View Full Version : Trangia Mini Stove
PaleoHunterGatherer
01-12-2007, 01:45
Hello folks. Just bought this beauty, and tried it out. Quiet, small, and if your not in a hurry for your cuppa...
So I'd like to hear your pros and cons on this interesting 'smaller brother' of the Trangia 25 et al.
Cheers
Alex
As long as you use some sort of windscreen, I think they're great, simple and reliable like all trangia versions. A lot of people don't like meths, but personally I don't mind the smell.
I agree these are really handy bits of kit and I also agree about the windsheild.
I have used one, it was exactly what I expected, and I want one but having upgraded my 25 with teh gas convertor, non stick fying pan and bigger kettle (non trangia) I don't think that Mrs Z would approve.
They are also MUCH better than the Hi-gear / LIDL/ ALDi clones that look almost the same but take for ever to boil up.
Its a good bit of kit that should last for years, enjoy it.
Graham_S
01-12-2007, 13:36
I've got one, and I love it. with a windshield made from a disposable barbecue added, it becomes much more efficient.
I can manage a full english breakfast for two on mine with very little effort :D
Humpback
01-12-2007, 13:41
Do any of you have experience of the winter attachment shown on the Trangia site but apparently not readily available in the UK?
Sorry message removed I got confused with the multidisk
It's a great little stove when used in moderate weather conditions and with a better windscreen. It doesn't do much in winter or for melting snow but for a one or two nighter the 28 'Mini' does quite well.
Adam
irishlostboy
04-12-2007, 04:49
the winter attachment? is that the baseplate thing? i cant imagine needing that in anything less than arctic conditions. i have had trangias out in -12 with serious wind and rain at altitude, and had no problems with is so long as it is set up right. i have no clue how the winter attachment works though. is it to warm up the fuel cell prior to operating? its a funny little gadget.
One sits in a 10 cm Billy perfectly. The 10 cm fits perfectly into the 14 cm Billy which fits perfectly into my hobo stove, so I have a 2 pan nesting set with two means of cooking, both at the same time if necessary. Can't fault it and the only bit I got was the pot support as i already had the burner from my larger trangia. The pot support cost: nothing! It was in a damaged package and they were gonna bin the lot but broke it up for parts and didn't expect anybody would want the pot support!
demographic
04-12-2007, 19:50
I have one, and after I made a windshield out of two bits of aluminium sheet and three rivets its a lot better than when new.
With a bit of luck these pictures will show up...
http://img.photobox.co.uk/7983053702c3f25f6b83b21802815d 9d8848707d70b58292a3cfa50a.jpg http://img.photobox.co.uk/01896669729fa31249ce98efb43e29 cbde4723b50006818016b819fa.jpg
http://img.photobox.co.uk/2915491173a8db58873fee127e247d b5d41ced8a485963ef085cdda4.jpg
The top aluminium sheet has little cuts in the bottom of it so it sits on the rivets well and it all fits nicely in the pot.
Sorry for not taking the stove outside to set up on a grassy area and showing it next to a freshly carved spoon leaning against a sharp knife ontop of a bearskin as is usually the done "Bushcrafter" way but I just did it on the computer desk.
It doesn't look too contrived does it? Should I have moved the phone cable?;)
Nicely done Demo, might have a crack at that
Rich
You'll be alright if you say you were using the telephone wire to construct snares and was using the computer desk to fashion some sort of rifle!
demographic
04-12-2007, 20:35
Nicely done Demo, might have a crack at that
Rich
Its really a doddle to do, I had some very thin aluminium sheet pulled from the skip of the local newspaper offices by an ex girfriend who used to work there.
Some of it even had the Gazzette newsprint on it, I don't have my verniers on me (they are in the shed, its dark and theres no lights and I can't be arsed) but its less than half milimeter thick.
Dunno where else you would find it though.
You'll be alright if you say you were using the telephone wire to construct snares and was using the computer desk to fashion some sort of rifle!
Yeah, good point...
Just wait till that cat walks over the desk next time, its toast;)
You can always use a bit of tin foil held fast with a paper clip as a wind shield, it does work
the winter attachment? is that the baseplate thing? i cant imagine needing that in anything less than arctic conditions. i have had trangias out in -12 with serious wind and rain at altitude, and had no problems with is so long as it is set up right. i have no clue how the winter attachment works though. is it to warm up the fuel cell prior to operating? its a funny little gadget.
