[pct-l] Whisperlite Simmering

[EHWeinmann@chevrontexaco.com (Weinmann, Eric H. (EHWeinmann))]

I've been interested in stoves about as long as Monte, although I'm not
crazy about collecting them like he is.  I even handled stove repairs for
REI in Berkeley from 1985-1988 (as an employee).  I climbed with Bill
Sumner, the engineer that developed the whisperlite for MSR (an REI Quality
Control Engineer in those days), when the stove was introduced.  His goal
was to make a hot, quiet stove, not a great simmerer (I hate to agree with
Monte, mainly because he's a PITA, as well as a friend).  Now some have
better luck simmering on it than others, just seems to be luck of the draw.
My experience is that more people CANNOT simmer on it than CAN.  I still
have my original Whisperlite ('86) that I seem to be able to simmer on for a
very brief period before the flame starts to wane and I have to give the
pump a few strokes to keep it going.  I guess my question today would be: if
the whisperlite is such a great simmerer, why introduce the dragonfly which
is heavier, louder and not as compact?  Because it has a separate flame
control strictly designed for simmering.

Anyway, my $.02 worth.  Hope all are doing well on the list.  Enjoyed
meeting many of you at the PCTA annual meeting and look forward to seeing
you again at the ADZPCTKOP.

Cheers,
Eric the Red (Class of '81)
PCTA Board of Directors


Message: 29
From: jmusielewicz@earthlink.net
To: pct-l@mailman.backcountry.net
Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2002 11:19:33 -0600
Subject: Re: [pct-l] Lucky Stove user of MSR
Reply-to: jmusielewicz@earthlink.net

I didn't have an Internationale I had the Whisperlight which only supposed
to burn 
white gas but the simmering qualities of the Whisperlights are pretty much
the same 
according to MSR. The Internationale does burn a little hotter. So I would
think your 
stove should simmer as well as mine did. All I ever did  was pump it and
adjust the 
flame using the knob on the pump. I was able to get the flame really low if
I wanted. 
Low enough to bake bread, simmer soups and rice. And it still was a rocket
when I 
wanted to boil water. If your stove won't simmer maybe your pumping the
pressure 
too high? You only need about 10-15, depending on the altitude, plunger
strokes 
when your bottle is almost full. If you pump it too much you'll blow too
much fuel 
past the pin. Mine simmered great with both white gas and unleaded