Once again you gave a very precise breakdown of the workings out. We are all different and our kit and food varies, but by following your example we can more accurately work out how much fuel we need. Thanks
WOW!!! Great review!! You answered all my questions with one video! Thank you for all the effort you put it this. Ps, the apple doesnt fall far from the tree, you must have an awesome family and life. 😁
Thanks Matthew, I am glad the video was helpful. Some folks will use more fuel than I do and some will use much less. I certainly can't complain about my life. I have met many more who could complain but don't so why should I. As far as that tree goes I may have fallen further than appearances, I may be the wallnut among the apples - or something like that! :) Thanks again!
People tend to boil water too long. You don't need a rolling boil for tea or coffee. A lot of bagged food will be just fine if the water is starting to steam but not boil. Shut that gas off. And wind screens are a must to not have the flame heat shooting out from under the pot.
Hi Richard, I agree that there is no need to bring water to a full boil when camping. In these tests I had to pick a reliable constant - so boiling it is.
This data is perfect where the temperature never change, like in your kitchen or your living room. I hike all year round under drastically different temperature and weather, one day it may be freezing cold with wind and another day, pouring rain. You have to take into account that chill reduce greatly the effectiveness of the stove and wind can almost make the stove useless unless you protect it from it. Be carefull not calculating to short and if it goes anywhere near the freezing point, get a decent mutli-fuel stove with naphta. And Kevin, your dehydrated food videos are the BEST, keep it up.
Thanks Pata. Check my other videos on ambient temperature and wind. I am convinced that the temperature makes no difference at all (strange but true) at least I can't measure a difference with what I have. Wind on the other hand makes a huge difference. I have a few naptha stoves but they are very heavy and require even more fuel. I have a vid on that too.
Very informative to see those metrics. Thanks for doing that! Point out that rehydrating meals takes WAAAY less fuel than cooking it. for example, you have fully cooked and dried pasta. I'll bet you would use ten times the energy boiling the pasta out of the box. HUGE savings. Essentially, use your cheap electricity at home for dehydrating, and use way less of the very expensive (and heavy) BTUs from the gas cannister,
true, but for me, at least on a backpacking trip, I'm most concerned about the cost in terms of weight. One of those canisters will last me for a week if I am just rehydrating my meals. I have done the math and if I was to actually cook with them I would need to bring 4-6 canisters per week. That is a lot of extra weight in my pack.
In the winter when I am on the tops here in the Sierra Navada ( Spain) even for an overnight I take a larger canister of cold weather mix .It takes a huge amount of gas to melt snow for cooking and drinking.
Great video. Good method, great demonstration. Common sense and actual trail behaviour is repeated here. Solid info for someone seeking the answer to this question.
Huge help. I have always used a JetBoil, but just bought our first Pocket Rocket. Believe it or not, I’ve gotten 7 days on one canister, and that was cooking for 2 people! Used it for cooking breakfast/dinner/tea/coffee each day!
hi kevin, thanks for the info, considering you are using the foil booster, you may not have to sacrifice evening tea, boil enough water, then make cup of tea and let dinner rehydrate and heat while you sip, freeze dry, should be no bacteria ?
Thanks Duke. I just used that as an example of how you can adjust your behaviour to be more or less efficient. I would guess that lots of people use a lot more fuel than I do on a trip and I also know that many folks burn way less than I do. My foil pot cozy certainly saves on fuel. But the amounts of fuel calculated were to boil enough for my meal (using the cozy) and a pot of tea. Thanks
Did you account for the weight of the empty canister in your calculations? There are s couple of other variables to consider; ambient temperature and fuel mixtures. Thanks for posting!
Thanks MaGoo. As this video was about how long the canister would last I didn't include the weight of the empty canister in the calcs. In this video I only used the fuel weight of the canister to project how long a canister would last. In some of my other stove videos where i compare different cooking stystems I include the canister weight. I hope that makes sense. Believe it or not the ambient temperature does not affect the boil times. I have a video on that too. It was a surprise to me. Check out 'Ambient Temperature Test'. I've done a bunch of tests and have come to the conclusion that wind is a major factor and wind on a cold day is probably worse than wind on a warm day but the air temperature alone has either no effect or is so minor that it can't be measured with what I am using.
This is great. I'm covering food for a couple of other people for an evening and morning. Thinking the medium canister should do. Thanks for the education.
Hi! Very interesting video with very useful information - I particularly liked the methodic approach you took. I have a question and maybe you are the right person how might be able to help. Does it make any difference in terms of fuel consumption if instead of boiling the water at full throttle, you use less power? What I am trying to learn is if it really costs less fuel if you use half the power, for example than full power? Maybe you know already the answer or if not you might be able to check with the method you used here. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Russell. Yes, once the U.S. converts to metric then Liberia and Myanmar will be the only countries that still use the Imperial system :) Thanks for the views and the sub!
