Hi all, I'm hoping you may be able to assist with some info. on Trangias. (Trangii?) After many years of ignoring alcohol stoves, I am thinking of getting a Trangia- or two. I have heard it said that mixing a teaspoon of water with the fuel avoids any soot build up on the pans(?). Any comments. I have had a good look at the site, but can't find any reference to this. Also, any comments on the pans - I have the chance to buy NOS of the now deleted DUOSSAL pans. Worth it, or go for the current options? Any advice appreciated. Thanks Norm
Hi, Norm, I think you will love the Trangia sets, when you get used to them. I would buy another Duossal set in a heartbeat, if one came to hand!! To me, they are the ultimate cook pots, along with Sigg's Inoxxal pots, which are, basically, the same. In the US, our Meths is clean-burning, and we don't need to water it down to make less soot. I've only had soot when I first tried Meths, and bought El Cheapo alcohol to try. Thought ALL Meths stoves were like that, but glad to learn, much later, that it was the fuel, and not the stoves! Get a Trangia 25 and also a 27, and you're all set! I like the older Trangias best, but have new ones, too and they are nice, though not quite as robust as the older ones. Good luck, and God Bless! Every Good Wish, Doc
The "add water to reduce soot" claim has been around for a while. But I agree with Doc; it may be true under some conditions but is unlikely to be a universal truth because the composition of fuel used in alcohol stoves varies widely. If you notice a lot of soot, it might be fun to do the experiment, but I don't think it is all that necessary. Also, ethanol containing more than 5% water becomes increasingly harder to light.
You may have heard that adding a small amount of water to the methylated spirits will reduce the pan - blackening effect of a Trangia stove. Be careful if you do this in winter as at low temperatures this mixture becomes more difficult to light, and you may find out the hard way that you have added too much water
I'll go with more than 10%, since ethanol is almost always 180 proof, i.e., 90% alcohol with water being the other component, and the denaturant is added to that. Murph
Thanks guys, in Australia, I believe the quality of "Metho" is also good - I have Never had any soot problems when priming other pressure stoves. Norm
A much discussed topic! I like my Trangias, I have a T28 (the tiny one) and a T25 (the big one) I use the smaller for Ramen duty, the 25 hardly ever. Why? Good question. I have a Trangia clone made by Optimus that is, IMHO, at least as good and in some areas better then a standard Trangia. You can buy a clone of the clone from Ledmark that looks much like and goes nearly as well as a Trangia for pennies on the dollar. Ditch the burner it comes with and replace with a Trangia item (with the simmer ring that actually does) you are good to go. + Waaaaayyy cheaper, good wind-ability, better *IMHO* cook set, the pots safely stack and the frypan has a lip that locates it either way up. 3 Level cooking is possible. - Quality is inferior, thinner ali more prone to bending, top and bottom wind shield dont lock together a la Trangia. One speed burner. Net result: 95% of a Trangia for 20% of the price. Take a little more care with it and you'll never notice the difference. The soot thing? If NZ meths is like yours, just use the straight stuff and carry a rag in a zip loc bag to wipe it down as needed. Personal experimentation indicates the slightly lesser soot build up from the watering down of the meths is off set by harder starting and spitting noises instead of dead silence. LEDMARK
Normo I have two Trangias (I think they are #25) which are over 20 years old and going strong. The only work I've had to do on them is to get new O-rings from The Fettle Box. By the way, if you were to follow Latin convention, the plural of Trangia would be Trangiae (as in alga, algae). Cheers Tony
~95% ethanol:5% water is an azeotrope (think back to intro chemistry). Either reducing or increasing the percent water from that ratio will reduce its volatility. Once you start adding denaturants (methanol, isopropanol, gasoline, etc), who knows what happens.
i've never worried. the black on the pan's bottom that doesn't easily wash off when you wash the pan normally won't then stain anything. it only serves to increase the efficiency of heat transfer, according to my 'o'level physics theory at least
"Net result: 95% of a Trangia for 20% of the price" depending where you are, maybe they're cheaper from.. http://www.clasohlson.com/uk/Asaklitt-Spirit-Stove/34-3320
Thanks everyone for their help and suggestions - I think I have a good handle on the meths and water thing now. I made a decision and got a Trangia 27-7 with old design Duossal pots. After looking at your posts there are probably cheaper alternatives - I may get a "cheapie" and throw in a genuine Trangia burner (with simmer ring) and see what happens. Thanks again for your help. Norm
The Trangia Duossal pots are made very well, but the factory has stopped the production and now are impossible to find. All members of Spiritburner community, an established day ( Duossal Trangia Day) should simultaneously write an email to the Trangia (info.trangia.se) to put back into production Duossal pots, maybe we would listen. Chiorpo from Italy.
