RE: [pct-l] At home alcohol test

Test Results: The Glorified Zippo Wins

Just for grins I placed my three ounce, Primus propane/butane stove in the
deep freeze at -10F with an almost spent Primus Canister. Next day I took it
out and tried to light it. Initially it wouldn't light but a couple of
shakes and it produced a weak blue flame. I wrapped my hands around the
canister for 10 seconds, then shook some more. The stove spitted and
sputtered but very quickly I had a strong flame. All this took less than a
minute and was something safe to do within a tent.

I then repeated this test with an almost new canister. I removed the
canister/stove with tongs to avoid warming them up. Still, the stove lighted
instantly and produces a useful, is somewhat weak, flame. Naturally, as the
stove warmed up the flame became stronger.

This data dispels a couple of myths. First a propane/butane mix works well
even at very low temperatures. Maybe the old bluet canisters didn't but a
modern canister works fine. Second, while it is obvious that with a
propane/butane mix, the lighter butane will boil faster, even an almost
empty canister has enough vapor pressure at low temperature to work. Third,
this test took place at less than 1000' elevation dispelling the myth that
butane stoves only work at high altitude.

Finally, let me restate my calculations on stove fuel efficiency that I did
several years ago. You would need to be carrying a gallon of white gasoline
before the fuel efficiency of white gas makes up for the additional weight
of the gasoline stove. The Titanium stove weighs 3 ounces. A Primus
propane/butane canister that weighs 590 grams has 15.9 ounces [450 grams,
800ML]of propane /butane mix. Comparing the package weight per ounce of
liquid fuel 30 ounce fuel bottles, the packaging of the propane/butane mix
is more efficient. True gasoline contains more wallop per ML than
propane/butane. However, gasoline stoves range between 16 and 22 ounces. The
propane/butane system starts out 13 to 21 ounces ahead.
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