MSR Windboiler? not a Windburner

[Patrick O’Neil]

I’ve been out of the loop and have been looking over jetboils and the MSR windburner. Then I found this:

https://www.sail.ca/en/msr-windboiler-1l-123402

Is this just some sort of mislabled stove on sale or did MSR make an older version called the windboiler? How much different from the windburner is it? would a newe 1.8l windburner pot fit on this thing?

Thanks.

[Bob Shuff]

I think they had to change the name or decided to change the name to avoid confusion with the jetboiler.

I don’t think they made any design changes at that point.  My understanding is that the 1.8L and 1L pots are interchangeable, but you need the remote canister version for the larger (new) pots.  MSR will reply by email to questions pretty quickly if I remember correctly.

I have the Windburner 1L system and it’s great.  A little heavy, but when I’m trekking with the scouts I find it’s quite good for group use (maybe 3-4 per stove).  We have to boil more than once for a meal, but not everyone is ready at the same time.  It’s so fast, and I assume efficient, that I think it hits the right spot for speed, size, weight.

[Patrick O’Neil]

Does 1L mean it can actually cook one liter of water or is that the absolute capacity? I’m trying to decide if I should get the 1l or 1.8l vesion but I want to actually cook with 1 liter not 750ml or something like that.

For the remote canister do you mean the 2.5 liter pots like this – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2sMkmtkJsY

Thanks for the quick response!

[Bob Shuff]

That looks like the same pot as here. https://www.msrgear.com/feature/windburner?gclid=Cj0KCQjwiJncBRC1ARIsAOvG-a45EkkHa6r8PBMeIQDiO1RG8KFeXNijDg_QqsJy-krzFWRWe3hE8L0aAgwoEALw_wcB

Which is what I was referring to.

I think the 1L tops out there and the lid keeps it all in place.  It boils over a bit, even when less than full, because it boils fast and violently.  It never caused a problem for me.  You just turn it off and can lift it by the handle  right away without any other holder or bandana to insulate your hand.

I would not take this solo, unless I was expecting very windy desert weather. There are lighter and cheaper options, but like I said it’s a great kit for 2-4 people.  I really like the size of the bowl (perfect for freezer bag meal holder), and how it protects the pot in your pack.

[Patrick O’Neil]

That’s hilaroius you would use the one liter for 2-4 people and I’m worried it’s not enough for 2 people. I use a 1.3 pot for myself solo because I can’t manage to cook anything without stuff boiling over or spilling every single time. I usually take a 2 liter pot for two people. I could always test out the 1l first and grab the 1.8 liter pot later. The larger pot is 100 bux cdn on it’s own, pretty crazy.

[Jeff McWilliams]

Perhaps the difference is between someone who’s only boiling water in the pot and someone else trying to cook/simmer food in it?

Most tall/skinny stoves with integrated heat exchanger pots had poor simmer control were designed to boil water and maybe melt snow.

[Patrick O’Neil]

Well I cook side dishes mainly and in MSR Alpinist pots. I typically used a firemaple remote canister stove for the stability and wanted to get something a little more stable than my litemax. I think I’ll pick up a one liter windboiler to play around with and see if I like the concept.

[Gary Dunckel]

The Reactor/Windburner is designed to be purely a water boiler (or snow melter). If you try to turn the flame way down, it will still put out too much heat for simmering, and it will create a LOT of CO emissions. Basically it should be used with a full-on flame setting, where the CO is still a bit high, but more manageable and safe than when used on a low valve setting. While these stoves indeed have their place, namely in very windy conditions (like above timberline), I don’t think they work well at all for trying to simmer your goodies. There are other, lighter stoves for that type of cooking.

[Patrick O’Neil]

The reactor and windburner are not the same stove. I think the windburner is more akin to a jetboil.

What stoves are you thinking of that are stable and can simmer? I’ve thought about the kovea spider. Oh and forget firemaple (ugh autocorrect- had fireman instead of firemaple) I’ve tried the remote cannisters and the brs 3000 and they bother literally fell apart on me.

 

 

 

[Gary Dunckel]

Well, Patrick, the Reactor and the Windburner are much the same in that they employ the unique radiant burner instead of a flame. One difference between them is that one can re-set the burner in the field if you overheat it and it shuts down. This improvement is now on the Windburner. Jenny Askey posted about her experience in Yellowstone last fall, where her Reactor abruptly shut down, leaving her stoveless. It had to be sent to MSR for them to re-set it.

A couple of years ago we were able to borrow one of the pre-release Windboilers from the local MSR rep.That’s what they first called it, before they were forced to re-name it the Windburner. She asked us to not fire it up, but we were able to evaluate it somewhat, weigh all the components, etc. I wasn’t much impressed – it was heavier than my 1 L. Reactor by a couple of ounces, it seemed pretty top heavy and probably not so stable on uneven ground, but it DID allow one to reset the burner if it failed in the field. I couldn’t see investing in one of those stoves, since I am seldom in conditions where I need the benefit of superior wind resistance. I will only use my Reactor while truck camping, where I can bring along backup stoves in case it shuts down.

My favorite simmer stoves include the hard-to-find discontinued Coleman F-1 Powerboost, which simmers superbly but weighs 6 ounces. Another one that impresses me is the stove that came with the Jetboil MiniMo. It also simmers really well. It has a narrower burner head than the Powerboost, but it weighs ~1.5 oz. less. Another one that I’ve recently picked up is the Fire Maple FMS-116T stove, which weighs a scant 1.8 oz.. I’ve only tested it on my patio and while truck camping, but it’s quite able to do a very low simmer. Its burner head diameter is half way between the Powerboost and the MiniMo stoves. And, heck, I’ve even been able to do a righteous simmer with my BRS-3000T when using a MYOG heat disperser.

I probably should note that I did try to get my Reactor to do a decent simmer. I had to do a modification to be able to position my pot 3″ above the radiant burner head. It worked well for the first few bowls of soup I simmered on my patio. Then it finally shut down while I was doing another. It was likely some sort of heat feedback thing of some kind. I took it back to REI as a return, but I made the mistake of telling my pal that worked there how I screwed it up. The word spread to the MSR rep, and I expect that I’m now on their “Bad Actor” client list.

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