I like backpacking... I like my MSR stoves... I like running my MSR stoves on kerosene (some of the time), but I can't seem to make those three things work together. The issue is, that after using the stove and disconnecting it from the fuel pump, there is residual kerosene in the fuel line. I can shake most of it out of the line but there is still plenty to seep out and contaminate gear. Putting the stove in a plastic bag is minimally effective. The smell permeates through the plastic and the bags tear in pretty short order. I've made little fuel line caps out of plastic tubing, which works sort of alright on the Dragonfly because the second valve closes the line near the jet, but doesn't help much on the Whisperlites or XGK's. Does anyone have a good system for packing up remote canister stoves after running kerosene? Thanks!
Use gas or leave connected to the pump, still in the fuel bottle, pressure released. For my Euro stoves, I empty the fuel from the tank into a tight container, I usually only use non-kero stoves when bping, maybe use kero stoves for snow camping which I don't do much of anymore. Duane
I use a Optimus 00 and consider the slight kerosene smell acceptable. I was looking for mounting racks they used to make for stoves that used a pump in the fuel bottle and saw this. Some were wire racks. Guys used to leave their stoves set up and would hang the set up on the outside of their pack. That kept the fuel out of the pack and the stove ready to use. Acrylic or sheet pan aluminum would make a mounting plate, if you are short on license plates
While I have no experience with 'remote canister' stoves, I have hiked for years with classic kerosene brass stoves, exemplified by the Optimus 00 and other one-pinters. (I can see that kero in a fuel line may present some issue perhaps.) I don't empty the stove of fuel. I tighten the reserve cap, the filler, and the airscrew, thus preventing the escape of kerosene. A US one-gallon ziploc bag perfectly encompasses the boxed 00, in case of leakage. The stove is placed upright in the pack, thus allowing gravity to work in one's favor. Never have I had leakage, even into the bag, much less the pack. Nor even into the tin.... I always put fuel bottles, kerosene, Coleman, and alcohol, in their own ziplocs. Again, never leakage, except once with alcohol, which was contained within the plastic bag. In short, no problem at all with packpacking with kerosene stoves. Again, I can't comment on the 'fuel line' issue.
This exactly. When the stove is running point the base of the tank up so the fuel feed is out of the fuel and just taking air. Run the stove until the fire goes out and is still hissing. Shut the valve and take the tank off the hose. We used to recommend this to people when I worked in the camping department at REI a thousand years ago. We also used balloons to cover the pump end to keep it clean from dirt or lint in the backpack. It works.
Kerosene is a lot different than Naptha in terms of odors and residue. I discovered the exact same problem with the X-GK, in the .mil JP8 aka Jet A fuel is everywhere, and I messed around with it a few times on deployments. The design is such that a drop or two always remains, and double-bagging at least is required to prevent the fumes from permeating everything. The awkward rube goldberg design, gazillion springs, o-rings, check ball and gee-gaws sort of soured me on the thing. I should have just bought a Primus!
I take my Primus 96 in the backpack on occasion, it lives in its tin, also wrapped in a rag, inside a snap-lock-top airtight plastic container. Havent had an issue with fumes or leaks. When not in use however I find the container is best to leave vented, I have found it after leaving it for a couple of months nearly sucked inside out or fully bloated with the pressure changes/fuel evaporation Alec.
Have seen this before, and thank you for pointing it out again. My XGK EX is definitely getting this treatment; I don't need it to be foldable/packable, stable in use is much more important. Even have some aluminum sheet and rivets to use.
On another deployment, I watched one of our pilots attempting to get a 502 Sportster to fire on JP8. I ‘splained that won’t work, but he swore he had seen it done. Maybe with sufficient pre-heat? A lot of pre-heat maybe.
Pot parka/convection dome for my Outback Oven was smelly to begin with but had to order a replacement after condemning the first in attempted baking over a Whisperlite Universal fueled with some especially evil smelling JP8 on deployment circa 2005. That old convection dome is mummified in baking soda somewhere, oughtta just throw it out when it resurfaces. Eventually got hold of Mogas, doubt I knew of alcohol prime back then.
The Whisperlite Universal has a swivel on the fuel line, which makes it easy to flip the stove over and let it burn out, emptying the fuel line. This is not as easy to do with the other MSR stoves.
