Backcountry Forum
Backpacking & Hiking Gear

Backcountry Forum
Our long-time Sponsor - the leading source for ultralite/lightweight outdoor gear
 
 
 

Amazon.com
Backpacking Forums
---- Our Gear Store ----
The Lightweight Gear Store
 
 WINTER CAMPING 

Shelters
Bivy Bags
Sleeping Bags
Sleeping Pads
Snow Sports
Winter Kitchen

 SNOWSPORTS 

Snowshoes
Avalanche Gear
Skins
Hats, Gloves, & Gaiters
Accessories

 ULTRA-LIGHT 

Ultralight Backpacks
Ultralight Bivy Sacks
Ultralight Shelters
Ultralight Tarps
Ultralight Tents
Ultralight Raingear
Ultralight Stoves & Cookware
Ultralight Down Sleeping Bags
Ultralight Synthetic Sleep Bags
Ultralight Apparel


the Titanium Page
WM Extremelite Sleeping Bags

 CAMPING & HIKING 

Backpacks
Tents
Sleeping Bags
Hydration
Kitchen
Accessories

 CLIMBING 

Ropes & Cordage
Protection & Hardware
Carabiners & Quickdraws
Climbing Packs & Bags
Big Wall
Rescue & Industrial

 MEN'S APPAREL 

Jackets
Shirts
Baselayer
Headwear
Gloves
Accessories

 WOMEN'S APPAREL 

Jackets
Shirts
Baselayer
Headwear
Gloves
Accessories

 FOOTWEAR 

Men's Footwear
Women's Footwear

 CLEARANCE 

Backpacks
Mens Apparel
Womens Apparel
Climbing
Footwear
Accessories

 BRANDS 

Black Diamond
Granite Gear
La Sportiva
Osprey
Smartwool

 WAYS TO SHOP 

Sale
Clearance
Top Brands
All Brands

 Backpacking Equipment 

Shelters
BackPacks
Sleeping Bags
Water Treatment
Kitchen
Hydration
Climbing


 Backcountry Gear Clearance

Topic Options
Rate This Topic
#177441 - 05/29/13 08:26 AM How many fuel canisters
bjshu96 Offline
member

Registered: 03/18/13
Posts: 16
Loc: Ohio
How many fuel canister do I need for a 4 day/ 3 night hike? Needed for myself and one other person. I'm planning to at least eat every morning and night with a light snack in the afternoon.


Edited by bjshu96 (05/29/13 08:45 AM)

Top
#177445 - 05/29/13 09:06 AM Re: How many fuel canisters [Re: bjshu96]
rockchucker22 Offline
member

Registered: 09/24/12
Posts: 751
Loc: Eastern Sierras
One small canister should be enough, but if your at all worried get one large canister. Or have your friend carry a back up canister.
_________________________
The wind wont howl if the wind don't break.

Top
#177446 - 05/29/13 09:07 AM Re: How many fuel canisters [Re: bjshu96]
Robotmoose Offline
member

Registered: 04/19/13
Posts: 79
this might be something to consider asking your stove's manufacturer about.

Are you planning on heating anything during that afternoon snack?
Boil-in bag meals or actual cooking (EX noodle dishes and the like.)?
What size fuel canisters do you buy?
What is your altitude?
_________________________
"Let us speak courteously, deal fairly, and keep ourselves armed and ready."
"The joy of living is his who has the heart to demand it."
- Theodore Roosevelt

Top
#177451 - 05/29/13 09:43 AM Re: How many fuel canisters [Re: bjshu96]
Pika Online   content
member

Registered: 12/08/05
Posts: 1814
Loc: Rural Southeast Arizona
I plan to use one ounce of fuel per day and usually don't burn all of it. I am usually solo and am a boil water and soak type of cook. All my meals are pre packaged and will rehydrate in boiled water in a freezer bag (actually a Ziplock storage bowl) in an insulated bag. Here is how I cook: breakfast, boil 1.5 cups for coffee and 1 cup for cocoa; lunch, no cooking but will sometimes brew a cup of tea; dinner, boil 1 cup for soup, 1.5-2 cups for main meal and 1 cup for herb tea. As I noted it averages out to a little less than an ounce per day. Most of my hiking is in western mountains and seldom below 6500' elevation.
_________________________
May I walk in beauty.

