View Full Version : Petrol / White Gas stoves
neo_wales2000
14-12-2004, 23:29
I just love my Svea 123 and Optimus 8r, small, high output of heat, any other users on the forum?
beachlover
14-12-2004, 23:54
I just love my Svea 123 and Optimus 8r, small, high output of heat, any other users on the forum?
I just sold the last of my two svea 123's.
Sort of heartbreaking as they were about 20 years of my outdoor life, but it had started to leak from the side and the missus was terrified of it :yikes:
I did think about hanging it with other brass bits and fishing reels I have, but Xmas and pressure from SWMBO after lots of other recent purchases got me to sell.
I have to be honest though, apart from a nice keepsake they have been well superceded as cookers, just as someone younger with decent knee joints ("I want that one!") will supercede me too. :cry:
They call it progress :?:
I have a few of the old classic stoves, no SVEA 123's but Optimus 00, Primus 123, Optimus 111C ...etc. They work as well as any modern pressurised liquid fuel stove and theyre probably more reliable (I think mine are all over 30 years old and still working perfectly, despite many years of abuse at the hands of a scout group). I run mine on white spirits which is similar to paraffin but cheaper and easier to find round here. I do use them on occassion, great heat output, controllable but a bit heavy compared to some of the alternatives, not the first stove I reach for if Im carrying everything over any distance but I love em anyway!
Ok not strictly petrol but similar I have petrol jet for the 111C.
I most often use a modern Primus MFS atm which will run on petrol/paraffin or butane/propane mix cartridges.
Been experimenting with spirit stoves just lately, Swedish army Sveas and a home built photon stove, no comparison in terms of heat output but they can be very light if youre only cooking for one.
Jason
Great Pebble
15-12-2004, 12:50
Only one I've ever used is the old No.2 burner.
Ideal as a doorstop, vaguely useful for cooking on if you've a vehicle handy.
I still have my Svea 123, but it has been retired for a couple of decades. I still think it is a very good stove though, just that my MSR's have replaced it as top line choice.
There were newer alternatives to these classics when I first shopped for a petrol stove, so no. But I have and still use the coleman peak 1 and despite their bad press about flare ups (just give it a chance to warm up before you try and run it full bore), I don't have any problem with it. Heavy but chucks out loads of heat, very controllable, stable, robust and if you stay away from leaded petrol the generator tubes DON'T clog up.
I'd use something lighter for backpacking these days though :o):
Alick,
I had a Peak 1 that must have been a flame thrower in a former life! :roll:
I remember borrowing it to somebody else while on Excercise and forgot to mention it was "tempemental" :?: ...he had one huge "flare up" that singed his eyebrows off and melted/burnt a big chunk out of his issue basha !!:o):
he never asked to borrow it again, for some :?: reason?
Regards,
Pete
:rolmao: :rolmao: :rolmao: :rolmao: :rolmao:
I wore out a 123 (still have the carcass) and moved on to an 8R. Then, about 1985, I bought an MSR Whisperlite. Poor 8R has not had a chance since. The Wisperlite is every bit as reliable as the 123/8R and far more adjustable. A couple years went by and I also acquired a Coleman Multi-Fuel, and it's a goodn' too. Even better for simmering than the Wisperlite and 100% reliable. Now the Wisperlite is the "backpacker" and the Multi-Fuel is for car camping.
Yep like the whisperlite international, a good easy to use and fast stove. I also have the Peak 1 Apex, it's a bit battered now, but it has done me no injustice and the original Peak1's that I have used I had very few problems with. :wink:
I should add that I borrowed an original brown-tank Peak 1. It allowed me to experience the "Vesuvius Effect" often seen with this model in cold weather --six foot orange flames. :yikes: Fortunately, there was a bucket to place over the confligration, shutting off the air.
I have the great fortune to own a Coleman Multifuel and MSR Whisperlite. I will take either or both when travelling by motorcycle or car. They are great performers and fuel versatile.
However, the gadget that has ousted both of these from my back pack when I am hiking is the simply genius Titanium GigaPower stove from Snow Peak: http://www.snowpeak.com/Gear/gst100a.html
At sub 90g and barely a handful, it is space and weight efficient. Sure you are stuck with gas only, but in the european environment supplies are as obiquitous as white fuel.
Even a pseudo Trangia aka "photon" can be made to flare if you prime it right! Works the opposite of the old flare monsters tho, has to be over primed rather than under......
http://www.jasonbhall.freeserve.co.uk/Photon_flare.jpg
useful if youre in a real hurry for that cup of tea ;)
Heres part of my collection of old stoves for your amusement, some heavier than others ;) and most of em older than me! The 3 ring Primus popane is still the favourite for summer car camping with the missus, it was used daily when I lived in a caravan as a student and for 20 years before that it lived with our old family touring van.
http://www.jasonbhall.freeserve.co.uk/stoves.jpg
Made a couple of these to work with my Swedish army Svea's after seing Hoodoo's Westind, this one in stainless works really well, I made another in thin brass that isnt as rigid.
http://www.jasonbhall.freeserve.co.uk/westy.jpg
Incidentally, dont polish your Trangia burner, I buffed this one up on the wheel just for the hell of it and it really effects the heating up time! Being able to slip a candle under this setup is a really neat feature, the bigger Swedish army burners seem to be fairly inefficient in terms of warming up anyway, suspect all that brass just conducts the heat away.
