What Is Each Type Good For?
When I have an idea, I turn down the flame, as if it were a little alcohol stove, as low as it will go. Then it explodes and that is my idea. — Ernest Hemingway
By Fuel Type
Pressurized liquid fuel: These go by names such as “white gas”, “Coleman Fuel”, kerosene, diesel fuel, and similar familiar modern and sexy petroleum compounds. Fuel for these stoves is relatively cheap, relatively easy to find, and has a lot of energy per unit of volume. Current stove types employ reusable fuel bottles which come in different sizes, and you can fill (and refill) and carry as many of them as you can stand to. These stoves are heavy, weighing in the one to two pound range (0.45 - 0.9kg, including an empty fuel bottle), but they can boil water quickly and cook a meal for several people without much fuss.
Pressurized gases: These are some mix of butane, isobutane, and propane.
These stoves use expensive fuel in non-refillable, non-recyclable containers. You may eventually end up with a closet full of almost-empty canisters. These stoves are good for people who can’t or don’t want to fill or prime a stove or perform any maintenance whatsoever. Some of these stoves even light themselves. They rate high on convenience, and are basically as good as the liquid fuel stoves, but their fuel contains less energy so it doesn’t go as far, and the fuel containers are bulky as well.
Weight varies wildly, from less than three ounces (85g) for the stove alone to almost a pound (454g). Fuel containers add more weight — from eight to 12 ounces (227 - 340g) or more per canister above the weight of the stove.
Non-pressurized liquid fuel: Alcohol. That’s about it.
These are some of the smallest and lightest stoves available, and among the simplest. They burn relatively cheap fuel available anywhere paint is sold, or at just about every gas station as gas line deicer. You can make your own stove. These stoves are best for people who cook for one. Heat output is relatively low, but fuel is non-explosive and just about non-toxic (for straight ethanol). These stoves are silent.
Solid fuel: Esbit (hexamine), trioxane.
As with alcohol stoves, these are hard to beat for weight. The lightest commercially made solid fuel stove checks in at 13 grams, or less than half an ounce. Fuel is more expensive than alcohol, at about 50 cents per hexamine tablet (50 cents to heat 16 ounces or a half liter of water).
Hexamine sometimes leaves a gooey residue on pot bottoms and gives off toxic substances in its fumes (despite what the manufacturer claims). But this fuel is stable. A burning tablet can be blown out before it’s all consumed, and relit later. Tablets are best for single hikers who can deal with the shortcomings of this fuel.
Solid fuel: Wood and charcoal.
There is a surprising variety of wood stoves for backpacking out there. All but a couple are homemade, and the most well-known commercial one (the Sierra stove) is large, heavy, and complicated.
These stoves use free fuel that does not need to be carried, but the stoves may be banned at certain elevations, in certain places, or at certain times of the year. The fuel is nonexplosive and can’t be spilled but may give off sparks, and burning it will blacken your cooking pots.
Wood stoves can provide enough heat for any type of cooking. Need more heat? Burn more wood.
Flameless: Solar, chemical.
Flameless stoves belong in the same category as chemical tablet stoves. Though some backpackers habitually and successfully use the chemical tablets, stoves using them are a distinct oddity on the trail. And even more so for stoves that use solar power or flameless chemical substances. These stoves are for the tinkerers who like to experiment and don’t need to have dinner done on time.
Exercises
- Look up backpacking stove prices in as many printed catalogs and on as many web sites as you can find. Make a list, ordering them by category (fuel type, weight, design, materials) and include the average price for each stove. Convert your results into an informative poster and carry it with you as you run errands. Take every opportunity to stop strangers and educate them about what you have learned. Ask if you can come over to their house for dinner sometime, so you can continue your conversation. If they begin backing away, it’s a sign that you’re getting through to them. Don’t give up. Keep talking. If any of them should turn and run, it’s because you’ve gotten them excited, and they’re about to flip. Every good salesman has seen this behavior and knows what to do next. Chase them down. You’ve almost got a fresh convert at this point, so keep at it, even if physical violence ensues. Good luck with that.
- Write an essay about what you learned from this experience. Put little smiley faces and hearts in the margins. Remember — you are doing The Good Work.