Mythbusting: Time to canister explosion using Moulder strip/alpine bomb techniq

[Kevin B]

Let’s blow up a canister! Any bets on whether or not if we light an upright canister stove with attached copper heating strip when (minutes or temperature) or will a 110g canister fail (explode!) if we just leave the stove running?

For ‘safety’ the stove could be placed in a metal dog kennel to catch the projectile if failure happens and an IR temperature gun mounted to the dog crate pointed at the canister. Cameras for YouTube.

I do realize that in real-life placing the canister base in snow could temper any critical rise in temperature and that there is an on/off valve, but this would be a fun question to put to bed: is canister overheating really a worry?

Any of you stove guys with you tube accounts want to bite?

[MJ H]

My son’s school sent home a note warning us that people were on the internet asking kids to explode stuff and put it on YouTube. I never believed them until now.

[Jerry Adams]

If it’s cold, it won’t get hot enough to explode

As has been said multiple times, occasionally put your hand on the side of the canister near the bottom where the fuel is.  If it feels warm to the touch, turn off stove – you don’t need any of these techniques

It won’t explode as in a fireball.  The bottom of the canister will push out so the canister will no longer sit flat on the ground.  Not that you couldn’t make a fireball if that’s what you really wanted.  Like throw it in a fire.

[Ken Thompson]

Here is one in a fire. Takes longer than you think to blow

 

Remind me next summer Kevin. I’ll do it when it over 100 outside.

[jscott]

I use a titanium wind screen that goes from the ground to the pot with a few holes in it. I just cook for one, so I can easily boil in under three minutes. The canister has never become hot–but I test it every time with the ol’ finger. The wind screen gets hot! so I leave a respectable gap in it for reaching in to touch the canister. The wind screen helps boil time a lot even if it’s not windy. I use a simple pocket rocket.

[Jerry Adams]

presuming windscreen is aluminum, IR is reflected from burner to canister, at the bottom where the fuel is

[Gary Dunckel]

Jerry, did you not read Roger’s report on the time he deliberately heated a nearly empty canister to see what would happen? It indeed became a fireball, shooting up in the air quite a ways. And he dispelled the common myth that the bottom of the canister would in fact safely bulge outward. It certainly did, but but mere nanoseconds before the explosive ‘event.’

[Jerry Adams]

Yeah, but he intentionally over heated : )

In normal use, a Moulder Strip will not cause the canister to explode.  Assuming it’s cold.

If it’s warm (like above freezing or above 40 F) you don’t need to use a Moulder Strip.

Just to be safe, feel the side to make sure you’re not over heating.

[Roger Caffin]

Jerry, did you not read Roger’s report on the time he deliberately heated a nearly empty canister to see what would happen? It indeed became a fireball, shooting up in the air quite a ways.
That was in https://backpackinglight.com/exploding_gas_canisters_the_hazard_of_overheating/
But I must correct one detail: I heated the canister in a steel beaker full of water over an electric hot plate. There were NO flames anywhere, and NO fireball. I am only slightly stupid after all!

The canister had reached 100 C before the entire bottom blew out – with one hell of a bang. The chances of a Moulder Strip getting a canister that hot in winter time are kinda small.

Teenagers with fires … sigh.

Cheers

[Jerry Adams]

one thing is they were not speaking English, and probably in 20s?

Not just American young adults do crazy things

[Edward John M]

Also it was an empty container

Full ones do go off with a big bang U-tube video somewhere about the dangers of those cheap picnic stoves and the non-safety fuel containers

[Roger Caffin]

Empty container? Dunno – like, really don’t know.

You see, what I saw was a Bleuet canister being thrown into the fire, and there did not seem to be anything attached to it. No Lindal valve on top either. But the Bleuet canister is opened with a spike (part of the stove), and once the spike has gone in you cannot remove it (the stove) without letting all the gas out. (Dangerous design.)

Hum … however, a few years ago Campingaz was trying to introduce some sort of emergency valve on the inside, which might have been in that canister. I did wonder, because at some late stage in the video there seemed to be a bit of extra flame from near the canister. That could have been the emergency valve melting in the heat.

Update:
The original Bleuet puncture-type canister is no longer listed on the Campingaz web site, although there are one or more ‘other’ brands of the design still available in Europe. I do know that a number of safety and hospital authorities in France were trying to get the Bleuet canister design banned some years ago as it featured in a disturbing number of burn cases. There was an attempt at one stage to put a safety valve inside the can, so the exterior was identical, but that seems now to have died.

The discontinuation must be recent as some large distributors still seem to have stock. Still a dangerous design.

Cheers

[Martin Farrent]

OT: The pierceable Campigaz cartridges are still listed – but I think Campingaz would prefer people to use the Easy Clic valve system. That’s good news, because you can get an Easy Clic adapter for a normal, screw-on stove – so you won’t be lost in France. The bad news is that they don’t seem to offer 100g canisters. The other bad news is that outdoor stores are rare in rural France, though you may have some luck at comnmercial camping sites. Your best bet is to spend your first night in France in a pre-booked hotel and have anything not allowed on planes sent there in advance, including canisters. Or travel there by train… not an option for everyone.

https://www.campingaz.com/uk/c-604-cartridges-cylinders.aspx

 

[Edward John M]

Something funny going one there

I just watched the video a second time and there was a definite blowup but I was sure that when I watched the first time there was merely a large jet of flame

Maybe I turned my head to one side for a split second Yes that was an explosion by any definition

I stand corrected

[Roger Caffin]

Your best bet is to spend your first night in France in a pre-booked hotel
Good advice. We do.
Except one time the airlines stuffed up and we were 8+ hours late into Paris. Mumble.

Cheers

[Author]

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