Frozen stove

[masshysteria]

While ice fishing on beautiful Woods Pond in Lenox Dale, I wanted to fire up my Whisperlite stove to make some cocoa. The temperature was no more than 5 above. There was fuel going into the priming cup, which I lit. When I went to light the burner, nothing came out. I disassembled the pump from the fuel bottle, and that wasn't clogged. I blew through the fuel line of the stove, and nothing was coming out, so I put the stove body inside my jacket to let it thaw out, which it did. Again, some fuel went into the priming cup, but not enough. It froze within seconds.
I keep my can of Coleman fuel in the barn, so the can must get condensation in it when it is cold. My question is; does anyone think it would do any good to put some gasline antifreeze into my fuel? Would it do more harm than good? Should I not keep my fuel in a cold area, though I must say I don't want to keep it in my house?
This particular stove is only 6 months old, and I have used it on a dozen different outings with no problems. This stove replaced another Whisperlite that I used for the previous 15 yrs., and I gave that to my son. Still works like a charm! Thanks.

 

[Papa Bear]

I would look at a more specific drying agent rather than off-the-shelf anti-freeze. The reason being the wisperlight and any white gas stove is much more susceptable to getting gummed up than a car. Cars burn hotter and at high pressure so most stuff just gets burned off (although car engines certainly also get gummed up).

Try to find a smart camping store guy or maybe an outdoor motor boat supply place.

Pb

 

[peakbagger]

My experience is that it is not the fuel, rather it is a high humidity level in the area of the jet. It happened to me once where we didnt have a good stove base (like a license plate) and the pots had oversized lids that tended to roll moisture down the sides of the pot. The combination of heat from the stove being reflected on the snow underneath and the moisture rolling down the pot froze up the jet opening so the stove would only burn at a very low flame. Once we rigger up a base plate for the stove and kept things dry as possible it worked well

 

[ADackR]

My experience is that it is not the fuel, rather it is a high humidity level in the area of the jet. It happened to me once where we didnt have a good stove base (like a license plate) and the pots had oversized lids that tended to roll moisture down the sides of the pot. The combination of heat from the stove being reflected on the snow underneath and the moisture rolling down the pot froze up the jet opening so the stove would only burn at a very low flame. Once we rigger up a base plate for the stove and kept things dry as possible it worked well

This is what I'm thinking happened, your jet was frozen. When you got home that night did you try to light the stove????

THe jet could also be dirty, you said that you have used the stove a number of times in the last six months, well, it may be time to do a thorough cleaning.....

good luck

 

[dave.m]

Possible problems include:
+ Glogged jet (as others have mentioned)
+ Not enough pressure in the tank; You typically need more in colder temps
+ Lost your prime; If you waited until the gas in the priming bowl had burned out entirely, the preheating/vaporization tube may have already cooled off, although this typically presents itself as sputtering, not no flame at all
+ Not achieving priming; You may have been loosing heat through the base of the stove into the snow; My Svea is typically more prone to this than MSR but still, a good stove platform helps a lot; I use thin plywood

Hope this helps,

Dave

 

[Jaytrek57]

As dave M. suggests...it sounds like the "prime" was lost/not achieved.

In colder weather, I will fill the priming cup till it is literally falling over the edges. Turn the valve on when the flame from the initial prime is almost out (avoid precious seconds/relighting) and crank it on “high” for a few seconds. This will more than likely result in a "loose"orange flame for a few seconds but with some patience, it will “burn off” and result in that nice "humming" blue flame.

 

[Mr. X]

Wasn't there a thread (before the crash) that spoke of this issue? I think that the general consensus was that temperature, not being very low I might add, was an issue. I guess the gas would drop instead of rising. The way I understood it was that the gas was fighting itself, coming out of the burner and dropping straight down. Maybe the solid block of ice you were fishing on contributed? I tell you now that I could be mistaken and it could have been with propane and not white fuel that this happened with. Anyway, the thread seemed like dejavu and figured I'd bring it up. I'll shut up now.

 

[Viewfinder]

freeze ups

I was using my Whisperlite camping up Ermine Brook this past three-day weekend, both evening and at night. Temperatures dropped to between -10 and -20 overnight, my stove just hung out in the cold and snow, and it never showed any problems. It started up as expected every time.

Perhaps your fuel has too much condensation in it and it is spontaneously freezing?! or just freezing and clogging something up? then what do you do with all that fuel??

On a side note, the MSR mini stove that my buddy brought along (a "pocket rocket" if I'm not mistaken) worked at about half its normal rate saturday and sunday, and then was out for the count on monday. It worked fine in the warmth of his home later on Monday. Question: does the cold effect propane more than white gas?

 

[dave.m]

Re: freeze ups

Question: does the cold effect propane more than white gas?

Yes, definitely.

Many of those cylinder stoves use a mixture of propane and butane for better bold weather performance. I know folks who sleep with their cannisters or put them in their parkas to warm them up just prior to use for better performance.

I suspect, but do not know, that the cylinder stoves will perform better in cold temps when used at higher altitudes, as the pressure outside of the canister is even less. Just a hunch mind you. And it doesn't help us in the Northeast any.

 

[masshysteria]

Thank you so much for all ofc your suggestions. And guess what? When I left it in the house overnight, it fired up just fine. Just a couple of secondary thoughts; the stove was on my wooden fishing box, so it wasn't right on the ground; there wasn't a pot of water on the stove,; I've become very adept at timing the opening of the valve to coincide with the last flicker of flame in the priming cup'; and the fuel tank was 2/3 full, and I gave it an initial 25 pumps to start with, which may be a little too much.
I'm thinking that I should just buy a new can of gas, and leave it in my basement, so that the condensation is lessened. It's not like Coleman fuel is explosive. Hell, I've probably got cans of laquer and thinner down there that are even more volitale. Again, thanks for all the fine suggestions!