What about upright canister stoves, what's available for them? An upright canister stove is the type where the stove screws right into the top of the canister. With a "long" canister like the cheap 100% butane ones, it's most practical to lay them on their side -- which would leave your stove pointing sideways. What we need is an adapter with a 90° angle.
Turns out there is just such an adapter.
A butane adapter intended for upright canister stoves |
The legs fold up underneath for storage. Nice feature.
A butane adapter for upright canister stoves with the legs folded underneath. |
This butane adapter has two hooks, a larger one (bottom) and a smaller one (top). |
The smaller hook fits through the notch on the canister. |
A canister rotated and locked into place on the butane adapter. |
The threaded connector on top of a three legged butane adapter. |
Well, let's hook it up and see how it goes. Today's stove is a Markill Hot Rod. Note the striking similarity of the burner to the burner on a Vargo Jet-Ti, a Kovea SupaLite, and a Snow Peak LiteMax. Note also the similarity of the valve to the Snow Peak GigaPower (GS-100) stove. Apparently, stove companies contract out their work to a relative few factories in Korea and China.
A Markill Hot Rod upright canister stove |
An upright canister stove hooked to a cheap 100% butane canister via a three legged butane adapter. |
p |
An upright canister stove running on cheap 100% butane. |
A windscreen in use with a stove running with a butane adapter. |
I experienced no problems with the set up above on a relatively cool day (approx. 50F/10C ambient temperature), with the stove shown. Every day and every stove is different. Monitor your stove closely.
DISCUSSION
This adapter is clearly the best of the lot. It has an internal valve so you won't spray butane all over if you forget to hook up the stove first. It has legs that are reasonably stable and prevent the canister from rolling. Recall that if the canister rolls, you could have a dangerous, uncontrolled flare. I can see that this adapter could be useful for day hikes, picnics, car camping, motor touring, etc. in warm weather (recall that 100% butane needs to be at or above 40F/5C for there to be sufficient operating pressure and that the canister will chill with use).
However, for serious backpacking, I don't see it, at least for me. First, it's extra weight (78g/2.75oz). Second, it's more bulk. Third, it's extra fiddling (not bad though). Lastly, that connection is not as secure as a regular backpacking connection. In field conditions, could that connection work loose? Somewhat unlikely, but it could happen, and that could be bad, very bad, if the gas were to continue to flow but the connection were loose. Something to at least consider.
I will give this adapter a somewhat tentative "recommended" rating. It is up to the individual to determine whether the adapter is useful for his or her particular style of stove use.
Thanks for joining me on another Adventure in Stoving.
HJ
Technical Appendix -- Weights
Here is a table of weights of some of the adapters and accessories I have recently discussed.
Brunton Canister Stand 19g/0.67oz
Butane adapter, no legs 29g/1.02oz
Butane adapter, two legs 38g/1.34oz
Butane adapter, three legs 78g/2.75oz
Kovea propane adapter 105g/3.70oz
Brunton Stove Stand 145g/5.11oz
great review, thanks!
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome.
ReplyDeleteHJ
Kovea makes a remote hose and stove stand for butane canisters.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ebay.com/itm/KOVEA-COBRA-ADAPTER-ADD-HOSE-TYPE-GAS-NOZZLE-MORE-SAFE-MORE-CONVENIENCE-/130636310554?_trksid=p3286.m7&_trkparms=algo%3DLVI%26itu%3DUCI%26otn%3D3%26po%3DLVI%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D6516447645275779577
Yes, they do. I've got one, and it looks good although I haven't tested it yet. I'm not sure if it will be popular in the US market or not. Most people don't take 100% butane fuel seriously.
ReplyDeleteHJ
Thanks for this review.
ReplyDelete