Very well made video with great information. Thank you brother. With2 kids holy and backpacking with me I have a better idea of how much fuel I need. Since Dad is always the packing mule.
Thank you for this info. I have a 225g canister and was worried if it will be enough for my trip out to The Giant in just over a week. I'm going to spend 6 nights out there. So it should be just enough. But I love my coffee out there. Have a couple cups each morning so I might pick up another canister.
Hi Becket, Yes it all depends on how you use the canister. Some people really stretch them out. On a 5-6 day trip I usually bring a small spare but then never use it. Have a good trip!
It was a great trip at Sleeping Giant. I did end up using some from my spare. I finished the first canister on the 5th night. It was a good trip and weather was perfect except for the thunderstorm last Saturday night. My poor dog was so scared during it.
Good question. I don't have much experience with inverted canisters. I understand that they do a couple of things 1) they tend to keep the canister off of the cold ground and 2) they help keep the propane in the canister from burning first with the regurlar n-butane mixes. I understand that new winter blends of iso-butane/propane don't need to be inverted. I haven't had any issues with my canister stove in the cold unless I put it directly on the cold ground.
I guess if you have n-butane/propane mixes inverting the canister should make it last longer. I think at some point if all the propane burns first the stove will be less effective if it only contains n-butane.
Some thoughts: If you used treated water with your food, could you not then shut the stove off at, say, 1:45 where the water might be at 95 C and almost cut you dinner fuel consumption in half? Do some bench testing and see how the water acts and looks after it reaches 95 C (with food and water in pot). You would then know in the field what to look for to achieve a reasonable water temperature for the conditions and the food choice. You could do the same with your drink and breakfast water. If water can not touch your mouth until it is 60 C, then why boil treated water? Why not warm the treated water and save 2 more mintutes of fuel for that meal event?
what is the total burning time of a can of fuel at full blast? we all cook different stuff different days different trips, while weather and altitude also with vary fuel consumption... I am trying to find out how long ,in time , does a canister burns...do you have a rough idea maybe?,,, reason is I also have a Coleman 1943 Dual Fuel #520 military stove that has a 1 pint fuel capacity and will give me 3 hours of cooking /heating tent time at full blast ...I also have those propane stoves but don`t want to waste a canister to find out how long it would burn. thanks.
Challenging question! In another video I boiled two cups of water at 'full blast' in 2 min 50 seconds and consumed 9 grams of fuel (check out my 'Dial Test' video). Given a canister might have 230 grams of fuel (they vary by brand) that would equate to 1 hour, 12 minutes and 24 seconds. The manufacturer suggests that will boil 15L of fuel. I hope that answer is reasonably accurate :)
MSR claims their pocketrocket stoves will run for 60 minutes on a 227g canister. For propane stoves, you can estimate the time with this simple equation: Time = (50 x W)/ C where 50 is the energy content per kilogram of propane, W is the weight of fuel in the canister, C is the energy use per hour (MJ/hr) Some fuel canisters for light camping stoves use a butane+propane mix. Butane is more energy rich by weight, the downside is it doesn't work well in very cold conditions... or so I'm told.
Once again you gave a very precise breakdown of the workings out. We are all different and our kit and food varies, but by following your example we can more accurately work out how much fuel we need. Thanks
Thanks Hub Deep!
WOW!!! Great review!! You answered all my questions with one video! Thank you for all the effort you put it this. Ps, the apple doesnt fall far from the tree, you must have an awesome family and life. 😁
Thanks Matthew, I am glad the video was helpful. Some folks will use more fuel than I do and some will use much less. I certainly can't complain about my life. I have met many more who could complain but don't so why should I. As far as that tree goes I may have fallen further than appearances, I may be the wallnut among the apples - or something like that! :)
Thanks again!
People tend to boil water too long. You don't need a rolling boil for tea or coffee. A lot of bagged food will be just fine if the water is starting to steam but not boil. Shut that gas off. And wind screens are a must to not have the flame heat shooting out from under the pot.
Hi Richard, I agree that there is no need to bring water to a full boil when camping. In these tests I had to pick a reliable constant - so boiling it is.
Unless you purifying your water some other way, you do need to boil, unless your happy with stomach pain.
This data is perfect where the temperature never change, like in your kitchen or your living room. I hike all year round under drastically different temperature and weather, one day it may be freezing cold with wind and another day, pouring rain. You have to take into account that chill reduce greatly the effectiveness of the stove and wind can almost make the stove useless unless you protect it from it. Be carefull not calculating to short and if it goes anywhere near the freezing point, get a decent mutli-fuel stove with naphta.