Yes, the winter attachment is used to pre-heat the meths burner so that its easier to light. But it won't fit the '28' model which makes the Mini next to useless in the winter, regardless of whether or not you have a proper windscreen and a good insulator between the small pot stand and the ground. I don't own any of the larger Trangia models so I really have no understanding of how they operate in winter conditions, but I can say that its a lost cause with the '28'. I've tried it and for my two cents of an opinion, it's just not worth the fuel consumption.
Adam
irishlostboy
05-12-2007, 08:10
I don't own any of the larger Trangia models so I really have no understanding of how they operate in winter conditions...
cookers are a real personal piece of kit, and in winter a truly vital piece of kit. everyone has their favourites. some people hate the trangia. i think its the weight the don't like. as for performance of the 25 and 27 model; i have used them both extensively in Ireland in winters, and had no problems. in proper arctic environments it may not fare so well though. has anyone experience of them in arctic conditions? i was weaned on trangias though, so i cant really give comparisons.
and the cool thing about trangias is, you can always get the military version for half nothing on ebay or in most army surplus stores. with the army surplus ones, make sure you have a pliers handy. and i always needed to use a bit of wood to keep the handle of the big pot away from the windshield, as it would get quite hot.
John Fenna
05-12-2007, 09:25
With the Swedish military Trangia slot a trimmed bit od wood into the D rings on the lid handle and tou have an extended, heatproof handle - no more hot hands!
big_swede
05-12-2007, 15:06
cookers are a real personal piece of kit, and in winter a truly vital piece of kit. everyone has their favourites. some people hate the trangia. i think its the weight the don't like. as for performance of the 25 and 27 model; i have used them both extensively in Ireland in winters, and had no problems. in proper arctic environments it may not fare so well though. has anyone experience of them in arctic conditions? i was weaned on trangias though, so i cant really give comparisons.
In real cold no meth stoves work very well. The whole principle behind the trangia-typ burner is that the alcohol gets vapourised. That is why you get a yellow flame the first couple of minutes when it's lit, and the blueish/invisible flame after a couple of minutes (that is, the vapourised fuel is dominating the combustion). As meths can go well below freezing, it is not only hard to ignite, it is also very energy consuming to get it to vapourise. Another factor here is the efficiency of the combustion wich is lower in colder temperatures. I've used trangias (both 'real' trangias, and the army kind) in cold weather (-42 was the coldest with a trangia, IIRC), and though I kept the burner in my pocket, along with the spare fuel it is no match for a good multifuel burner. It is possible to melt snow, keep it well insulated from the snow/cold ground and it will perform moderatly, but if you intend to do any extended winter camping, a multifuel saves you time and weight (in fuel) which will make you a hapier puppy. That said, I still think the civilian trangia, with a multifuel burner (several models fit into the trangia, e.g. whisperlite, optimus nova, trangias own etc.) is unbeatable in cold windy conditions. The flimsy foil-kind of windshields you get with most multifuelssystems are cr4p and makes the stove less effecient.
nicodiemus
05-12-2007, 16:07
Don't they make an attachment for arctic weather to pre-heat the meths?
I still bet it would lose a lot of heat, just down to the sheer raisin factor.
big_swede
05-12-2007, 16:10
the winter attachement is just a waste of time and money. It is still not very efficient.
irishlostboy
06-12-2007, 04:01
In real cold no meth stoves work very well. .....
good info in your above posts big_swede. much obliged.
A good windscreen is to use your rucksack, itīs probably with you and it comes to better use as windscreen then just aying there for no use =)
Neanderthal
13-12-2007, 20:57
Just backpacked the Hadrians Wall Trail over the last few days and cooked on a popcan stove with meths. I had to stop using the aluminium foil windshield as the heat reflected back to the stove was heating things up too much and burning fuel too quickly.
After the wet weekend, Monday to Wednesday was very cold and the meths seemed reluctant to light. I've never had that much trouble before even in the cold and was starting to think that the meths was watered down.:confused:
Stove worked a treat once going and only weighs 11 grams. :D
Stu
crazyclimber
14-12-2007, 00:17
I've been pottering around the last few days trying to 'winterise' my trangia. What I've come up with is an old baked bean can (actually I think a tinned pea can), both ends cut out, and sliced down the side to open it up a bit and allow enough air in. It acts as both a windshield and potholder for a SP 900 saucepan with the burner sitting inside. Then I drilled some holes in the can about 1.5" up and zigzagged some wire through to hold the trangia above the ground (stops the ground conducting heat away = faster heating), and to allow a little tea light candle to sit below it to heat it more in very cold conditions. One trick I've also heard when it's very cold is to take the o-ring out of the trangia lid, pour a small amount of meths in, light it and sit that under the burner instead... apparently gets it going in no time which I quite believe.