The only Trangiae I have are a somewhat beat up T-28 (the ultra light one) and two of the Swedish One Man kits. I use the Marine stove fuel/shellac thinner/denatured alcohol from the hardware store. I also have part of a five gallon container of "Marine Stove Fuel" with blue dye in it. I've never had a sooting problem with either, and both work wonderfully in my other alcohol stoves, clean and odor free. In my far gone youth, I cooked over buddy burners fueled with salvaged candle wax from the St. Vincent DePaul thrift store. The Blessed Sisters there would melt down unusable candles, puring the wax into 8"X8" cake pans to sell it to hobbyists. My camping partner, Joel, and I bought it to cook over. The Sisters gave us a 50% discount when they found out what we were doing with it. In any case, the way to avoid getting the things in one's pack dirty from sooty pans is to put the sooty pans in a cloth bag. As a yoot, I was taught my me auld mother and grandmother to use the family sewing machine by sewing my own muslin bags from unbleached muslin purchased incredibly cheaply from the remnant bin at the Sears store. Here it is, over 50 years on, my baby sister has that sewing machine and I have several of the bags I made on it. As has been mentioned earlier, I am convinced that sooty pans cook faster and more evenly than shiny ones due to more even and efficient heat transfer. My insane favorite uncle, who was in the US Marines SEMPER FI in WWII told me that his Sgt. threw a fit when any of the troops under his command cleaned off the outside of their mess kits. He asked them how far off did they suppose a ZERO pilot could see those shiny mess kits flashing in the Sun, 5, 10, 15* miles? Uncle Buddy still had his WWII messkit when I was a kid and it was totally black. Another thing they did was to burn & bury all garbage, especially tin cans. Same reason. *25 miles. Gerry
We haven't mentioned Buddy Burners for years. I used them a lot as a kid. Empty tuna can for the burner, with corrugated cardboard rolled up into it (cross-cut through the corrugation), then melt the wax into it. Then a big #10 can for the stove, with a small door cut in at the open bottom, a few holes top and bottom cut by a those old triangle-blade beer and pop can openers. We'd peen down the surface end a bit, and make a hole in the middle, so that grease would drip down onto the burner itself. I had several going at once on a streetside hotdog stand a couple of summers. That's a sight one never sees anymore, alas.... I assume all the Yanks of a certain age made these. How about the Brits and others? Here's an example: http://www.bing.com/images/search?q...EA0353795014F60E4FE7F8A461F94&selectedIndex=9
A #10 tin works fine, but I always used a folding Sterno stove as it will go in a pack much easier. One buddy burner per Scout and a generous chunk of candle wax as well. We'd cut a piece of wax to put on the buddy burner as it burned off. Candle wax has stearin in it to raise the melt temp and burn cleaner as opposed to plaing parafin wax. Other things candle wax can do is lubricate zippers, tent, trouser and sleeping bag, lubricate fishing rod segments, tent pole segments and most other things that one would like either to slide or come apart on demand. A few shavings off a block of wax laid on a leaf or chip of wood makes a fairly good fire starter. Not as good as a chunk of inner tube, I'll admit, but better 'n nothing. My buddy, Joel and I used a war surplus pup tent all through our Boy Scout years, and used a buddy burner in the "vestibule" section at our heads as light and a bit of warmth as needed. Nowadays, of course, the candy a$$ Baby Boy Scout leaders would throw a green eyed conniption fit with nickled fittings at seeing such a thing. Nanny will out, don't you know. Cranky ol' Gerry
The Sterno stove frame would be just the thing, and I remember that was your setup. But I only ever used those things in town.