And Kevin, your dehydrated food videos are the BEST, keep it up.
Thanks Pata. Check my other videos on ambient temperature and wind. I am convinced that the temperature makes no difference at all (strange but true) at least I can't measure a difference with what I have. Wind on the other hand makes a huge difference. I have a few naptha stoves but they are very heavy and require even more fuel. I have a vid on that too.
Very informative to see those metrics. Thanks for doing that! Point out that rehydrating meals takes WAAAY less fuel than cooking it. for example, you have fully cooked and dried pasta. I'll bet you would use ten times the energy boiling the pasta out of the box. HUGE savings. Essentially, use your cheap electricity at home for dehydrating, and use way less of the very expensive (and heavy) BTUs from the gas cannister,
true, but for me, at least on a backpacking trip, I'm most concerned about the cost in terms of weight. One of those canisters will last me for a week if I am just rehydrating my meals. I have done the math and if I was to actually cook with them I would need to bring 4-6 canisters per week. That is a lot of extra weight in my pack.
In the winter when I am on the tops here in the Sierra Navada ( Spain) even for an overnight I take a larger canister of cold weather mix .It takes a huge amount of gas to melt snow for cooking and drinking.
For sure, it takes a lot more fuel to melt snow.
Wow, who knew? That was practical & helpful!
Thanks Steven!
Great video. Good method, great demonstration. Common sense and actual trail behaviour is repeated here. Solid info for someone seeking the answer to this question.
Thanks! 👍 Glad you liked it!
Huge help. I have always used a JetBoil, but just bought our first Pocket Rocket. Believe it or not, I’ve gotten 7 days on one canister, and that was cooking for 2 people! Used it for cooking breakfast/dinner/tea/coffee each day!
They can last a while. My wife and I usually get 6ish days out of a canister.
Four Feet Up what size fuel canister ?
Jason Vanwickler the small ones. Sorry, can’t remember what the numbers are. But, true story!
Brilliant thanks for sharing and two thumbs up to your helper, 🙂
Our pleasure!
hi kevin, thanks for the info, considering you are using the foil booster, you may not have to sacrifice evening tea, boil enough water, then make cup of tea and let dinner rehydrate and heat while you sip, freeze dry, should be no bacteria ?
Thanks Duke. I just used that as an example of how you can adjust your behaviour to be more or less efficient. I would guess that lots of people use a lot more fuel than I do on a trip and I also know that many folks burn way less than I do. My foil pot cozy certainly saves on fuel. But the amounts of fuel calculated were to boil enough for my meal (using the cozy) and a pot of tea. Thanks
Did you account for the weight of the empty canister in your calculations? There are s couple of other variables to consider; ambient temperature and fuel mixtures. Thanks for posting!
Thanks MaGoo. As this video was about how long the canister would last I didn't include the weight of the empty canister in the calcs. In this video I only used the fuel weight of the canister to project how long a canister would last. In some of my other stove videos where i compare different cooking stystems I include the canister weight. I hope that makes sense.
Believe it or not the ambient temperature does not affect the boil times. I have a video on that too. It was a surprise to me. Check out 'Ambient Temperature Test'. I've done a bunch of tests and have come to the conclusion that wind is a major factor and wind on a cold day is probably worse than wind on a warm day but the air temperature alone has either no effect or is so minor that it can't be measured with what I am using.
Kevin Outdoors thanks for the info. Great job!
This is great. I'm covering food for a couple of other people for an evening and morning. Thinking the medium canister should do. Thanks for the education.
No problem. Thanks for watching!
I tend to use a jet boil or unbranded version to get stuff up to heat quicker. More efficient heating
Nice break down.
Thanks Russ!
This was very helpful, subscribed. Thank you.
Thanks Rahul!
Hey have you ever heard of using rockwool in a fuel canister
The origo alcohol stove that been out for years has been doing it for years
Nope, never heard of it. I will have to investigate.
Great information! Thank you!
Glad it was helpful!
Very, very useful ! , thanks for sharing
You are very welcome! Lots of misconceptions about stoves out there. I figure every assumption needs to be tested.
Very helpful m8..keep making good videos
Thanks, much appreciated!
Hi! Very interesting video with very useful information - I particularly liked the methodic approach you took. I have a question and maybe you are the right person how might be able to help. Does it make any difference in terms of fuel consumption if instead of boiling the water at full throttle, you use less power? What I am trying to learn is if it really costs less fuel if you use half the power, for example than full power? Maybe you know already the answer or if not you might be able to check with the method you used here. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Vitor, I may be able to help you out. Check out this video....
ua-cam.com/video/SIjgdcZGUWw/v-deo.html
Thanks I appreciate the comments!
