non-scientific boil competition

I put all my singles (except duplicates, and my Coleman 530 (duplicate of the 520)) to a pint of water boil competition.
I did not do a very good job of controlling variables except water source was same, water temp was roughly the same (out-of-tap), and pot was same; most used the same recycled fuel. I need to redo the Primus 210 with some teflon or grease to get the threads to stop leaking and run at full pressure, and I aslo plan to do my Coleman 442 (similar to 400A), but the results were very telling. Regardless, there was a clear winner and clear loser. My biggest varialbe was determining time of boil (+/- 5 seconds.
Primus 210 - 4:10
Coleman Solus 518 - 3:18
Optimus 00 - 3:10
Coleman 520 - 3:36
PW M1942 - 3:26
Coleman 536(M1950) - 2:55
Coleman 400A - 2:10 (winner!)
Coleman 502 - 3:45
Coleman 500 - 3:05
Primus 71 - 4:09
Optimus 8R - 5:43 (loser)

 

Fun endeavor. The results are interesting. I expect your 210 will be in the 00 ball park when you get it sorted. I don’t have a 400a, which did you think would win? What about their weights? Any further findings? I’m a little surprised the 71 and 8r were not closer together.
Any time you can light up multiple stoves it’s a good day.

 

I'm not surprised by the difference between the 71 & 8r based on mine. The 71 burner sits on top of the font and if used in it's tin will heat up the tank quicker from the thermal feedback compared to the slightly distanced 8r tank. So it will be at full power before the 8r gets there. Probably about the same output once both are fully going.

 

I don't worry about boil times, I like my stove time. More interesting to me is how hot a fount or tank gets. Big variation in the Optimus 111 stoves.
Duane

 

Interesting.
Like Duane, I haven’t thought about boil times in the field. The 123 and the one-pint keroburners always seem to boil water fast. Fast enough, for sure.

 

optimus 8 R may be penalized by longer time to get really full blast

 

True. I pretty much started the boil as soon as it was lit, so the pump models had a bit of an advantage.
Like most of you, knowing the speed of boil does little for me in the field. A) I was bored, and B) I was curious.
I was mostly surprised by the 400B, which was really the point of the exercise; to learn something I didn't know.

 

and FWIW I did this over about a week's time.

 

I picked up a 400 on my Oregon trip and have been very pleased with it, really simmers great.
Duane
PS: It is neat to compare stoves, thank you for sharing.

 

THanks, I had fun. The downside of the 400a is parts; I'm seeing generators sell more on ebay than whole stoves. THat's why I'm curious about my 442. Basically same stove but with more easy to find parts.

 

I'll run mine until it dies, but with so many stoves, it will never see that time by me.
Duane

 

... AND it simmers!

 

Update on the 442. I was at almost 4 minutes with no boil when the fuel ran out (I started it with only the remaining fuel, so guess I'll be doing it again. I reel like it was running strong though, up until the point where it clearly started faltering.

 

Redo on the Coleman 442 (Peak 1) with sufficient fuel in the tank: 2:33. That was more in-line with expectations. It appeared to have slightly wider flame spread than the 400A, which caused much of the flame to be directed to the edges of the pot (also where it started boiling first). Don't know if that had a negative impact on it, but I'm running them as-is on full blast.

 

Also redid the P210 and got 3:38. Using some copper grease on the threads (suggestion from members on another post) I ran it at 10 pumps instead of the previous 5, I got no unexpected flame-ups, and I didn't have to crank the burner on as tightly. All wins. Towards the end I put on another 5 pumps and the burner picked up even more so I suspect I can get it down near the Optimus 00 time of 3:10. All is well. Much happier.

 

I pump my kero stoves up pretty good, can keep adding pressure if I hear the flame going higher, but then have to release pressure as water or food cooks. Too, the founts may only be half full which requires more pumps to get the flame up.
Duane

 

That sounds awful scientific for my purposes

 

Nice.
Try the 8R with a good windscreen, and it will not be the loser.

Efficiency to me is how much fuel was used to boil "X" amount of water. Stove time is precious time.

 

I did not use a windscreen, but I was in an enclose porch with no wind.

 

to save fuel on canoe trips i set the pot on the burner as soon as it fired up.
no use in seeing that heat lost waiting for the burner to kick in.