Trangia multi fuel burner

[Allan Crawford]

Anyone got or have any experience of this burner ? I hope to burn unleaded petrol on boat fishing trips as I always have plenty of petrol rather than using gas cartridges.

[Black-Don]

I've got a trangia meths burner, ran out of meths once and tried petrol. The results were not good  :shock:

[River Chatter]

I think the Trangia burner is similar to other pressurised multifuel types like Whisperlight and Dragonfly. Never used one but I've heard they are noisy and can be unreliable if not looked after and maintained/cleaned. Last thing you need is unreliability when isolated and hungry I reckon. What's wrong with burning meths anyway... reliable and unlike petrol cheaper than beer.

[Fishtales]

It seems a lot of money for a pressure bottle and burner when you can get the whole lot for less if you go for the original.

Or even less for the Swedish army one

http://www.factsurplus.co.uk/product/57

Here is a review on the multi fuel burner.

http://www.bushcraftliving.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3458

They don't recommend petrol

[StuDoig]

I've a optimus multi-fuel stove as well as a wee light gas canister one, and to be honest 8/10 now I tend to use the gas for the weight saving.

Multi-Fuel Stoves are pretty expensive comparitvely - Firstly I'd ask yourself if you really need one.  You do need to maintain them, especially if you are using a "dirty" fuel like petrol - it'll clogg up pretty quickly, and you need to make sure the plunger doesn't dry out or you get no pressure and no tea!!!  That said, I've used petrol of 4 weeks without stripping and cleaning (just shacking out the jets) on an alps trip and the stove didn't pack in or fail once, though by the end was burning more dirtily than at the start.

I would never say they are unreliable (if looked after), but do have more parts to go wrong than a traditional style Trangia so its handy to have a few spare parts with you (pungers, o-rings, mineral oil lube, that kind of thing).

If you do go ahead, I'd burn either coleman fuel (v. expensive) or Chainsaw fuel (T22 or something similar, I'd have to go look) which is massively cheaper and just as clean and compatible with any stove that can burn petrol.

One definite advantage in a boat over the trangia is that you dont have a spillable pot of meths burning away...........

If you are doing day trips and want to take advantage of having a jerry can of unleaded with you anyway, I don't see a big downside, except you'll prob. have to clean the stove out ever trip with may become tiresome.

If you want hassel free, and don't want to play the "is that enough gas left for a brew" game and hence end up with either cold tea or loads of almost empty gas cylinders then maybe a regular trangia though I'd always be very cautious of the fact they can be spilt.

Cheers,

Stu

[Allan Crawford]

Thanks for all the advice, usually use gas cannisters with my trangia which for the most part works well, but these are not cheap and you never know how long they will last which is the main problem. Its not really about money as the cost of this burner would buy a lot of meths. When out for a few nights using the boat I always have plenty of petrol so no need to worried about if I have enough fuel for cooking?  :?

Probably 25 years since I first used a meths burner and a great simple system !
Limited experience from my climbing days of other peoples MSR stoves which worked great when you got them going. Ok so you have to do a bit of maintenance but combining a multi fuel stove with the trangia system could make a great stove?

[StuDoig]

Have been using my meths triangia for 10 yrs and still its going strong; the little screw down lid for the burner broke up some 3 yrs after new but tbh I don't use it so its not a problem, put only as much meths in as you need and then once finished, let it burn dry. I use a wee pad of roofing insulation 'rockwool' as a 'wick' in the middle of the burner - helps to get it lit no end! In 10 yrs I have never had it spill and have happily used it in boats, caves, mtns, lochsides. riverbanks... brilliant bit of kit IMO. I have looked at the multi fuel ones but have never been keen - the meths I buy for ?1.25 a bottle in my local ironmongers; can't beat that price anywhere!

E.

Aye, no Doubt - when I first started walking / camping I had a mini trangia (same burner, different pot / mount set) and absoluely rate them as indestructable.  The mini was a lot less stable than the regular tho so maybe thats why I'd be suspicous.  I did amusingly see a boil off between a MSR and a trangia where the trangia one too - the inherently wind shielded setup carried the day I think!

Have to challenge you on the fuel though.  chainsaw fuel for the multi-stove is only about ?5-6 for a 5l drum last time I bought it!!  :makefun

The multi-fules de-finately have their failings, to be honest unless I was heading somewhere I didn't expect to find much available in the way of gas canisters etc I'd probably not justify the expense od one!

Cheers,

Stu

[Allan Crawford]

http://www.buachaille.com/p631-3-30/Stoves-and-Cooking/MSR-Dragonfly-Stove.html

These run of petrol and get a great review, not sure I want to risk trangia burner without speaking to some one who has experience with one, as already mentioned there not cheap ! MSR guarantine and after sales service sounds good.

[StuDoig]

The MSR model there is good, has and has a good track record.  spares parts and service kits are easy to come by too.  For me a big flaw in them though is that the pump assembly is plastic and I've known 3 seperate people who have broken these leaving the stove useless.  IMO models with a metal pump assembly, though a little heavier are much more durible and reliable.

That said, I'm sure most people who use them have done so without any breakages!

If your set on a multi-fuel, have you looked at the primus omi fuel?  It can be used either as a liquid fuel stove or from a gas cannister.

Stu

[River Chatter]

Nowt wrong with the meths burner IMO.  Here's a pic of some  chorizo and rice I made to try out in my garden, which used one burner full of meths to cook and took about 15 minutes:

[attachimg=1]