Trangia Stove, Part II: Some Questions

I bought an über-pricey Trangia Triangle to replace the half-fast pot-holder / wind-screen that came with my Trangia Mini. It's stupid expensive (I had a gift certificate from Mountain Equipment Co-op here in Canada and deserved something Rolex-spec) and considerably heavier (114 g and made of stainless steel) but is more wind-immune and far sturdier than the stamped aluminum thingy that it replaces. And it could still benefit from a simple cheap home-made windscreen. It also has to be stashed separately because it will not fit inside the Mini Trangia. But that's not a big deal. I think we can get a bit too anal about having everything packed into one admittedly-handy unit.

Today I went to the Home Hardware store here in Alberta to buy a litre of methyl hydrate (pure methanol, which is optimum ... according to Trangia ... and it works fine for me) for $4.99. I glanced down lower on the shelf and was delighted to see that a 4-litre jug of the same stuff was on sale for $7.99! Damn ... made my day. A lifetime supply for the price of three Coors Banquet beers ...

All prices in Canadian dollars ... :)

And yes, Hiram on YouTube is a the ultimate Trangia treasure trove of related info and peer-reviewed test results.

BTW, for anyone who has a Mini Trangia, it is really really worth noting that the inner bowl part (including its removable insulated sleeve and snap-off lid) of the GSI ULTRALIGHT NESTING BOWL + MUG combination fits perfectly inside the Trangia Mini kit. The identical-but-slightly-1%-larger outer bowl (it is not a mug, in spite of what they say) is a no-go. Find a use for it in the kids' treehouse. And the Trangia burner obviously easily fits (with lots of spare room) inside the marginally-smaller bowl. And the price and weight of the little GSI combo is wonderful.

That lidded and neoprene-insulated bowl keeps stuff hot a loooog time, and the nice part is that your raw aluminum low-tech basic Trangia pot never gets gunked-up with your "cup-of-soup" or "instant oatmeal" or ramen or whatever.

Another hint ... toss in a couple a them restaurant-sized mini-packs of Christie's Salted Crackers to serve with (or in) the soups. Comfort food, or the illusion of it ... :)

Comments ... critical or complimentary or curious ... would be appreciated.
 
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I've been looking at the trangia triangle as an extra pot holder option. We use trangias where I work, kids cook on the metho, and staff have a butane insert to use if desired. I was thinking that the triangle, a burner and a 2l pot would make a lighter backup option since they will be carrying the fuel anyway.. How well does the triangle compare as far as stability? could you use a large 4L pot on it? We are looking at swapping the butane option for a white-gas stove, but most of them have a very small base, unless they are expedition style, like a whisperlite, XKG, or primus omnifuel
 
gadgetgeek said:
I've been looking at the trangia triangle as an extra pot holder option. We use trangias where I work, kids cook on the metho, and staff have a butane insert to use if desired. I was thinking that the triangle, a burner and a 2l pot would make a lighter backup option since they will be carrying the fuel anyway.. How well does the triangle compare as far as stability? could you use a large 4L pot on it? We are looking at swapping the butane option for a white-gas stove, but most of them have a very small base, unless they are expedition style, like a whisperlite, XKG, or primus omnifuel
Click to expand...

A 2L pot (4.4 pounds of water) would be absolutely no problem at all ... I just went and checked with a Danish-designed very expensive machined thick aluminum pot (seven inches in diameter and 5 inches high) from a company called EVA TRIO in Finland. (Late 1970's vintage and the design is identical today ... just not in raw aluminum.) Two litres fill it to within about an inch of the top. Rock solid, and still viable with a largish home-made windscreen or the MSR screen for their X-GK.

I am thinking that moving up to a 4-litre pot would not work too well. If the Triangle is level and the pot is centred correctly, the added weight would probably not be a problem ... but that is a large mass of water to heat on a modest Trangia flame ... plus a pot with that kind of surface area (especially if it's aluminum) would likely be losing (radiating-off) heat (from the sides and top) pretty fast. That's my theory anyway. Maybe I'll do an experiment tomorrow ... I have the pot's identical but larger brother that's 8.5 inches in diameter and six inches deep, and 4 litres of water fill it to within 1.5 inches of the top.

It's not hard to guess who used to be a junior-high Science teacher ... :)
 
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yeah, 4L on metho would be a stretch, but over butane would be more likely. We actually use a round bottom steel wok which improves efficiency a bit since you get more flame contact area. But the wok really needs the full width of the trangia stand to have any stability at all. I'm sure there is a solution somewhere.
 
Well, I did the experiment last night in the kitchen, using cold tap water.

Although there was obviously no wind, I used the excellent windscreen from my MSR X-GK stove ... also known as Krakatoa. The set-up was rock solid and the 2L pot's stainless steel lid was only opened a couple of times near the end. After a full 20 minutes at full tilt, there were small bubbles on the bottom of the pot but no rising bubbles. (I'd set a maximum time of 20 minutes because I'd read that it was not a good idea to let Trangia burners burn dry ... a possibility of cracks forming.)

I tried the exact experiment a second time, but without the windscreen. I was thinking that perhaps the windscreen would impede airflow to the burner. The windscreen's base was sitting right on the flat stovetop, and the aluminum walls have no gaps or no air-holes. And this time the water reached a nice rolling boil in exactly 20 minutes.

Just for interest, I put 1.5 cups of water into my cute little .6L Trangia kettle, and I again used the large MSR windscreen. The water reached a full boil in just 4.5 minutes. That is excellent.

The Trangia Triangle is plenty strong ... I suspect that you could place a cast iron Dutch Oven on the thing ... but Them Principles a Thermal Dynamics would seem to preclude the idea of using large vessels to actually heat stuff on a pokey little alcohol flame.

One obvious caveat ... bear in mind that the EVA TRIO aluminum pots were at least restaurant-grade ... quite thick and beefy ... not at all like the lightweight stuff typically used on the trail.

As I was about to pack things away, I had a flash of inspiration. In the little Trangia kettle I carry about 18" of lightweight picture-hanging wire, with a tiny little aluminum carabiner at each end. I figured that ... if I had to ... I could always suspend the kettle (at whatever height I wanted) over a small fire. My flash of inspiration? Thinking outside the box, I looked at the sturdy MSR windscreen and realized that I could put a small stick across the top and use the wire to suspend the little kettle (at the proper height) over the Trangia burner ... sitting happily on the ground in the centre of the setup. No pot stand required at all! Maybe I'll try it later today. It seems like a decent idea.
 
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I've seen that idea about burning out trangia burners in other places. I have yet to meet one person who runs trangia type burners of any brand in a guiding situation who has had that happen. We do that as an SOP to keep fuel from contaminating other gear, since the seal is one of first things to go. Its also far safer than having the kids try to drop the closed simmer rings on the snuff them, or heaven forbid have some muppet try to blow one out. I think the only way to damage a trangia burner is either rifle fire, or a truck tire, and even with a bullet hole, I think they'd still be partially functional.
 
Trangia makes a 2.5 lt and a 4 lt pots for the 27 and 25 stormstove units
They fit inside for cooking and on the outside for carry

So the burner will cook a 4 lt pot if it is seated withing the windscreen of the stormstove

I use the 2.5 lt to extend my 27 unit, and it easily cooks
The flame comes up the side of the pot and it is protected by the windscreen
 
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