I posted a while back that I'd had a small problem with meths leaking from the edges of the burner. Well I finally got round to emailing Trangia about it and less than a day later I had a reply asking for my address so they could send me another one. That was a couple days ago so assuming it turns up I'll be very impressed with their service.
In the meantime I'd bought a cheap highlander (I think) burner off ebay and I've continued using both the civvy and the swedish army one. A few nights ago I did a semi-scientific test of them all to see how they performed. I filled them up with about 2/3 fuel (recommended), weighed them, lit them, timed how long it took for them to start burning at full power, weighed them again at that point, timed while all the fuel burnt, then weighed them once again. Through that I could calculate fuel burn / time - it's power - and by far and away the winner was the civvy trangia. It was fast to heat up so the jets were working, and you could tell it was better than the others by the stronger and more bluish flame. The Swedish one seems bombproof, but it's heavy and takes a long time to heat, while the Highlander one doesn't (I would guess) have enough jets.
This might all sound quite obsessive, but I do like the trangia and I would like to take it with me on a few week long trips this winter. Even with pans, windscreen, pot cosy etc it's still lighter than my nova (my usual winter stove), and although the nova's a great stove you can't really beat the trangia for reliability.
The others I've been looking at recently are A. the jetboil, which I think is an excellent stove in all respects apart from that it's slightly too heavy and gas by it's very nature isn't so good in winter, and B. the Svea 123R for it's simplistic reliability.
Trouble is I think it's a bit too easy to start becoming a stove-a-holic! :)
You could just mount your Nova in a Trangia 25 or 27, now thats a real winter stove:cool: Conversion kit is £6.50 and a couple of quid postage from basecamp
The 123 is also fantastic, perfect for a solo camper, very frugal on fuel. If you have a bit of cash to spare, look out for the SIGG Tourist Cookset which was designed for the 123, its wonderful and you can easy cook for 3 with it
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v384/rik_uk3/SIGG2Medium.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v384/rik_uk3/SIGG1Medium.jpg
As you can see, the pans stack, and the base unit provides a fantastic windshield for the 123. They do come up on eBay, are not cheap, but work so well
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280182497663&fromMakeTrack=true&ssPageName=VIP:watchlink:middl e:uk
crazyclimber
14-12-2007, 15:52
You've got one of those? They're as rare as... something very very rare!
I thought about the nova / trangia combo, and if I was sharing with two or three people I'd probably go for it. It's a bit heavy for solo though; nova at over 400g, fuel bottle 140g, trangia set around 800g without the burner! I've been trying to cut down on my weight a bit (I mean that of my rucksack, though after Xmas undoubtedly in both senses!); been using just a cooking mug and foil lid recently, or for real luxury a cooking mug, foil lid and plastic cup. Also using a metalised pot cosy to insulate them while waiting for dried food to rehydrate, rather than using fuel simmering.
How much does the SIGG Tourist set weight? It's like a turbocharged petrol powered trangia isn't it!
Also do you have a fuel pump in your 123?
To be honest one of the things that really appeals to me about it is that although it might be nice to have, it'll work fine without it. That's one thing that worries me slightly about the nova on longer trips; I've had the pump leather go once, and it's just a little niggle... failed pump = no hot food
I do indeed have the Sigg setup, and great it is too. I'll get round to weighing it for you in the next day or two, but its not heavy
I've got the midi and mini pumps for the 8's and 123's and they do work well. That said, if its very cold a double prime will get you up and running. The 123 seems to heat up better than the 8 range, mainly because pots sit over the tank and reflect heat I believe.
These Russian 8R clones are new old stock, well made, work very well. I've had a few off this guy, and although he won't take paypal, I've sent euro's through the post without problem in the past (at your own risk)
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Benzinkocher-Campingkocher-OVP-TOP_W0QQitemZ320192031175QQihZ 011QQcategoryZ8504QQssPageName ZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
Works out at Ģ25 delivered, can't go wrong for that money
Pump leathers should be kept well oiled and checked before each trip, its not a big job to change one, but you don't want to be doing that when its cold. I carry a spare, ready oiled in a small zip lock bag, but don't ever remember needing to change one on a trip.