Primus EtaPack Lite Stove Questions...

I recently purchased the Primus EtaPack Lite stove online (should arrive tomorrow) and have a few questions for people who have used theirs.

1. What are your recommendations for cleaning the titanium coated pots? I don't want to scratch off the coating and will be using wood or plastic utensils on it exclusively but am curious about what you use to clean the pots. I could only assume cloth or a sponge would be the best thing but what about a sponge with a scratchpad on one side?

2. What brand fuel canisters do you use? Does it make a difference? I know most stove manufacturers recommend using their own brand canisters but from what I gather, this doesn't really make any difference.

3. Have any of you used your fuel canister upside down? Some research I have come across suggests that as long as the stove has some sort of coil to warm the fuel up before it is burned then you should be able to use the canister upside down for use in colder environments. For those of you who have this stove and do not use it upside down how well does this stove seem to work in colder environments?

4. The liners that come for the pots to protect the titanium coating, I read, can also be used as a bowl or plate for eating. I have also read that they are flimsy or break and that you shouldn't. What do you do? Also a side question with regards to these liners, and I know this will probably be a stupid question as I can assume the answer but... could you use the liner in the pot to cook with or would the heat melt the liner?

5. Any tips/tricks/thoughts you have regarding your Primus EtaPack Lite stove would be greatly appreciated.

I'm not familiar with this particular system. The following apply to pretty much any canister stove.

(1) I don't cook in my Ti pot, just boil water to rehydrate dried food (which I do in a freezer bag). I also brew tea in my pot. A quick rinse is sufficient. Do note that if you're doing real cooking, titanium has very poor conductivity--there will be hot spots that burn your food and cold spots. You can overcome this to some extent by constant stirring and moving the pan around on the burner. However, if you want to do real cooking, you're far better off with aluminum pans.

(2) As long as stove and canister both work with a Lindahl valve, it makes no difference what brand you use.

(3) You need a special setup to use a canister upside down. For safety, there needs to be a shutoff valve at both the canister end and the stove end of the tube. In your case you evidently already have the remote canister setup but you need to find out if you can use it with the canister inverted. I definitely would contact Primus about this before trying it. Some say it's OK without the extra valve if the canister is kept lower than the burner. Yes, the inverted canister is much better in below-freezing weather because the propane in the mix doesn't evaporate off. If you don't use the upside down canister, you need to warm up the canister before use. I put mine under my jacket in my armpit for about 20 minutes (a really good waker-upper). You have to keep the canister warm during use, too. There are some BackpackingLight articles about this, but you have to pay for membership to read them.

(4) Per the Primus website, the liner is polypropylene, a form of plastic. You definitely don't want to cook in it--you'll melt it! If you're going to eat out of your pot or out of a freezer bag (what I do), leave the liner at home. Just pad whatever you pack in the pot.

A couple additional comments:

The pot is aluminum and the coating is called "titanium nonstick." I'd treat it just like any teflon coating by using non-metallic utensils, protecting it in transport and guarding against scorching. If it's anything like the Primus Express burner it will create a really hot center spot, so expect to stir a lot.

The burner has a generator tube so inverted canister operation will be possible. Hopefully there's either a rotating connector or the hose isn't too short or stiff to accommodate this. It's a big help in getting the stove to work in cold weather.

I agree the brand of fuel matters very little, especially for inverted use. For non-inverted use, avoid fuel with lots of plain butane.

Primus pic

Enjoy your new stove!

I would only use a scratchpad specifically for nonstick coatings.



Use whichever brand you like, doesn't make a difference, but stay away from no name cheap brands. MSR, Snow Peak, JetBoil, or Primus work okay.



Efficiency will drop a lot but either putting the canister in a pan of water or on a foam pad to insulate it from cold ground/snow helps. You will need a stand of some sort to invert a canister with the Packlite.



They are anything but flimsy. You do not want to use the liner in the pot, it will melt. It's plain old food grade plastic.



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