Top
#177454 - 05/29/13 01:49 PM Re: How many fuel canisters [Re: bjshu96]
aimless Online   content
Moderator

Registered: 02/05/03
Posts: 3292
Loc: Portland, OR
One large (8 oz.) canister ought to do it with fuel to spare, but there are a lot of important factors you leave out of your question.

Fuel use is not affected by how much or how often you eat, but by how often and how much you use your stove. For example, I eat a breakfast, divide my lunch into two smaller meals, and eat a supper, but I only use the stove once a day to cook my supper. The other meals don't require me to fire up the stove. Also, I don't heat water for hot drinks like coffee or tea, except on my rare trips when it is cold weather. That right there drops out a lot of stove use.

How you go about preparing your hot meals also factors in. Some people use the stove to bring water to a boil, then quickly combine their food with that boiling water and place it into a 'cozy' that retains the heat at near the boiling point for quite a while. So, as soon as the water boils they are finished with their stove and can turn it off. Others keep the stove lit and simmer their food until it is ready. Still others like to get elaborate with their meals, with several courses, steps and stages of cooking.

Finally, I use a windscreen, which improves the efficiency of my stove, because none of the heat is blown away from my cooking pot.

All this sort of thing is what we don't know about how you plan to use your stove, so we're somewhat shooting in the dark here.

For myself alone, I tend to have my stove lit for about 15 minutes a day, but never at the highest blast, and I use about a third of an ounce of fuel per day, so that a small (4 oz.) canister will last me more than ten days.

Top
#177456 - 05/29/13 03:36 PM Re: How many fuel canisters [Re: bjshu96]
bjshu96 Offline
member

Registered: 03/18/13
Posts: 16
Loc: Ohio
Thanks for the quick reply.
I'm planning on just boiling enough water to fill dehydrated food bags. So maybe 16 oz of water at a time. I'm unsure of the altitude will be using at the Red river Gorge area in Kentucky.
I will look more in to the larger canisters.

Thanks again for the quick reply.

Top
#177462 - 05/29/13 06:24 PM Re: How many fuel canisters [Re: bjshu96]
OregonMouse Online   content
member

Registered: 02/03/06
Posts: 6799
Loc: Gateway to Columbia Gorge
Try testing on your back patio, starting with cold water (chilled in your refrigerator). Weigh the canister before and after to determine how much fuel is used. That way you know how much fuel is needed for your specific style of cooking. Do this several different times and calculate the average, adding enough for one or two additional meals for "fudge factor." If it's cool outside with a wind, so much the better--more realistic conditions!

You should be testing your meals before you go out, anyway. Nothing more horrible than getting out and discovering that the dinner you had planned as a special treat turns out to be inedible! (Been there, done that! blush )
_________________________
May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view--E. Abbey

Top
#177508 - 05/31/13 05:58 PM Re: How many fuel canisters [Re: bjshu96]
wandering_daisy Offline
member

Registered: 01/11/06
Posts: 2865
Loc: California
For me, a 3-night/4-day trip is at the dividing line between the small and medium canister. What a lot of people here call "large" is really the medium canister. The "large" has the same amount of fuel as two medium canisters. I use a small for 1-3 nights, medium for a 4-7 nights, and large for 10-12 days. For that odd 8-9 day trip I take one small and one medium. I also really cook, not just boil water and like several hot drinks when nights are cold.

I would take the medium at first. After you have backpacked enough to know your needs, you may be able to size down to the small. I seldom use the small canisters because they cost nearly as much as a medium and it is really nice to have extra fuel for more hot drinks or even to warm water to wash my face! The Jet-boil system uses a heat exchanger and if you have this type of system, a small canister should do fine. However, the added weight of the heat exchanger pot just about evens it out in total weight. Experienced backpackers are able to squeeze more cooking out of the small canister, but as a beginner, you may not be as efficient.

