canister stove windscreens

Posted by: Paul

canister stove windscreens - 06/21/09 12:28 AM

If anyone has made a windscreen for their canister-type stove - especially if you have a Coleman exponent - could you please post photos of what you came up with and comment on how well it has worked?
Posted by: Jimshaw

Re: canister stove windscreens - 06/21/09 01:24 AM

Paul
The xponent stoves are tall and powerful. You might use a wide variety of pan sizes with it. The best windscreen that I've found for it is an old MSR tin windscreen about 6 inches wide because I can easily adjust the size or leave a side open if I want to, and since I use ti pans with folding handles I may not want to focus the flames onto the handle.
Jim
Posted by: lori

Re: canister stove windscreens - 06/21/09 11:46 PM

Unless you have one of the remote canister models a windscreen is probably not a good idea - overheating the canister would probably launch your ti pot into orbit.
Posted by: Pika

Re: canister stove windscreens - 06/22/09 09:30 AM

Like Jimshaw, I use the MSR aluminum windscreen with my Snow Peak Giga stove. I have trimmed it a bit and use it loosely around the stove to minimize any potential heat buildup. It is placed nearest the stove and pot on the windward side and is never used to tightly enclose the stove.

But, I also have made a small circular heat reflector that fits between the canister and the stove. It is just a piece of aluminum flashing about 4" in diameter with a 1" hole in the center. It goes into place when I screw the stove to the canister and serves to shield the canister from the hot part of the stove.

I keep pretty close tabs on the canister temperature when I am using the wind shield setup and I have never had it get warmer than body temperature when the reflector was in place.
Posted by: Rick

Re: canister stove windscreens - 06/23/09 08:31 PM

Anybody have experirnce with this Primus Universal Windscreen ? Primus lists the weight at 2.1 oz (60 gm).
Posted by: Cesar

Re: canister stove windscreens - 06/25/09 03:33 PM

Has anyone tried using a magnet or hold or press the windscreen against the pot on canister top stoves. his way it can be up off the ground to not cover the canister but sill able to shield the flame from wind. I haven't tried it yet but been meaning to... Harbor Freight sells tiny earth magnets that seem strong enough and probably weigh next to nothing. I just don't know how they will react to heat.
Posted by: sleddog

Re: canister stove windscreens - 06/25/09 03:48 PM

Rare earth magnets will demagnetize when heated. I tried using one to seal a pressurized pop can stove but it demagnetized the first time I used it.
Posted by: chimpac

Re why cook in the wind - 06/28/09 01:04 PM

A centerpole chimney and attached stove only weigh 2lbs. You can be inside out of the wind. Read my posts for pictures and arguments, google chimpac or centerpole chimney.
Posted by: finallyME

Re: Re why cook in the wind - 06/29/09 09:36 AM

Originally Posted By chimpac
A centerpole chimney and attached stove only weigh 2lbs. You can be inside out of the wind. Read my posts for pictures and arguments, google chimpac or centerpole chimney.


So, what does someone do when they are not allowed to use a fire, and are also in a hot area and don't want to heat the tent/tarp up? A windscreen around a canister is meant to make it more efficient. The user might not want to get out of the wind, because the wind is cool and not stifling hot.
Posted by: chimpac

Re: Re why cook in the wind - 06/30/09 01:25 AM

Set the tarp as a shade in hot weather, use a shorter summer stove and burn only one or two pieces of wood, a small cooking fire. It is not an open fire it's in a fully enclosed stove so it should be allowed. No sparks come from the chimney because it has an internal baffle(no spark arrester is needed). The draughts caused by the air flowing to the stove and upward helps keep it comfortable in the shade on a sunny day. A wood burning stove cannot burn a small fire of only one or two small pieces of wood if it is not mounted vertical with a concentrated bottom draft. This same outfit is nice to have in the mountains when it rains or even snows in summer. It is just a matter of nailing down the tarp to make it weather tight.
Posted by: TurkeyBacon

Re: canister stove windscreens - 06/30/09 07:56 AM

While I was on the AT I saw someone do this to an MSR stove. The wind screen was about four inches tall and supported by wires connecting from holes on the pot supports of the stove to the bottom of the windscreen. His MSR had holes perfect to connect the wires. The windscreen was above the control knob and it wasn't hot enough to prevent him from using the control knob.
That primus thing looks pretty cool too.
Scott
Posted by: Paul

Re: Re why cook in the wind - 06/30/09 09:29 PM

Unfortunately that won't work for me, as I am usually in areas where no fires are allowed - not from a fire danger point of view but because the alpine environment has so little wood that campfires using up the downed wood have a negative impact on the environment.
Posted by: rambler

Re: Re why cook in the wind - 06/30/09 10:47 PM

Snow Peak makes a wind screen for their canister stoves:

http://www.snowpeak.com/back/stoves/ultralight.html

Make a lightweight clone out of an aluminum cooking pan. Then using three layers of heavy duty aluminum foil make a chimney that goes up the sides of your pot and rests in the windscreen supported by the walls.
Note that the wind screen is made to fit above the canister, so the canister will not be overheated or heated at all.
The slits fit over the pot supports and the round hole fits over the burner with a slot for the ignitor.
Posted by: phat

Re: Re why cook in the wind - 07/01/09 04:31 PM


And wake Jim Shaw up and get him to repost the pictures of his homemade windscreen for his canister stove - it looks very good.
Posted by: Cesar

Re: Re why cook in the wind - 07/01/09 06:38 PM

don't ask my how I remembered but I ran in to those pics a while back while searching the threads.....
Here is link to thread Click here for thread and Jims images.

