Backpacking Stove Safety

Whether at campsite or backpacking, safety with pressurized gas stoves is very important.  All scouts must be familiar with their campstove fuel:

• Choose a stove with a self igniter so as to save using matches.
• Keep and use the plastic cover that comes with all fuel canisters.  It will help keep the valve on top clean.
• Realize that all pressurized fuel canisters have the same Lindal valve on top, making all stoves and canisters interchangable.
• Before screwing the stove onto the canister, make sure that the stove valve is closed, and that both stove seals and canister top are free of debris.
• Choose a stable area to place the stove since you do not want your cooking pot to tip over and spill your meal.
• Keep fuel canisters out of the direct sun and fires as they can explode.
• If it is cold out, put the canister inside your jacket to warm it up before cooking.
• If the stove seems to slow down, it may be due to the fuel inside becoming cooler as it vaporizes.  Sitting the stove in a pan of water can add heat to the fuel and help it to burn better.
• Make sure to let the stove cool off before touching it.Once spent, the fuel canister should be depressurized and punctured with a Jetboil CrunchIt tool (costs about $5) and then sent for recycling.
• The only reliable way to accurately determine how much fuel is left in a partially used canister is to weigh it.  Obtain a food scale that will weigh in grams at a local department store (in the cooking utensil section, usually around $15 to $20).  Use this chart to determine how much fuel is left.