Rubber on pod handle was ok after being in the cozy? No sign of melting?
Yes no problem. I have used these pots on lots of trips and never any issues.
Super helpful video!!! thanks for that
Thanks so much Isabell!
Good and helpful video, despite of making me do math to convert ml & grams to ounces. Thanks for making it. I subscribed.
Thanks Russell. Yes, once the U.S. converts to metric then Liberia and Myanmar will be the only countries that still use the Imperial system :) Thanks for the views and the sub!
Very well made video with great information. Thank you brother. With2 kids holy and backpacking with me I have a better idea of how much fuel I need. Since Dad is always the packing mule.
Much appreciated Rick! From one pack mule to another ;)
Thank you for this info. I have a 225g canister and was worried if it will be enough for my trip out to The Giant in just over a week. I'm going to spend 6 nights out there. So it should be just enough. But I love my coffee out there. Have a couple cups each morning so I might pick up another canister.
Hi Becket, Yes it all depends on how you use the canister. Some people really stretch them out. On a 5-6 day trip I usually bring a small spare but then never use it. Have a good trip!
Kevin Outdoors alway good to have a spare.
It was a great trip at Sleeping Giant. I did end up using some from my spare. I finished the first canister on the 5th night. It was a good trip and weather was perfect except for the thunderstorm last Saturday night. My poor dog was so scared during it.
Glad you had a good time! It is a great location.
Hi there, have you noticed any difference in longevity by inverting the fuel canister? Thanks!
Good question. I don't have much experience with inverted canisters. I understand that they do a couple of things 1) they tend to keep the canister off of the cold ground and 2) they help keep the propane in the canister from burning first with the regurlar n-butane mixes. I understand that new winter blends of iso-butane/propane don't need to be inverted. I haven't had any issues with my canister stove in the cold unless I put it directly on the cold ground.
I guess if you have n-butane/propane mixes inverting the canister should make it last longer. I think at some point if all the propane burns first the stove will be less effective if it only contains n-butane.
...or you could use a postal scale. I refill mine to a total weight of between 190-200 g. (small canister)
Thanks, I do use a scale but I haven't yet tried refilling the canisters. Something I may get into.
Thank you. I learned a lot! Thanks. Keep it up.
Thanks Martin!
Very useful thank you
Thanks.
Great information thank you
Thanks! much appreciated!
Some thoughts: If you used treated water with your food, could you not then shut the stove off at, say, 1:45 where the water might be at 95 C and almost cut you dinner fuel consumption in half? Do some bench testing and see how the water acts and looks after it reaches 95 C (with food and water in pot). You would then know in the field what to look for to achieve a reasonable water temperature for the conditions and the food choice. You could do the same with your drink and breakfast water. If water can not touch your mouth until it is 60 C, then why boil treated water? Why not warm the treated water and save 2 more mintutes of fuel for that meal event?
Good suggestion MRo. I do find a high temp helps harder items like chicken to rehydrate but I haven't tested to see if it is necessary.
what is the total burning time of a can of fuel at full blast? we all cook different stuff different days different trips, while weather and altitude also with vary fuel consumption... I am trying to find out how long ,in time , does a canister burns...do you have a rough idea maybe?,,, reason is I also have a Coleman 1943 Dual Fuel #520 military stove that has a 1 pint fuel capacity and will give me 3 hours of cooking /heating tent time at full blast ...I also have those propane stoves but don`t want to waste a canister to find out how long it would burn. thanks.
Challenging question! In another video I boiled two cups of water at 'full blast' in 2 min 50 seconds and consumed 9 grams of fuel (check out my 'Dial Test' video). Given a canister might have 230 grams of fuel (they vary by brand) that would equate to 1 hour, 12 minutes and 24 seconds. The manufacturer suggests that will boil 15L of fuel. I hope that answer is reasonably accurate :)
MSR claims their pocketrocket stoves will run for 60 minutes on a 227g canister.
For propane stoves, you can estimate the time with this simple equation: Time = (50 x W)/ C
where 50 is the energy content per kilogram of propane, W is the weight of fuel in the canister, C is the energy use per hour (MJ/hr)
Some fuel canisters for light camping stoves use a butane+propane mix. Butane is more energy rich by weight, the downside is it doesn't work well in very cold conditions... or so I'm told.
Thank you sir, good info
No, thank you Sir!
Thank you so much :)
You are welcome Roycin!
thank you!
No, Thanks You! :)
Very interesting video
Thanks Gary!
Hey, can I get that beef and rice recipe please?
is that a jets hat kevin?
Why yes, it is! :)
nice videos, subscribed..
Thanks, much appreciated!