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maximizing fuel usage when hiking with a stove

B

Bushman5

Joined
Oct 31, 2007
Messages
9,833
a few observations over the last few days, while cooking on my patio with my isopropane stove

- Using copper pots substantially decreases the boil times, due to coppers ability to transfer heat very rapidly. Boil times for 1 liter of water in a copper pot were half compared to using steel pots of the same size. Aluminum was faster than steel but nowhere near as fast as copper.

Conclusion: one could save precious fuel when hiking by using copper pots instead of steel or aluminum.

- using a heat exchanger on the copper pot decreased the boiling times even further, resulting in yet more fuel savings.

- using a heat exchanger PLUS a fully enclosed windscreen, on a copper pot decreased boiling times further yet , resulting in more fuel savings.


Cons: carrying a heat exchanger, plus windscreen adds more weight, but the PRO to that is less fuel canisters need to be carried.

:D bear in mind these were simple timed backyard tests, not scientific tests etc etc etc
 
Copper is poisonous if much is consumed, So that pot needs to be flashed in tin. Tin melts at campfire temperatures so unless it has water in it, or something that won't allow it to overheat there could be an issue. Something to consider is the opportunity cost of the fuel savings versus the potential to have a poisoning.
 
i'm staring at an 100% copper cookset right now, not to mention all copper water pipes (h &c ). I aint dead or unhealthy. I heat these up to high quite regularly
 
and I ate a few pennys as a kid...

I think as long as It's not pitted its OK, because i know aluminum is also supposedly poisonous.

Now break out the calculator and figure out with if it's worth the savings in weight of feul to carry windscreen and head exchanger at different time lines. In varying altitudes, barametric pressures, windages, and humiditys.
 
Bushman5 said:
I aint dead or unhealthy.
Click to expand...

How do you really know you aren't dead bushman5???? We can all be little devils just egging you on and tormenting you as part of our respective jobs. Life got so much easier when Saton let us go on-line. Now I can torment from my living room and still collect ghoul pay :D :D

Good observations on the fuel, my camp cookset has copper bottoms good to know that helps ....:thumbup:
 
Calebklyne said:
you could always just use a fire
Click to expand...


not when there is a provincial fire ban on (march to sept in most areas of BC). I cannot afford a minimum $395 and UP )$1,000,000 fine.

a lot of major hiking areas here are NOT provincial crown land, they are Municipal, no fires allowed (camp stoves are fine)
 
i prefer titanium over copper although copper is alot cheaper. titanium has more strength. i guess a plus side to copper is that you could bend and shape it into weapons if ya needed to :D
 
I use the Jetboil GCS pot (with built in heat exchanger) with my MSR Windpro stove. This allows me to use a windscreen and gives the stability of the freestanding stove. It may not be as efficient as copper, but it is close, and the 1.5 L pot only weighs 11 oz.

On a six-day backpacking trip this summer, cooking for three people, I used almost one whole 8 oz fuel canister. On other trips I have used one 8 oz canister in six days cooking for two people.
 
like jca i too prefer Ti its way light! and my zelph stove works great and burns hot with HEET as a fuel!

ive had kitchen pots with copper bottoms but could never really tell the difference...what i need is a panning dish and a billy....thanks for the info bushman!
 
Dont forget about anodized aluminum. GSI has some good stuff, its as light as Ti or lighter and cheaper, its painted black and works great. Check it out.

Skam
 
Many years ago I bought one of the MSR heat exchangers. It is an aluminum device with heat channels that clamps around a pot, hangs down below the base of the pot a bit (if desired), and channels the heat up the sides of the pot.

As I recall, MSR had some research on fuel saved vs. the weight of the exchanger. My recollection is very hazy but (as I recall) a group of four operating in cold weather made the weight of the exchanger up in a day or two and, after that, the fuel weight savings were significant. On the other hand, a solo backpacker would have to be on a trip of quite a few days before the MSR exchanger really paid off (even more true in warm weather).

I'm going to be gone for a week backpacking but when I get back I may try to get that old data from MSR.

Thanks for raising the subject.

DancesWithKnives
 
PayetteRucker said:
i wouldn't eat off of ano aluminum. I just light a danged fire...
Click to expand...

Again, "just lighting a danged fire" is not really an option where there is a fire ban on, like there is here in Cali. Liquid fuel stoves are ok, however. Additionally, maximizing the utility of one's fire will help to minimize the amount of wood that one needs to gather.

The title of this thread is a bit confusing. I think it should be called "Minimizing fuel Usage..." or "Maximizing the utility of fuel used..."
 
what i meant by the title was "maximizing" the use of fuel.....ie: getting maximum use from a set amount of fuel.

maybe i should have title it "extending fuel"?
 
How much heavier is a copper pot over an aluminum one??

What I'm getting at is the extra weight the same as the extra fuel you would use if you used aluminum??

IMO Aluminum pots are the best combination of price and weight of any backpacking pots.
 
Hey Guys...

Is the pot actually solid copper ??

I've never seen a solid copper pot for cooking in..

Copper bottom cookware,, but never copper on the inside..

BTW..

My dad's Heavy Metal test just came back for Copper and he's 2X+ the normal values.. Dr. was concerned.. Told me I need to go get checked for copper as well...

ttyle

Eric
O/ST
 
Go with a titanium pot and make a cozy for it out of Reflectix or buy one from http://www.antigravitygear.com/products.php?cat=13. Cook you food most of the way, turn off your fuel to conserve it, and put the pot in the cozy and let it continue to cook. This saves a good amount of fuel. If you cook freeze dried meals you can add the water to the meal pouch and throw that in an envelope-style Reflectix cozy to continue cooking. These cozies way next to nothing (about 1oz.) and are well proven to save fuel.
 
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