Cooker, meths or petrol.

[blemco]

I've been using a petrol stove for the past couple years that I've been riding.
Its an old one that my dad used and now he's past it on, made by optimus, called a Hiker+ (at least the new ones are). I think he'd of bought it in the 70's but still going strong, and still being made

Products - Optimus

folds up into a nice neat little box which is square so handy when stacking up the panniers.
When I first used it I would to run it on max all the time, which would trigger the saftey valve in the fuel cap, the presure is released, this ignites, you turn off the stove, blow out the cap leave it to cool down and start over.
Since then I've learned to turn it down a bit and it runs great.

The newer ones seem to have a pump to get it going, the older one I'm using has a dish which I fill with lighter fluid and the heat gets it going. (working on the basis lighter fluid comes in a small can, goes a long way and doesnt soot up the stove)

As for transporting fuel, dad tells me he used an old glass ketchup bottle which he topped up when filling the bike, I took an old metal 1L castrol oil can that was in the garage, though a newer plastic type with one of those pop out purers may be better in future.


If your meths stoves are melting aluminium coke cans go over to pepsi, it tastes nicer and comes in steel cans.

[Yeti]

Msr stoves. Not cheap but will burn most stuff and good with petrol. Small, handy, fierce hot, and the bottle can be filled from your tank. (and used as a 1L reserve)

[blemco]

Now I know the optimus stove are still around I looked through the site a bit more and found they also do one in the style of the msr.

There is also a simple adaptor on there to make it fit a trangia unit (accessories), which I remeber using in the past and found it to have good wind protection.

[davsato]

in the xmas sales ive just bought a 27 series trangia with non stick pans and comes with the gas adaptor, for £68. the gas adaptor on its own and the trangia set are both usually £50 ea so i thought it was a good deal. it didnt come with the meths burner but ive had a cokecan stove for ages that'll do the job if i make a little widget to hold it in the stand.


oh and the handbook for the trangia says 500ml of meths is enough for a weeks camping.

[Jenna]

the only stove that will burn 'petrol' properly is a specifically designed petrol burner like the old primus hiker (111c or 111T), us army 18b field stoves etc, modern petrol has so many additives in it it no longer burns like it did in the old days of leaded petrol. I also suspect that stove manufactures are vary warey of the heath safety aspect or being sued when a petrol burner blows up in your face!

If you look through nearly all of new liquid burning stoves on the market I think you will find not a single one says it’s ok to burn petrol, firstly if the stove is not pressurized then it can explode, next the additives cause the burner to soot up internally lastly the additives burn off leaving a residue which is harmful to eat!

posted this link over on camping forum in the last few days too, its a very good read... Zen Petrol Stoves - Liquid Petroleum Stoves

if you are looking for a cheaper source of white fuel (coleman fuel) then you need to find 'panel wipe or panel prep" as used in car spray shops as a cleaner before painting, its a derivative of Naphtha just like coleman fuel but sold on a larger scale so can be much cheaper...£4 p/ltr or £12 per 5lts as opposed to £6 per half ltr of coleman!

At the end of I opted to go away from a petrol stove to meths and a multifuel one as I just don’t think it’s a big deal to ever have to carry half a ltr of white fuel on the bike, plus it burns cleaner, hotter and is way way safer!

[davsato]

my coleman sportster always burnt unleaded good as gold, and i loved it on long trips because fuel was never a problem.
i prefer the cleanliness and simplicity (because im a simpleton) of gas when im camping for only a few days though.

[Jenna]

some thing i never realised until yesterday...

meths is ~*&## expensive in the UK these days, looking around its about £6 a ltr now!!

spirit burner fuel: eg trangia/coke can
meths............................................. .................................... £6/ltr

multifuil burners: optimus nova, msr wisperlight, primus omnifuel etc
petrol (works but not advised) .................................................£ 1.12/ltr
diesel (works but is hard to get going) ...................................... £1.14/ltr
paraffin/kero/heating oil (burns but can leave a smell) ..................£1.50/ltr*
veg cooking oil (not tried this yet, but it will work)...................... £1.45/ltr*
Aspen 4T petrol (high heat and clean) .......................................£2.95/ltr*
white spirit (works but not advised) ..........................................£3/ltr*
panel wipe (naptha base)............................................. ............£4/ltr*
meths (works but is inefficent)....................................... ...........£6/ltr*
coleman fuel (naptha base) .................................................. ...£12/ltr

* cheaper if bought in larger quantity. (prices found locally)

you can add red diesel in there too but i dont have a clue on what it costs these days.

there is somewhere a gas weight to btu calculation, if i find it i will work out the cost of using different sources of gas too.

[Zenarchy]

I've noticed when I've bought meths for my stove that there's a big variation in price in the UK depending where you go. Even buying in small quantities. The last lot I bought from the UK I seem to remember paying under £1 for a 500ml bottle, so that would be under £2 per ltr. The same 500ml bottles I saw for wildly different prices at different places around that time though. The exact same bottle was £3 at B&Q (only with their label on it).

B&Q Methylated Spirits Mineralised 500ml, 55594780

That's the one - still is!

It's been a year or two since I bought any though, as the last lot I got from a corner shop while in Italy (that was even cheaper - about £1 for 750ml I think - though my calculation might be a little out with the euros - was in that ballpark I think at least).

[Boris]

Interesting figures Jenna.

At first glance it seems petrol could give the best bang for your buck. I've yet to try Aspen as the nearest dealer is about 30 miles away but I will pick up a gallon when the weather picks up and the camping season starts again. Interestingly one of my Coleman stoves (the older 400a peak 1) won't run on panel wipe (once lit its fine but it's a sod to light) whereas the other newer almost identical 552 lights and runs on it no problem. The both run fine on unleaded.

Panel Wipe is available from Brown Brothers for £12 something for 5 litres. Go for a "fast" degreaser. Don't mention its for a stove though apparently they aren't allowed to sell it for fuel as there are tax (fuel duty) implications.

[Jenna]

As an experiment yesterday I tried to buy some meth’s, after 2-3 hours wandering around town (it’s not available anywhere in the village I have tried!) I found just one place (Wilkinson in the paint section) that had any. They had it at just under £3 per 500mls.

Back home checking online we too found it at B&Q at virtually the same price, the B&Q here is out of town so not exactly a good source if you backpacking!

Kymmy found this webpage yesterday that lists the names and cost of meth’s around the world, it appears only the UK and Turkey have high prices, places like France/Greece it could be up to 75% cheaper!

Checking with asda.

budget cooking oil ..................................£0.93/ltr
vodka (alcohol)......................................£10 .50/ltr

also missed out:
AvGas (avaition fuel)..............................£1.60/ltr (prices vary with location)