EISPIRATEN

Stove of the Week: MSR Simmerlite

HJ

Great review on the stoves, Jim! I enjoy reading your blog.

Question:

I recently bought a MSR WindPro as my new cold weather, alpine stove and I want to be able to use inverted canisters on it. The stock configuration of the fuel line makes it hard to invert the canister. Do you have any tricks on how I could "adjust" the fuel line to make it work?

Thanks!

GigaMike wrote: ↑Great review on the stoves, Jim! I enjoy reading your blog.

Question:

I recently bought a MSR WindPro as my new cold weather, alpine stove and I want to be able to use inverted canisters on it. The stock configuration of the fuel line makes it hard to invert the canister. Do you have any tricks on how I could "adjust" the fuel line to make it work?

Thanks!

Mike,

First off, I think the WindPro is an an excellent choice for "intermediate" cold weather (0F - 32f). The WindPro, coincidentally is one of my light weight winter stove recommendations and is the planned subject of my blog this week.

On my WindPro, the line is flexible enough that I don't need to do anything in order to operate the canister in inverted mode. I just make sure I have a pot on the stove (or you'll flip the stove), and that the wind screen is in place so the fuel line as it loops around doesn't get too much heat (uh, that would be bad). I also make sure I have something to lean the canister on. In the photo below, the canister is resting against a z-lite.


However, if your line for some reason isn't very flexible, there is a little brass nut at the end of the fuel line where it attaches to the canister connector. Loosen that nut. Rotate the connector. Tighten the nut. Note that this could be very dangerous. If gas escapes through this connection for some reason, that could be bad. Real bad.

My preference is to not mess with the connector but rather to twist the hose while moving the canister closer to the stove. It's OK to move the canister closer to the stove IF you have the windscreen in place. My usual proviso applies: use the "ouch" test. Touch the canister every so often. If at any time, the canister feels hot to the touch, back it off or turn it off.

If you decide to loosen up the brass fitting, you'll need an open ended wrench. The included MSR wrench/tool cannot be used (well, unless you're willing to disassemble the stove maybe).

Hope that helps.

HJ

Addenda:

Oh, and the recommended way to use a stove in inverted canister mode is to start the stove in normal mode, let the stove get hot, turn down the flame to low, and invert the canister, keeping the canister low the entire time.

The stove will surge a bit when you invert the canister because of the physics of a liquid turning rapidly to gas. Keeping the canister low and turning the flame down low help keep the surge to a minimum. You may already know all that, but just in case. Pardon me if I state the obvious.

Since it's recommended that you start the stove first and then invert the canister, do you really want to be loosening connections while the stove is burning? Hope you've got really steady hands. And if you're tired, border line hypothermic, hypoxic, really cold hands, etc? For me I think I'll stick with just rotating the whole hose. KISS, you know.

HJ

Thanks for info, Jim! I agree with you about loosening the nut and rotating the connecter. I did try this but the connector seemed as if it was "one piece" and I couldn't rotate it. I didn't want to force it. The gas line is flexible but it wants to flip either the stove over of the fule can, but it will work as you say.

I have been using a SnowPeak whitegas stove during the winters, but it was a pain to use (compared to a canister stove) and the fuel is messy. I bought the WindPro on recommendation from grand master alpine climber Steve House.

Looking forward to your review on this stove.

GigaMike wrote: ↑Thanks for info, Jim! I agree with you about loosening the nut and rotating the connecter. I did try this but the connector seemed as if it was "one piece" and I couldn't rotate it. I didn't want to force it. The gas line is flexible but it wants to flip either the stove over of the fule can, but it will work as you say.

I have been using a SnowPeak whitegas stove during the winters, but it was a pain to use (compared to a canister stove) and the fuel is messy. I bought the WindPro on recommendation from grand master alpine climber Steve House.

Looking forward to your review on this stove.

Hey, Mike,

Yeah, inverting the canister is mildly annoying, but if you prop the canister against a rock or your pack or something, it works. Of course not being able to get your stove working in cold weather is even more annoying.

You got any pix of that Snow Peak stove? They're comparatively rare in the US. Been wanting to see one of those.

I'll concur with Steve House's recommendation on the WindPro. I give it the Hikin' Jim "two thumbs up." I like the Xtreme even better, but the WindPro is a good choice. The Xtreme uses aluminum fuel canisters; the WindPro uses steel. A 300g canister for the Xtreme weighs less than a 110g canister for the WindPro. Excellent fuel-to-weight ratio. And no fiddling with inverting the canister. Of course the WindPro's fuel is more widely available, and generally only used Xtremes are available because Coleman has discontinued production.

HJ