 

 

[Bruce Tolley]

Thanks folks. Nice blog post about the topic at popupbacker. Thanks Paul for the reference.

Since there is such a dearth of articles or curated editorial content on BPL these days, perhaps there should be a forum named READ THIS where folks can post links to lightweight backpacking blogs like Nick’s blog or Paul’s.  I subscribe to the Gossamer Gear newsletter which comes out frequently with lots of links to good material.

In reference to my original question, I saw a photo of a two burner non pressurized marine stove. It looked like it had a shut off valve. Cheers/Bruce

 

[Lori P]

packafeather.com

[Ken Thompson]

The packafeather uses a snuffer cap, so no different that most others.

[Walter Carrington]

Optimus made a multifuel, liquid fuel stove similar to the Optimus Nova that was supposed to burn alcohol.  It was a typical expedition stove that used a separate fuel bottle and pump. It was not particularly light; the nova is 15 oz and this was similar.  It had a separate jet for burning alcohol.  I have one someplace that may be missing some parts. If anyone really wants to experiment with it, I could look for it and give it to you; this would be a project for an experienced stove collector. I never used it with alcohol.

For dry California conditions,  I’d say don’t use a liquid fuel stove at all.  The damage caused by a mistake or stove failure is too great.  Use either a canister stove or eat cold food.

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