Trangia Cooker(s)

“I have found that in a really cold conditions that the meths needs to warm up before you can use it... Is there anything that you can put in the meths so that it will light easier... I also work in a Hotel & have seen a Gelatine burners (which is meth based). Does anyone know how to make that stuff??? Thanks.”

“Standard procedure is to use a priming cup to warm up the fuel first I think.

http://www.trangia.se/english/2925.original_accessories.html”

“trick I use in the cold with alcohol (meths) stoves is to use a match and touch the flame from the match to the surface of the alcohol (in other words don't dunk the match in the alcohol). If you don't have a match take a twig or some pine straw - dip the twig in the alcohol, light the twig and then use the twig as if it was a match

other choices are 1.) to warm the stove up by holding the flame under the stove for a short time - 15 to 30 seconds 2.) put a small toilet paper twist wick into the alcohol and then light the wick 3.)keep a small bottle of alcohol warm in your pocket and fill stove just before lighting the stove

Gelatine burners (aka Sterno burners) are even harder to light in the cold and have no real advantage other than safety - they won't spill if tipped over.”

“I've been in temps so low the alcohol put a match out. I have the Trangia with the screw on cap so I just fill it up and stick it in my coat in my arm pit.”

“Yum Nigal, sounds like good eatin'.”

“Nigal - that is why I say _touch_ the flame to the surface of the alcohol - just tossing the match in will not work in the cold you need to hold the match so that the flame touches the surface of the alcohol - this locally gets the alcohol burning and after a couple seconds its self sustaining”

“I want a triangia.”

“i've had lots of success with HOI's suggestion number 1”

““Nigal - that is why I say _touch_ the flame to the surface of the alcohol - just tossing the match in will not work in the cold you need to hold the match so that the flame touches the surface of the alcohol - this locally gets the alcohol burning and after a couple seconds its self sustaining”

I never said I was just tossing in a match Silly Bunny. :P”

“Silly Bunny?

LOL”

“well Nigal if you were not tossing the match in then what did you do that caused the match to go out without igniting the alcohol? In other words I have never had a failure with the touch the flame to the surface of the alcohol method. Now perhaps it is some peculiarity of the Trangia because I have never used a Trangia but I am interested in how it can fail.”

“My only guess was it was because it was colder than a witch's tit. [shrugs shoulders]”

“Thanks for that guys... I will see my mix of meths & tupres goes, I hope that I don't melt the cooker (lol)... It's only a really small amount of tupres anyway... :)”

“Ok you got me this time - what is tupres?”

“nigal was probably in a drunken stupor and drank his fuel alcohol...what he was actually trying to light was a warm cup of his own pee”

“turps = turpentine (typo).”

“Monkeys with matches--OOppss, go to jail pay $75.”

“well with turpentine you should be able to see the flame if nothing else

I usually put a little salt in the main alcohol fuel bottle to cause the flame to be seen without any soot
last edited: 4/11/08 12:52:37 PM”

“Thanks for the fix on the typo, I have a bad habbit of mis-spelling words... Never knew about the salt trick... I am hoping that the Turps will make it easier to light, given it has a strong smell to it & that should be more flameable than the meths. Turps has a flameable rating of 3 where as meths is 2.4 (looked at the bottle). Whats your thoughts?”

“beats me - I never tried that mix - did try mixing some naptha in but it did not make a noticeable difference in ease of lighting - it was not particularly cold when I tried that mix so it might have been more obvious in the cold”

“kiwit, Why are you not using denatured alcohol?”

“Ib, Two basic reason, a I don't what denatured alcohol is or where to get it from. 2 (b) I already have the turps here from cleaning paint brushs.”

“Probably on the same shelf as the turps. in the hardware/paint store.”

“denatured alcohol = methylated spirits - typically a mix of ethanol with methanol to poison it”

“so what's better? Denatured alcy or turp???”

“kewit are you in the US?
You can purchase denatured alchol at a paint store or hardware shop.you may be able to purchase at a pharmacy. Just thoughts.
Denatured make a change of state from a low temperature/vapor liquid to a high pressure vapor thus allowing the gas to ignite.
Turpintine contains too much oil for this to happen, efficintly. It will soot and your food will smell and tase like turp.”

“I second what jerbear says especially about the turpentine. I guess you could use isopropyl alcohol instead of denatured alcohol but you will need vastly more burning surface area to get it to fire off properly. If you are using a soft drink can stove you might try taking a piece of thin wall cardboard and rolling it up to about 3/4 the diameter of the can. The height will vary with the height of the can stove. Bind the roll together with a piece of metal wire. Place it in the can. This will serve as a wick and the isopropyl alcohol will now have the surface area it needs to burn. But you do know that the isopropyl alcohol you get at the pharmacy, which I think you guys in NZ call a chemist shop, has about 90 percent water in the mix? There's not a lot of heat value Btus/lbm in it. You would be much better off to find the denatured variety.”

“jerbear - kiwitramper is most likely from New Zealand

denatured alcohol is also called shellac thinner”

“well, he /she need to find another source of fuel other that turps/meth. Again for the stove to work, a change of stat must occur.”