Backpacking Stoves

There are several types of stoves suitable for carrying in a backpack. If you're going for lightweight, and don't want to pack out empty fuel canisters, you can use alcohol, solid fuel pellets, or wood. Going up in weight are butane, propane, or a mix between the two. These also burn hotter, so you can cook faster. The next weight increase are the White Gas and multi-fuel stoves.These burn hottest, usually have pretty good simmer control, and don't leave empty fuel cannisters for you to pack out. However, you have to pack the extra weight of the fuel container and stove.

There are multi-burner stoves that use a large propane cannister, but these are more suited to car camping than backpacking, as they are much too large and heavy.

The type of cooking determines the type of stove you should use. If you are just going to boil water for freeze dried food, almost any stove will work. If it's cold outside, the alcohol fuels and fuel pellets probably wouldn't work. They should work OK in spring, summer and fall. If you want to actually cook, use a liquid fuel stove. White gas/kerosene stoves can usually be brought to a simmer and burn long enough and hot enough to actually be useful.

Stoves are also useful for more than cooking. I like to wash with hot/warm water. Also, after a meal that involves washing dishes,  I put water with a few drops of liquid dish soap  in a  pot and heat it up. It only takes a couple of minutes, and the stove is already set up anyway. Make sure your dishes are washed before you put them away. Left on food can cause runny poo-poos later when you're hiking around.
 
 Below I'll talk about each.

Sterno

Absolute garbage. Stay away from it. Junk.

Wood

Let's get this out of the way first. There are two ways to cook with wood. Either set up an open campfire, or use a type of wood burning stove that has a battery operated fan to blow on the wood. An open camp fire is great for cooking hot dogs, but not much else. Putting a pot over a wood fire dirtys it up with soot, is hard to keep level, and usually requires good rock placement or a grill to keep it from tipping over. (Tip: rubbing a thin film of of dish soap over the outside of the pot will let you just wipe off the soot during cleanup.) An open fire also usually requires a permit and much of the time isn't allowed due to the danger of wild fires. Not recommended.

Another type of wood stove looks like a large, tin coffee can with a special blower on the bottom. These take batteries to run the fan. You place small sticks in the can, and place your pot on top of the stove. It works, but the weight of the batteries combined with the size of the stove make this option also not recommended.

Alcohol

These stoves are small, lightweight, and quiet. They also don't burn too hot, so cooking time is lengthened somewhat. Denatured alcohol, available at camping stores such as REI, is cheap (about $5 US per quart), and will last several trips. You can make an alchohol stove using a soda can, or buy one fairly cheaply. And, unlike white fuel or kerosene, alcohol is quiet burning. Setup is easy - set the stove on a flat surface, fill with alcohol, light, and set your pot on top.

Solid Fuel Pellets

The stove part itself is usually just a small folding aluminum assembly that holds a small pot, and has room inside for a small fuel pellet. I consider these about the same as sterno. Don't waste your money. The flame produced by the burning pellet is too small to do more than keep a small cup of tea warm. You would do as well to hold a match under your pot. This also included triexane tablets.

Butane/Propane

These stoves burn hot, are easily controllable, will boil a pot of water in 3-4 minutes, and are quick to light. Some of the actual burner assemblies can be very small and fit in your cook kit. Some of the new canisters are small and also fit inside your cooking pots. One drawback is you need to carry out the empty cannister (if you're not a slob) when they run out. Propane burns a little hotter. Butane doesn't burn when the temperature is at or below 32 F. At this temperature, it becomes a liquid.

IsoPro (Propane/Butane mix)

Iso Pro is MSR's trade name for a canister that holds a propane/butane mix. Everyone else calls it IsoButane. The stoves that burns this can be very small, and very efficent, usually burning a quart of water in 4 minutes or less. The MSR PocketRocket is a very small burner that screws to the top of an equily small fuel canister. The combination is small and very good. With a small cook pot (liter sized) and this stove, your entire cook kit weighs less than one pound, and is very small. Excellant for lightweight packing. The PocketRocket costs less than $40 US at many retailers (2007 prices). Also, this fuel burns at freezing temperatures. Canisters can range from very small (giving enough fuel for a week of light duty use) to large (lasting a couple of weeks of medium duty use). Click for a picture of the PocketRocket attached to a fuel canister. The lighter is for size comparison.

White Gas Fueled Stoves

An example of this stove is the MSR Whisper lite. These stoves require priming, but burn very hot (read quick cooking times) and usually allow easy flame control (useful for simmering). These stoves are very durable (I've used one for around 20 years of fairly heavy use) and have easy to use rebuild kits that replace gaskets and other components that age over time. Priming the stove is really easy. After setting up the stove on a flat surface and hooking up the (seperate) fuel tank, pump the tank mounted pump about 5 to 10 strokes. Then turn the fuel valve on the tank until liquid fuel just starts to flow into the stove. You will hear it and see a little liquid flowing into the cup at the base of the stove. When you have this priming cup about 1/4 to 1/2 full, turn off the fuel flow. Then carefully light the fuel. It may flare up a little, so don't put your face too close to the stove. As the flame starts to burn out, you may hear a slight hissing as the fuel in the lines vaporizes. At this point, slowly turn the fuel control know back on. If the stove flares up, turn it back off. The fuel lines aren't hot enough to vaporize the fuel yet. Usually, you will see a blue flame burning around the circumfrence of the stove. Use the fuel control and pump the fuel cannister to get the desired flame. These stoves burn loud, but are very efficent. Note: In America, White Gas is Colman Fuel.

Multi Fueled Stoves

Two examples of these stoves are the MSR WhiperLite International and DragonFly. The Whisperlite Internationsl burns both White Gas and Kerosene by using interchangable jets. The Dragonfly burns White Gas, unleaded gasoline, jet fuel, Kerosene, diesel, and naptha. I've seen a gallon pot on top of the Dragonfly boiling a chicken for dinner. It's cooks fast. It also makes a lot of noise doing it (compared to alcohol). Priming is the same as the White Gas stoves. (Tip - instead of using the stoves fuel for priming, pour in a little alcohol in the priming cup and light that. It doesn't flare up as bad and burns a lot cleaner - no soot.)

In America, oxigenated gas is used during the winter months to keep the air cleaner. Unfortunately, this mixture can destroy the gaskets in the stove and fuel lines, so don't use gasoline in the winter. Gasoline burns sootly anyway, so it's usually a last choice fuel.

It seems like I must work for MSR. I don't. I just think that when you find a good product, you should stick with it. MSR makes a lot of good products. Their stoves have a lifetime warrenty, and they can repair your stove for a modest price no matter how broken it is. If it's too old, they will give you some credit against your old stove as a trade in for a new one.

Here is a picture of one of my cook kits. (Click the image for a larger picture)

Cook kit (assembled)

The mesh bag holds everything I use for a short trip for one or two people. The one liter water bottle is for size comparison. The complete kit weighs about one pound.

Here is a picture of the cook kit opened up. (Click the image for a larger picture)

Cook kit (expanded)


The pots are titanium. The smallest holds 2 cups of water. The other two are a little larger. The pan is the lid for the pots and small frying pan. It makes a good plate. The foldable spork is also titanium and weighs about 2 ounces. The three utensils are collapsable to save on size. The MSR PocketRocket is shown with its fuel canister. The round gold lid keeps the fuel canister valve from being damaged during transport. The red box and lid hold the stove. The red pad at left front is a scrubber pad used to clean everything after cooking. All of this is inside the mesh bag shown above. I have a small bottle of liquid dish washing soap in a zip lock baggie elsewhere in my pack along with some paper towels for cleanup.


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