Wednesday 23 February 2011

meths stove priming

I got this tip from Grant, friend and fellow BPC member. He is a big fan of meths stoves and owns several different models. His trick is to use a tea light to warm the stove and the fuel making it easy to light and get up to speed. Now this tip only works with certain types of stove such as the Vargo Triad or the redoubtable Trangia but I felt it was worth sharing.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

How exactly do you use the tea light and why? I'm new to meths stoves.
I saw one of your earleier posts about you beig able to fit the Scarp 1 into the front pocket of your Jam sac. Please share!

baz carter said...

The tea light is set under the stove and is used to pre-heat the stove and fuel, so the stove gets up to speed quicker. This is especially useful in the colder months.

As for the Scarp1 I generally pack the tent in one of the side pockets not the front pocket.

Martin Brice said...

Squaddies in the Falklands used to use cigarette lighter fluid: a squirt on to the cold meths lights very easily and the heat from that flame then in turn heats the very top layer of the meths, which then lights. You can see the colour of the flame change as the effect takes place. This is much easier than anything else and I have used this technique in cold weather for lighting meths for years and years. OK there is a weight penalty of carrying the cigarette ligjter fluid but this is a very easy method.

baz carter said...

Useful tip especially for those stoves that you cant get a tea light under.