Posted by: lori

Re: Re why cook in the wind - 07/02/09 10:34 AM

I generally don't build a fire unless it's a large group, when we sometimes do for ambiance at the end of the day, when we are able to. Many areas we go forbid wood fires.

2 lbs makes it car camping gear, for me. If something weighs 2 lbs in my pack, it also has three different uses or is an absolute necessity, like a bear can in Yosemite. My stoves weigh less than 3 oz apiece. My solo cook kit weighs 8 oz. While I'm sure some people would find it worthy of carrying a couple pounds to cook with, I only boil water and don't need it.
Posted by: Jimshaw

Re: Re why cook in the wind - 07/03/09 07:35 PM

Hi phat,
hi Caesar,
I'm either taking that stove to the Sierras or an older Primus burner about 3.5 inches across, as we may be doing some delicate gourmet cooking. In 3 weeks I'm going to the Sierras west of Lake Tahoe with my camping girlfriend on our annual 2 night BP trip number 7.

I've used the stove ever since titanium pans first came out, so I cut the bottom off of a SS pan. You have to have the right burner or one you can modify to firmly attach in place. This was originally a hanging stove, it just needs the 3 bead chain hangers put back on. The "stove" complete weighs 7 oz. You could use a titanium stove and pot and maybe get it down to 5. I'm not experienced with working titanium myself.

The large air holes are very important so it doesn't give off extra carbon monoxide. The ancient 35mm film can over the "air intake" hole on the tube going into the burner, protects the intake from the wind. The fire pan above protects the flame side from the wind.

Note the 9.3 on the can. I weigh them so I know how much is in each can so I can take used cans and know exactly how many cups of coffee they'll brew.


Thanks for thinking of me. If I have any claim at all to this concept, I have already giving my interest freely to anyone who can benefit from it.
Jim crazy
Posted by: MountainMinstrel

Re: Re why cook in the wind - 07/05/09 05:16 PM

If it does not have a shut off valve, it is considered an open fire.
Posted by: chimpac

Re: Re why cook in the wind - 07/06/09 10:22 AM

So sometimes wood cannot be burned and you have the extra frieght of carrying liquid fuel.The fact remains that cooking safely inside with a chimney makes camping in cooler weather so much better. It is easy to put a chimney on a liquid burning stove.
A small tapered centerpole chimney weighs one pound, made in 20" sections that can be rolled up in a sleep pad. A sleeved butt joint is used to make it strong enough to bear the weight of a shelter or boil water in an attachment on top of the chimney out side the tent. The extra weight is really worth it in colder weather but I use it in all seasons with a tarp that
serves as a shade in summer venting away the heat from the stove.
Posted by: lori

Re: Re why cook in the wind - 07/06/09 11:07 AM

Originally Posted By chimpac
So sometimes wood cannot be burned and you have the extra frieght of carrying liquid fuel.The fact remains that cooking safely inside with a chimney makes camping in cooler weather so much better. It is easy to put a chimney on a liquid burning stove.
A small tapered centerpole chimney weighs one pound, made in 20" sections that can be rolled up in a sleep pad. A sleeved butt joint is used to make it strong enough to bear the weight of a shelter or boil water in an attachment on top of the chimney out side the tent. The extra weight is really worth it in colder weather but I use it in all seasons with a tarp that
serves as a shade in summer venting away the heat from the stove.


If I were a winter person, I'd get a pulk and one of these:
http://hikinghq.net/forum/showthread.php?t=2496

The rest of the year it's my 8 oz cooking kit for me. Your "worth it" varies widely, obviously.
Posted by: finallyME

Re: Re why cook in the wind - 07/12/09 12:01 AM

Originally Posted By lori



The rest of the year it's my 8 oz cooking kit for me. Your "worth it" varies widely, obviously.


Yeah, why carry 2 pounds when you don't have to, and it doesn't add to any comfort level. Winter below 0F is a different story.
Posted by: Paul

Re: canister stove windscreens - 08/06/09 11:54 PM

Well, I ended up getting a foil windscreen from antigravitygear. similar to the MSR windscreen, but they offer three different heights. I got the tallest one they had, and it works pretty well. I think it improves the heating efficiency of the stove as well, even when there is no wind. I can fold it up and fit it into the pot along with the stove and canister.