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Posted by Bill S on October 9, 2006 at 11:02:13 am EDT

The recently started topic on stoves prompted me to post the four web sites I have found to convey the best and most complete information on stoves, their operation, and fuels (one of these days, I might put one up myself, but then these are quite good, so why duplicate efforts). There are a few mistakes in each one, but generally not of great consequence. Also, I have not included the historical stove sites, of which there are many.

http://www.bushwalking.org.au/FAQ/FAQ_Stoves.htm - Australian, and around for a long time.

http://zenstoves.net/StoveChoices.htm - If I recall correctly, this originated as a diy alcohol stove site. It has grown over the years into a very complete discussion of just about every type of backpacking stove and fuel type. The author has a fun sense of humor (sample comment on carbide stoves -
"Choose this stove if:
* you like to be very different
* you own one of the few portable carbide stoves left in existence and want to show it off

Avoid this stove if:
* practicality and/or safety are important to you"

Or on the "add water to heat" type that first appeared in MRE packages -
"Choose this stove if:
* you don't want any flames
* you have a box of them in the basement

Avoid this stove if:
* you can't get a bunch for free
* being lightweight is important
* you want to cook your food "

Fuel names around the world - http://members.iinet.net.au/~mbuckler/fuel/index.shtml - Another Australian site that has lots of useful information

Another good Australian site on fuel efficiency is http://www.bushwalking.org.au/FAQ/FAQ_Efficiency.htm

There are also comparison pages on sites like Backpacker Magazine's, but I haven't found them as useful as the above ones. Some of the magazine-sponsored websites reproduce tests in their paper versions, which in some cases have had strange anomalies (for example, one climbing-oriented magazine had boil times for Primus MFS and Omni, which have identical burners, differing by a factor of 4, while another magazine showed several stoves Jim S and I have tested having boil times and fuel efficiencies varying by large factors from our experience and from what others have reported on this site). While Jim and I were very careful about making sure our test conditions were the same (mostly by trying the stoves side by side over a one or two hour period), your personal results (and ours) vary according to actual use conditions - air temperature, sitting on snow in winter vs rock in summer, kind of pot, initial temperature of the water, wind conditions (with or without windshield), etc etc. Age of fuel makes a difference, too, along with contaminants (has the can been sitting in your garage or shed with the cap not tightened down for the past year?)

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• Re: Stove information - Chumango 18:42:35 10/10/2006
  • Re: Stove information - Bill S 19:01:06 10/10/2006
    • Re: Stove information - Chumango 08:23:38 10/11/2006

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