Top
#177513 - 05/31/13 06:31 PM Re: How many fuel canisters [Re: wandering_daisy]
OregonMouse Online   content
member

Registered: 02/03/06
Posts: 6799
Loc: Gateway to Columbia Gorge
Where do you find the large? I've never seen them! I'd sure like to have them for long trips instead of taking two medium or a small and a medium! The amount of metal container per the amount of fuel would be a lot less!
_________________________
May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view--E. Abbey

Top
#177518 - 05/31/13 07:35 PM Re: How many fuel canisters [Re: OregonMouse]
Glenn Roberts Online   content
Moderator

Registered: 12/23/08
Posts: 2208
Loc: Southwest Ohio
On a long trip, where you won't be passing resupply points, would the "backup" value of two smaller canisters instead of one larger canister justify the extra 2 or 3 ounces? When I'm planning to spend a week at Isle Royale, where I'll be walking away from the only store and won't swing back by it until the end of the trip, I take 2 small canisters instead of a medium. My thinking is that, if I mess up the threads or jam the valve on one canister, I can still get at half my fuel.

Top
#177521 - 05/31/13 10:09 PM Re: How many fuel canisters [Re: OregonMouse]
wandering_daisy Offline
member

Registered: 01/11/06
Posts: 2865
Loc: California
small(jetboil) = 3.53 oz. gas, 9 oz total weight
medium (jetboil) = 8.11 oz gas, 13 oz total
large (jetboil) = 16 oz gas, 22.7 oz total

each brand may vary slightly.

two smalls (18 oz total) < one medium (12 oz total) 6 oz savings
two mediums (26 oz total) = one large (22.7 oz total) 3.3 oz savings

So, the medium is quite a savings over two smalls. The large is not much difference, although two mediums cost more than one large.

I get the large cans at our REI here. Currently they only carry the Jetboil brand. Several outdoor stores in Wyoming also carry the large canisters. I have never seen a large canister at Walmart, Big5 or other regular outdoor stores.

The only time I mis-threaded a canister, it blew up the entire stove, so having an extra canister would have not made any difference. I a have never had a "dud". Every canister I have purchased has worked fine. It is more likely the stove will malfunction.


Top
#177522 - 05/31/13 10:51 PM Re: How many fuel canisters [Re: wandering_daisy]
OregonMouse Online   content
member

Registered: 02/03/06
Posts: 6799
Loc: Gateway to Columbia Gorge
I've never had a dud, either. My only exploding stove was an MSR Whisperlite gasoline stove. But the Portland area REI stores don't carry the 16 oz canisters, or at least not any time i've been there (admittedly, I don't go very often). Bummer! Next time I go to Wyoming (probably the only place I'll do a ten-dayer) I'll check the Great Outdoors Shop in Pinedale. Or get a recommendation from you for Lander if I go to the east side.

Those containers do weigh something, and, as I mentioned, the larger the container, the less the weight of the container compared to the weight of the fuel it contains. Plus the valves are the same size for each.

_________________________
May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view--E. Abbey

Top
#177547 - 06/02/13 11:41 PM Re: How many fuel canisters [Re: wandering_daisy]
finallyME Offline
member

Registered: 09/24/07
Posts: 2710
Loc: Utah
I have only seen the big canisters at REI as well. Jetboil brand.
_________________________
I've taken a vow of poverty. To annoy me, send money.

Top

Shout Box

Highest Quality Lightweight Down Sleeping Bags
 
Western Mountaineering Sleeping Bags
 
Lite Gear Talk - Featured Topics
Backcountry Discussion - Featured Topics
Make Your Own Gear - Featured Topics
Featured Photos
Spiderco Chaparral Pocketknife
David & Goliath
Also Testing
Trip Report with Photos
Seven Devils, Idaho
Oat Hill Mine Trail 2012
Dark Canyon - Utah
Who's Online
0 registered (), 241 Guests and 0 Spiders online.
Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
Newest Members
Noodles, McCrary, DanyBacky, Rashy Willia, WanderBison
13240 Registered Users
Forum Links
Disclaimer
Policies
Site Links
Backpacking.net
Lightweight Gear Store
Backpacking Book Store
Lightweight Zone
Hiking Essentials

Our long-time Sponsor, BackcountryGear.com - The leading source for ultralite/lightweight outdoor gear:

Backcountry Forum
 

Affiliate Disclaimer: This forum is an affiliate of BackcountryGear.com, Amazon.com, R.E.I. and others. The product links herein are linked to their sites. If you follow these links to make a purchase, we may get a small commission. This is our only source of support for these forums. Thanks.!
 
 

Since 1996 - the Original Backcountry Forum
Copyright © The Lightweight Backpacker & BackcountryForum