Best fishes
Shaunl

I think we have all suffered with the lack of gas pressure in the depths of winter. One of the ways I get over this is to initially use the gas stove to warm a small amount of water in a spare small saucepan. Place the cannaster in the warmed water and it will increase the pressure so that you can cook your meal or boil a kettle of water on.

Regards
Paul

Cheers
Jamie

Warming the bottle over the stove is something I have done but wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. Like your petrol accident it seems okay at the time whilst doing it but the consequences don’t warrant thinking about. A metal cannister exploding inches from your face is going to leave irreparable damage.

One thing I meant to mention above is the use of a wind shield – this makes a lot of difference as to speeding the cooking times up particularly on the style of stove which has the stove head screwed into the top of the bottle.

Another trick is to carry a small flask of hot water boil it up at home and top it back up on the bank. This also comes in handy for freeing your windowscreen of ice when you pack up – but make sure it is only luke warm by this stage or else your screen may shatter!

Another thing I have heard people use is these modern gel hand warmer pads ad simply sit their bottles on them.

Just remember all types of stove are basically a bomb waiting to go off and I guess we all tend to take them a little bit for granted.

This topic was brought to mind after watching you trying to cook those sausages on Sunday! Glad you didn’t offer me one as I bet there was ice still in the middle – LOL!

I too only use the gas stoves nowadays having nearly blown myself to pieces one weekend a few years back. It was early November I think and it rained heavily for the entire 2 nights. My stove ran out of petrol on the second night and I had left my filling spout at home. I attempted foolishly to fill it using a spout made from a magazine. Needless to say that in an enclosed bivvy with the door down and petrol fumes everywhere the obvious happened and I very nearly ignited the whole Bivvy. The fumes nearly made me pass out too. You look back in the cold light of day and think what an idiot, but at the time with the wind and rain it seemed like a good idea.

Anyway back on topic, I see alot of people using the thermal covers for the bottles these days. I know Chub, Trakker, Nash etc do these and a couple of my friends have them. I don’t have one myself but I can see why they work.

Shaking the bottle definately does work too and I often do this. Also make sure your stove is in good efficient working order and that all the vents are clear. These can become a little blocked over time and definately restrict the power of the flame if not kept clean.

I do something on occasion that I wouldn’t recommend to anyone and that is to gently warm the bottle above the stove. Seriously though don’t do this as it is an accident waiting to happen. I use probably 30 cannisters a year both on the bank and through coating leads so I have a lot of experience with these and am extremely careful.

Cheers
Jamie