[pct-l] Cooking Within concerns

Tue Dec 8 13:41:45 CST 2009

OK, let's review the concerns, here.

Carbon Monoxide 
Flare Ups
Lack of attention to stove

Regarding CO, open the doors and windows or cook in your vestibule. Solves the problem of trapped CO in the tent, thus insufficient oxygen and subsequent fears of death.

Flare ups with the Svea were common, but with practice and attention, with fingers on the control valve and awareness of exactly how much fuel was trickling into the "Spirit Cup," the possibility was minimized. Occasionally, if the fuel poured out too fast and I didn't shut it down right away, the spirit cup would fill and run out over the tank. All I had to do, upon paying attention to this, was to move the stove to the center of the tent, where the ceiling was 4 or 5 feet tall, before lighting the Cup and beginning the priming. If the flames were high, I blocked them with my pot lid for the brief time it did so. No danger of tent melt-down, ever.

The new Jet Boils never have this problem as they are not white gas and do not need priming. Alcohol stoves, however, do have fuel spill dangers and have started fires, some of just the picnic table where they sat (photo if you want it) and others of the entire Forest. Alcohol stoves are highly dangerous in this regard and should never be used in, on, or near any flammable surface. This is an area there gram-counting can kill you and others.

If you start your stove and don't pay attention to what may catch on fire around it, you are a danger to yourself and others. Learn how to use your stove, how to control it, how it works, at home and in the field before you rely on it for all your hot meals. Primarily, you need to know how to regulate the flame. If it goes south, you need to be able to shut it down, now. 

Mtnned
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: CHUCK CHELIN 
  To: Gary Schenk 
  Cc: pct-l at backcountry.net ; ned at pacificcrestcustombuilders.com 
  Sent: Tuesday, December 08, 2009 8:09 AM
  Subject: Re: [pct-l] Cooking Within (addendum)

  Good morning, Gary,

  Years ago when I was young, wild, and ignorant I had a significant love affair with a little Swedish beauty by the name of Svea 123.  She seduced me away from my previous love—also a Swede – by the name of Trangia.  While Trangia was small, quiet, and unassuming, Svea was taller, more sophisticated, and overall much more impressive.  Unfortunately she was also much more difficult to turn on, and she was loud, but when she finally did get started she was HOT! She provided me with the two best moments of the day:  When she actually turned on and put out the heat, and when I was finished with her and she finally shut-up.

  Why had I made the change?  At the time I was impressed with sophistication:  Anything with more parts and processes had to be better – an affliction common to many mechanical engineers who prefer twenty complicated parts when one simple one will do equally as well.  Svea had lots of things to fiddle with, and I could even add things like a mini-pump to avoid having to bring that ice-cold piece of brass into my sleeping bag in the morning and hold it in my warm crotch for ten minutes to warm it enough to create some internal pressure in the tank; my hands being too cold to effectively do the warming.

  Next came a really good reason why Svea should never be lit inside a tent:  With a bit of pressure in the tank the valve was opened slightly, and kept open just long enough to pressure-dribble raw fuel down the generator stem and into the little dam around the top of the tank.  When lit, the raw fuel in the dam would then flame up and heat the burner plate sufficient to vaporize fuel that was eventually to squirt out of the generator.  If the valve was subsequently opened to soon – before the vaporizer plate became sufficiently hot – there would be a really big raw fuel flame-up with the possibility of burning fuel running out of the dam and down the sides of the stove.

  This process was really great for hikers who have trouble waking up and getting started in the morning, being better than a double-tall espresso for jump-starting the day.

  Steel-Eye
  Hiking the Pct since before it was the PCT – 1965
  http://www.trailjournals.com/steel-eye
  http://www.trailjournals.com/SteelEye09

  On Mon, Dec 7, 2009 at 6:46 PM, Gary Schenk <gwschenk at socal.rr.com> wrote:

    On Sunday 06 December 2009 19:35:18 ned at pacificcrestcustombuilders.com wrote:
    > Please keep in mind regarding this article that the kind of stoves we use
    > are the commercial variety white gas (Svea, MSR, etc.) or canister
    > (Jetboil, Bluet...) stoves with good bases for predictable stability and
    > valves for flame control. We consider the use of alcohol stoves dangerous
    > for self and environment and not worth the weight savings in the long run.
    > Those who practice with them may have good fortune, but for the novice we
    > do not encourage their use.

    You light a Svea inside your tent?!?!? They don't call those things Swedish
    hand grenades for nothing, you know.

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