Preparedness for when

Butterfly_Brain

It is my birthday today and prep headed as usual DH got me a vaccum sealer and the outlaws bought me some greenhouse staging, a rhubarb plant and a couple of bags of compost :rotfl::rotfl:
The kidlets bought me lots of frippery so I have had the best of both worlds.
An old friend who I haven't seen for years popped round with flowers, so all in all I am having a great day
DH is taking us all out for a meal at the weekend and we want to pop to the local Victorian village and watermill for some bits.

Elona well done on the weight loss x

Frugalsod

Most examples I have seen are trying to boil a litre of water, though as you said there are so many variables. Another factor is how long do you expect to need to cook on it? if you are at home then you can stock up on plenty of gas canisters as weight and space taken is not an issue. Though if you are away from home for more than a couple of weeks then the weight of gas canisters required will be a problem, unless you are in a car. If on foot then wood burning stoves gain the advantage pretty quickly.

[Deleted User]

Frugalsod wrote: »

Though if you are away from home for more than a couple of weeks then the weight of gas canisters required will be a problem, unless you are in a car.

Or will be passing through towns and villages, on a regular basis.

The common cannisters/cartridges are available in pretty much every camping/hardware/DIY store, and many Supermarkets.

Also, you can use different cannisters, provided they have the same fitting, or you have a suitable adapter.

For instance, although you would need to improvise a support to stop it falling over (eg. tie the cartridge to a few sticks stuck in the ground - or carry a cartridge support), these cartridges can be used on the stoves designed for the Coleman cartridges.

Karmacat

Happy Birthday Butterfly Brain :j

:bdaycake: Have some cake :T

nuatha

Bedsit_Bob wrote: »

All this talk of gas stoves, got me wondering, how much water can you actually boil, using one gas cannister, on a B&M Bargains stove?

This is what I did.

Firstly, I weighed a gas cannister. It weighed 289g.

Next, I put it in the stove, lit it on full power, and ran it for exactly 5 minutes.

Then I weighed it again. It weighed 275g.

So, that's 14g for 5 minutes (300 seconds) of burning.

I then placed exactly 1 Litre of tap water, into a 2 Litre B&M, whistling aluminium camping kettle.
I placed the kettle on the stove, turned the stove on at full power, and timed it until it whistled.

This took 6 minutes and 20 seconds. That, if my maths is correct, is 380 seconds.

I calculate that to be (to 2 decimal places) 17.73g of gas.

A full cannister contains 220g of gas.

Therefore, one cannister should last for 12.41 - 1 Litre kettles full.

Allowing for a fall in pressure toward empty, let's call it 11.

NB I chose 1 Litre of water, on the grounds it should be enough to prepare a Pot Noodle/Cup Soup/packet of instant mash, with enough left to make a brew.

EDIT: Updated my figures, as I just realised I was using the wrong stove, of my two.

Re-ran the test, and these figures are now for the Outdoor Essentials, 2.3Kw stove, from B&M Bargains.

Thank you for this.
Though I'd assume 10l of water per cartridge (I'd rather have a bigger margin of error) for cooking outdoors.

Frugalsod wrote: »

I am looking at wood burning stoves for a bad SHTF situation, plus camping, as wood for burning would be far more prevalent than gas cylinders but I am also planning on getting a Jetboil stove as they are small compact and there may be times when you cannot get wood or do not want any smoke.
...
Longer term I am also looking at combining with a wonder bag or a solar cooker. The more options you have the better you are.

For outdoor/backpacking use I'm a fan of the Trangia meths burners. A lot of the pocket wood stoves will take a Trangia burner, and there are now gas burner insets available for the Trangia kit - though from experience I would not rely on gas for cooking in UK wild country other than in summer.
The more options you have, the more you have to carry.

Bedsit_Bob wrote: »

Depends how much water you are boiling, Frugalsod.

As in my earlier post, my Outdoor Essentials stove, from B&M Bargains, took 6 minutes and 20 seconds to boil 1 Litre, but that was in an aluminium kettle, and indoors.

Using an open topped vessel (eg. a pan or mess tin) outdoors, is obviously going to take longer.

Also, boiling speed isn't always the first priority.

For backpacking, size, weight and fuel efficiency are going to be paramount.

Ultimately, like so many things in life, it's a case of "you pays your money and you takes your choice".

700g of Meths (and 300g of bottle) would boil 25 litres of water.
3 gas canisters at 900g would boil 30litres of water (being a little more conservative about outdoor consumption) and would take double the volume in your carry.
However you can have issues with small butane cylinders not producing gas in temperatures below 8C.

(The most efficient fuel in general camping use is paraffin, but the stoves are relatively heavy (they need to be pressurised before and during use and generally need another fuel to pre heat the burner.)

As Bob says "you pays your money...." the other consideration is availability of fuel and the ability to store it safely.

sorryImoved

nuatha wrote: »

Whereas in the UK lawyers are solicitors, soliciting usually refers to approaching someone and offering services as or on behalf of a prostitute.
Given that most MPs are from the legal profession I'm sure they could have redefined the terms legally had they not been so appropriate.

Lol. We had a sign on our front door that said NO SOLICITORS.

sorryImoved

D&DD

would like to can but manufacturer of the ceramic stove top we have says not to.

[Deleted User]

nuatha wrote: »

though from experience I would not rely on gas for cooking in UK wild country other than in summer.

It depends on the gas being used.

Butane doesn't vaporise below 0 Centigrade.

Propane vaporises down to -42 Centigrade, but requires very strong (hence heavy) cartridges (actually cylinders rather than cartridges), so is really only suitable for transport by vehicle.

The 70/30 Butane/Propane mix (available in cartridges to fit a good number of stoves) will vaporise down to around -15 Centigrade, which should be OK for pretty much all conditions, likely to be encountered in the UK.

ETA: For your Spirit Stoves nuatha, try Bio-ethanol.

It's cheaper than meths, has less of a smell, and produces fewer unpleasant fumes when burning.

Butterfly_Brain

Karmacat wrote: »

Happy Birthday Butterfly Brain :j

:bdaycake: Have some cake :T

Ok then just a little bit and the rest of you can share x

Butterfly_Brain

Frugalsod wrote: »

Most examples I have seen are trying to boil a litre of water, though as you said there are so many variables. Another factor is how long do you expect to need to cook on it? if you are at home then you can stock up on plenty of gas canisters as weight and space taken is not an issue. Though if you are away from home for more than a couple of weeks then the weight of gas canisters required will be a problem, unless you are in a car. If on foot then wood burning stoves gain the advantage pretty quickly.

I got a Kelly kettle/Ghillie kettle depending on where you get it from, it needs very little fuel, just sticks and dried brush and boils very quickly, you can also get a stand to put on the top so that you can cook a small pan of something or even fry an egg.