[pct-l] Fuel Usage - Vargo Triad

[Jim Marco]

Daniel,
	Five or six years ago I got all that stuff from Vargo. I kept the XE, even though it did not work that well.
My set up was a rather tight fitting wind screen with some upper and lower vents...like a caldera cone but made out of two layers of heavy duty aluminum foil. Much lighter than the Caldera Cone set up, since the Vargo already had a pot stand. This was with a 3 cup K-Mart grease pot/lid. It weighed around 5oz complete with some judicious snipping (the edges of the lid, making it flat) and a bent piece of wire for a lid top. No matter what I did, I could never get fuel efficiency better than an ounce for 3 cups. With my Caldera Cone/12-10 and 3 cup pot, I get about 3/4oz for 3 cups. I can also modify the 12-10 by wrapping a strip of heavy duty aluminum foil around it, with notches for the air vents, allowing it to change from a 7 minute burn to about a 12-13 minute one...similar to the Brasslite. Good for cooking rice on cold nights when it cools too quickly to cook in a cozy. 
	Anyway, the trade-off between the extra fuel the Vargo's burn or the extra weight of a Caldera set up is a wash after a few days. BTW, this was using SLX, about 50/50 ethanol/methanol. This works a bit better at any elevation say 3000' and above. This is perhaps the lightest set up with a full 3cup pot. If you are unsure of your partner, you might each carry one. A pretty nice setup and fairly reliable...just watch out for any fire regulations. 
	My partner, my wife, has been with me close to 40 years, so I don't worry too much about misplacing her. I gave up on all that stuff, since they class alcohol stoves with potential fire hazards in several areas. I almost always carry the ancient SVEA for the two of us. At about 17oz it always works and is always legal. No pumps to break, no fiddling with it. Just fill it, prime it, light it, open the valve and go. Once you get the hang of it, you can easily avoid any fireballs, that was ridiculous. Adding the cup, it weighs a couple ounces more. At about 2/3oz per DAY for 2-3L boiled/cooked it really lets you save weight on food. Typically, a 12oz bottle will last more than a week, but I figure about a week-ten days with any foraging and extra cooking: mushrooms, greens, breads, biscuits, brownies, wild carrots, wild onions, etc. Hot meals, hot cocoa, coffee, all the little luxuries that make trail life so much nicer, are possible with a true stove. And you can get fuel just about anywhere, even if it doesn't run the best on car gas. For two people, it is perhaps the best overall when you consider cooking ability, volume, fuel efficiency, total weight, cost of operating and reliability. But, that's my viewpoint.
	My thoughts only . . .
			jdm
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Daniel Zellman
> Sent: Monday, January 14, 2013 9:46 AM
> To: PCT-L
> Cc: Erin O'Brien
> Subject: [pct-l] Fuel Usage - Vargo Triad
> 
> Greetings, all,
> 
> Based in part on recommendations from folks on this
> list, as well as some other research, my partner and I
> are planing on using the Vargo Triad XE Titanium
> Alcohol/Tablet
> Stove<http://www.vargooutdoors.com/Titanium-Triad-XE-
> Alcohol-Fuel-Tab-Stove>
> on
> our 2013 thru-hike. Fuel tablets are pretty pricey --
> $6.95 for a 12-pack of Esbit, and it looks like we'd
> need approx 2-3 tablets per day to heat sufficient
> water for two meals (e.g., oatmeal bkfst and pasta
> dinner), coffee, and cocoa, which works out to almost
> $15/week for fuel.
> 
> So ... our thought was to carry some tablets as a
> backup, but to rely primarily on liquid fuel (HEAT,
> kerosene, alcohol, etc.) since it's a lot more
> economical and is also more widely available at trail
> towns and such. According to the specs on the Vargo
> website, the Triad's capacity is approx 1.25 oz of
> alcohol, providing approx 15 min burn time (depending
> of course on altitude and other conditions), so it
> sounds like we'd be looking using 2-3 oz per day of
> liquid fuel, or roughly a pint of liquid fuel per week.
> 
> However, neither of us has any experience with alcohol
> stoves, we were wondering if anyone who DOES have
> experience using the Vargo (or a similar) stove might
> have any insight on this. Do the above estimates /
> calculations ring true? Does alcohol burn hot enough to
> boil enough water for a two-person meal in 15 min?
> Etc., etc....
> 
> Also, any thoughts on good carrying containers/methods
> would be appreciated as well.
> 
> Many thanks!
> 
> -dz
> 
> --
> Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.
>     --Buddhist proverb
> -----------------------------------
> Daniel Zellman, LMT, CMLDT
> TX lic. #: MT115984
> 
> Tel.: 512.293.9315
> danielzellman at gmail.com
> www.sunnatamassage.com
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