Jason
Do the modern multi fuel/petrol stoves handle "ordinary" unleaded petrol anybetter these days? May old Peak 1 seemed to clog up badly every few months but that was pre unleaded days.
Are there any other alternatives to "Coleman Fuel" which at about £5 must actually be liquid gold :roll:
Regards,
Pete
Unleaded is not reccomended as a stove fuel, contains too many nasties too close to your food, I would only use it in desperation. Re your question, unleaded is pretty sooty in all the stoves Ive tried it with and will always clog the jets with soot sooner than white gas, less of an issue with the stoves with shaker jets which MSR copied from Primus but not a clean fuel. Coleman fuel is expensive over here, sth to do with the duty I think??? but its the cleanest burning stuff you can use in a petrol stove.
Jason
geertjan
16-12-2004, 16:05
I use white spirit in my MSR burns great more heat and very cheap in the Netherlands 7 euro for 5 liters at the paint shop
MSR XGK Shaker Jet drinks everything! Spits at you when you use c**p diesel but it roars. What more do you want from a stove?
neo_wales2000
19-12-2004, 17:51
A couple of posts worry me a little here, white spirit is a definate NO as its full of stuff you don't want in your lungs or food. :yikes: As an alternative to the way to expensive Coleman fuel I use lighter petrol; its the same stuff (Naptha) and if you shop around works out at half the price of Coleman. Some guys on another forum use 'Panel Wipe' car paint cleaner which they tell me is also 'Naptha' and costs about £11 for a 4 litre can in the UK; I've not tried it myself but will give it a go (try it at your own risk). I've got a lot of paraffin stoves, old Primus type that are mainly on the shelf for display, but a couple get to be used from time to time as they are so reliable. This year I also picked up an Army No12 stove, like the No2 its big and heavy, but its made of stainless steel and brass, burns parrafinn/kerosene or diesel fuel no problem. Its very loud but burns like a rocket engine; its not light but will cook for a group no problem. Expect to pay (if you can find one) £100+
PS Trangia + Svea 123 = happy weekend camping. PPS the Russian 8r clones on ebay are a good bit of kit too :-)
mojofilter
20-12-2004, 05:30
Panel wipe is extremly volatile stuff and it isnt advisable to breathe the fumes from it. It is like a more powerful version of thinners!
EDIT: I may be getting panel wipe mixed up with gun wash, now that is bad stuff.
neo_wales2000
20-12-2004, 10:59
True the 123 is a lower output than 'modern' stoves, but its a lot more reliable. Re: lighter fuel, the last lot I got for 90p per 133ml tin which works out at about £3.38 for 500ml; a lot cheaper than Coleman fuel. Until I see whats on the label of panel wipe, I'll reserve judgement, but I know that a typical high street 'white spirit' only contains about 10% naptha fuel so whats in the rest of the bottle, I don't want in my body.
Thats the beauty of the Trangia burner or for that matter a paraffin/kero stove, at least you know what fuel your burning.
All you need to do to see what can go wrong with an MSR Stove in any model is to go take a look at the contents of an MSR Stove Maintenance / Spare Parts Kit!!!
simonsays
01-01-2005, 20:22
All you need to do to see what can go wrong with an MSR Stove in any model is to go take a look at the contents of an MSR Stove Maintenance / Spare Parts Kit!!!
Exactly. The son of a friend of mine once boasted that his super-duper MSR had a comprehensive toolkit for field maintanance. 'Alas' I said, 'My Trangia doesnt have a toolkit coz it doesnt *need* one' :o):
Cheers,
simon
Exactly. The son of a friend of mine once boasted that his super-duper MSR had a comprehensive toolkit for field maintanance. 'Alas' I said, 'My Trangia doesnt have a toolkit coz it doesnt *need* one' :o):
Cheers,
simon
One can imagine the maintenance kit for a wood fire. In another life, I cooked on cans full of sand in which we poured gasoline. Few maintenance problems there. :super:
I have a Whisperlite with at least 360 hours of operation since I bought it used fifteen years ago. It has had no problems at elevations from 200m to 4000m and temperatures from 40C to - 25C. The maintenance kit that I inherited from the first owner remains unused. There are Murphy-ridden pressure stoves out there. The Whisperlite is not one of them.
neo_wales2000
02-01-2005, 09:53
I agree about the maintanence free aspect of the Trangia in all its various models, however sometimes I think we all want that little 'extra fast' heat, so I have converted a cheap £7 gas stove to use with my 25, works well.
Every stove needs some maintanence, even if its only knocking out a few dents in a Trangia. You would not leave your car parked up for a few months and expect it to start up and work 100% without looking it over first, same applies to stoves. Common sence really, don't leave them full of petrol/coleman fuel for months, drain them, fire them up at home if they have not been used in a while, check seals and pump leathers, if in doubt, change them. I've got one Primus model 210 made in 1916, which had been in a shed for 40 years when I got hold of it, one new pump leather, clean of the jet, clean parafinn and it worked first fire up. I get a real kick using that stove, its fantastic, so is an ancient Primus 96 (although its small tank means a shortish burn time) which burns like a rocket.
Happy new year to you all, and keep 'em burning