A lesson in thermodynamics and a nice cup of tea

[Agent_zed]

Just back from a trip to france. We stopped in one of the service areas on the way down through france and I got out the portable gas stove to boil some water.

The temperature was at or below 0 degrees so a cup of tea was quite appealing.

Started the stove and it had a nice flame on the burner put the pot on and noticed the flame getting smaller and smaller until it was barely alight. thought perhaps I'd run out of gas so stopped the stove and took out the canister and gave it a shake and was clear there was still gas in there.

Tinkered for a while wondering if the valve wasn't seating correctly or something as it is a lever system to push the valve in.

reconnected and again big flame then reducing to almost nothing.

repeated the above and thinking through what was happening...

Then it dawned on me and I tipped some of the water over the regulator/pipe part... instantly the flame lept back to full strength!!

Turns out the little pipe that carries the gas from the regulator to the burner was freezing up. As the outside air temp was so low there was no chance for it to clear itself.

It probably wouldn't have happened if it were one of the ones that sit on the top of the canister but this one has a remote canister so there is a copper connection pipe.

had to tip a bit of water on the pipe/regulator a few times whilst boiling the water to restore the flame.

Eventually got a cup of tea but a lot more effort than I'd thought it was going to take.

As per secondary school science lessons - Evaporation causes cooling!

 

[Sideways]

Hikers etc buy gas canisters with a mix of butane and propane. The mix has a lower freezing point so these keep going hotter and longer in cold conditions.
There are also stove designs (even gas ones) that place the evaporator tube in or near the flame to provide the heat needed to keep evaporation going.
Useful reminder, cheers

 

[spiritburner]

That will teach you for using a gas stove, next time get your trusty primus out that works in all weather conditions !! Failing that make a small windbreak that goes around the base of the stove and feed valve etc to try and keep the heat in down there which will stop the gas from freezing.

That's why my nickname is spiritburner, sadly I collect old "primus" stoves as well!!

Gas is fine but as the poster above has said in needs to be a Propane/Butane mix.

The best ever stove for the cold is either a Trangia which uses Meths ( denatured alcohol for our American cousins) or a SVEA123 made by SVEA and Optimus.

It's what most alpine explorers still use today when they go up Everest. They never fail to work. Although trying to make a hot cup of tea on the top of Everest is virtually impossible as water boils at 68ºc so it is not that hot!

Take a look here :-

The best site in the world for classic camp stoves and lights

 

[treeturner123]

That will teach you for using a gas stove, next time get your trusty primus out that works in all weather conditions !! Failing that make a small windbreak that goes around the base of the stove and feed valve etc to try and keep the heat in down there which will stop the gas from freezing.

That's why my nickname is spiritburner, sadly I collect old "primus" stoves as well!!

Gas is fine but as the poster above has said in needs to be a Propane/Butane mix.

The best ever stove for the cold is either a Trangia which uses Meths ( denatured alcohol for our American cousins) or a SVEA123 made by SVEA and Optimus.

It's what most alpine explorers still use today when they go up Everest. They never fail to work. Although trying to make a hot cup of tea on the top of Everest is virtually impossible as water boils at 68ºc so it is not that hot!

Take a look here :-

The best site in the world for classic camp stoves and lights

And I thought Philately was a bit niche!!

 

[spiritburner]

And I thought Philately was a bit niche!!

not a chance, I have around 100 and several that are over 100 years old and quite valuable around 900gbp, I have a friend 100 km s north of me near Girona who has around 1500 stoves and he knows someone in Mexico who has around 8,000 and has turned his house into a Museum......

I'm not that sad I have to admit well perhaps but as an Engineer I love the mechanics of the Primus and its various clones, the fact that is was designed around 120 years ago and that it was designed to do one thing , do it well with maximum efficiency and that the design has not changed in over that 120 years,

It still works perfectly be it 120 years old or brand new.

Also its is a lot better than gas

 

[John Brown]

And I thought Philately was a bit niche!!

Philately gets you nowhere.

 

[Fergie 307]

Hikers etc buy gas canisters with a mix of butane and propane. The mix has a lower freezing point so these keep going hotter and longer in cold conditions.
There are also stove designs (even gas ones) that place the evaporator tube in or near the flame to provide the heat needed to keep evaporation going.
Useful reminder, cheers

How a car LPG system works. The evaporator is linked in to the engine cooling system to heat it up.

 

[Fergie 307]

We used to always use a windbreaker made from an old metal cooking oil tin, about 20l capacity cylinder. Cut the top off and just less than half the side. Fold the edges so it doesn't cut you, hey presto. Not much use hiking as too big, but good for carrying in the car.

 

[Agent_zed]

That will teach you for using a gas stove, next time get your trusty primus out that works in all weather conditions !! Failing that make a small windbreak that goes around the base of the stove and feed valve etc to try and keep the heat in down there which will stop the gas from freezing.

That's why my nickname is spiritburner, sadly I collect old "primus" stoves as well!!

Gas is fine but as the poster above has said in needs to be a Propane/Butane mix.

The best ever stove for the cold is either a Trangia which uses Meths ( denatured alcohol for our American cousins) or a SVEA123 made by SVEA and Optimus.

It's what most alpine explorers still use today when they go up Everest. They never fail to work. Although trying to make a hot cup of tea on the top of Everest is virtually impossible as water boils at 68ºc so it is not that hot!

Take a look here :-

The best site in the world for classic camp stoves and lights

Yeah I made a little windbreak on 3 sides with me on the 4th but to no avail, just too cold.

Hadn't really thought about the likelihood of it being so cold as we were only mid-france at the time. It was actually significantly colder than the Alps at 1500m.

I had considered the spirit burners but A. I had the gas stove (in a nice plastic case) kicking around and B. I'm not familiar with burning meths and it seems like it is slightly more dangerous than just turning my gas stove on and off.

On the bright side it was so cold it only took a few minutes for the stove to be stone cold when I finished so no worries packing it back up.