Exploding Stoves Etc.

[The Weasel]

Skydiver jumps out of the plane and pulls the ripcord. Damn! Nothing happens! He pulls the cord of his reserve 'chute...damn again! He looks down at the approaching ground and sees a speck ascending towards him. As it gets closer, he sees it's a guy with a typical backpacker, and he yells to him, "Do you know how to fix a broken parachute?" As he goes past, the backpacker yells back, "No! Can you fix an MSR stove?"

The Weasel

[atraildreamer]

When my pressurized stove blew apart, the top half nearly landed on the cat. I didn't think a 14 year old tabby could still move that fast!

[Big Dawg]

Skydiver jumps out of the plane and pulls the ripcord. Damn! Nothing happens! He pulls the cord of his reserve 'chute...damn again! He looks down at the approaching ground and sees a speck ascending towards him. As it gets closer, he sees it's a guy with a typical backpacker, and he yells to him, "Do you know how to fix a broken parachute?" As he goes past, the backpacker yells back, "No! Can you fix an MSR stove?"

The Weasel

Excellent!!!!! LOL!!!!

[zelph]

this is a classic!!!!!!!! This is all that remains of Hanna's little accident.
Friday, June 23, 2006

This belongs with the etc. part of this thread.

[LostInSpace]

I 'spose a stove is the wrong way to warm a container of hooch.

[Gaiter]

this is a classic!!!!!!!! This is all that remains of Hanna's little accident.
Friday, June 23, 2006

This belongs with the etc. part of this thread.

LOL yep i did that!!! except mine didn't involve an exploding stove, it involved me pouring alcohol, thinking it was water, over an already lit stove. Great way to get rid of leg hair for a while, and i hope the church group that was at that shelter that night wasn't too offended by my choice of words.

[Two Speed]

. . . i hope the church group that was at that shelter that night wasn't too offended by my choice of words.

Given the fancy footwork that usually accompanies such "colorful" incidents I'm sure they thought it was part of the floor show. Don't sweat it.

[Gaiter]

lil'red kept on telling me to drop and roll, but given that it was mostly on the inside of my leg, i was afraid if i did that, it would have gotten on both legs. so i kept on dancing until it i got it out.

I really need to sleep now, nighty night!

[smirkinman]

Regarding the pops reported using some alcohol stoves, I understand the problem is alowing air and/or the flame front to migrate into the confined space of the stove. I remember a safety film I saw once where a metal gas can was fitted with a metal spout that had a stainless steel screen over it. They lit the spout and had a nice little flame but no big boom. I think there may have been an example of what happens without the screen, but I can't be sure.

On the stoves, notice that all the pops and outright explosions are reported when using a stove with a hole that has a large-ish diameter. The penny stove instructions I read said that if you drill three to six 1/16 inch holes in the center rather than one 1/4 in hole, you will reduce/prevent the explosions.

It seems to me that there will be air and alcohol inside the stove from time to time. The trick is to keep the fire from getting in there with it. (Of course) and small holes seem to do that. Anyone have an explanation as to why a screen keeps the fire out?

[smirkinman]

i think the whole pressurized thing is mostly about trying to get alcohol to cook something as fast as a white gas stove. i'm not in that big a hurry in the woods.

Actually, it's not all about hurry. The challenge is to put the heat into your supper faster than the surrounding environment sucks it back out. Once stated in that way, you can see there are more than one approach that will improve your results - reduce the rate of heat loss, or increase the rate of heat gain. Or both. For my money, the challenge is to boil my water with as little fuel as possible, so I can carry less fuel. Too cool a burn and you have to burn longer to get temp if you even make it. Which means more fuel. Too hot a burn and the heat goes around the pot and never makes it into the water. Which means more fuel. So one has to match ones pot, stove, stand, screen etc. to one another. It's a system, and the parts gotta get along. That's why a lid helps so much, and also why JetBoil has a built in cozy.

[Skidsteer]

...So one has to match ones pot, stove, stand, screen etc. to one another. It's a system, and the parts gotta get along....

So what's your system? Lay it out for me. Got pics?

I'm sincerely interested.

[zelph]

If i lay a fine stainless steel screen over the top of a StarLyte burner it won't lite. The screen does not allow oxygen into the gas can just as small holes in the Penny stove. I think some have experience small audio pops when the metal heats and expands, mostly the bottom of the can is under tension due to manufacturing of the can. The initial heating of the can eliminates the tension with an audible "pop" I think there were a couple of posts saying that it (pop) and movement of only occured once.

[zelph]

http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/show...5&postcount=28

ontheroad2long
hi there what do u guy do with all they stove i try too make one and all most burn my pack my test and house if any got a free or cheep om let me know please

Wonder whatever happen to this guy, maybe he tried to make another stove and something went wrong. This is just an update and reminder to be careful when playing with fire and building stoves.

Anyone heard of any misshaps lately?

[atraildreamer]

Had a pressurized stove blow apart in the kitchen sink during a test. The flame blew out as the top half of the stove went straight up, bounced off the ceiling and nearly landed on the cat, scaring the crap out of the both of us!

(You should have seen the old girl move! )

[Jim Adams]

and you all still insist on using them?!!!!!!!!!!
get light weight and go cannister!
geek

[Jack Tarlin]

I agree that most stove blow-ups or meltdowns can be attributed to pilot error, or more likely, one moment of in-attention or carelessness.

A favorite memory: Back around the year 2000, I saw this guy cooking dinner on top of Springer Mountain; he had an obviously brand-new Whisperlite. As I watched him, he must have pumped the thing around 45 times, basically till he couldn't pump it any more.

I VERY politely tried to intervene by telling him it was probably sufficiently pressurized. His reply was something like: "I understand you've hiked this Trail before, but you're not the only one out here with experience in the woods. If I need your help with anything I'll ask for it."

I smiled, and said "Sure!" and then backed up around 15 feet.

He over-primed the stove, flicked a lighter, and the flame that shot up almost took off his eyebrows. His hair wasn't quite on fire, but it was real close.

His stove was basically destroyed; the entire pump fixture was a melted glob of red plastic.

I quickly determined that other than the singed hair he was OK, and happily was uninjured.

I then told him that in future, I would certainly defer to his previous knowledge and experience and if I ever saw him do something similarly stupid, I'd be sure to say nothing.

And with that, I said "Have a good dinner!" and headed towards my tent.

Most stove accidents are NOT the fault of the stove.

[sweetpeastu]

I have one of those Whisperlite things. I'm half scared of it everytime I use it....it seems tempermental. I get visions in my head of fireballs and exploding fuel canisters. I think campfires are safter--unless there's a burn ban.

[Jack Tarlin]

Not to worry! I had a Whisperlite Internationale for years, in fact I still have it stored away somewhere.

It's got close to 10,000 miles on it, and who knows how many meals.

If properly used, maintained, and cared for, you have nothing to fear from an MSR stove.

They make great stuff.

[rafe]

If properly used, maintained, and cared for, you have nothing to fear from an MSR stove.

I hate having to agree with JT about anything, but it needs to be noted, on this one instance. I feel pretty much the same way about my Whisperlite stove, and it's about as old as Jack's. The Whisperlite has earned its place in thru-hikin' history, along with the Svea and the Coleman Peak-1.

[sweetpeastu]

thats the catch though, "if used properly and properly maintained" lol. Any advice for me on the proper maintenance....and um well the use is done by instinct soooo....any tips there are welcome too!