A guy that used to be here .. @leftcoaster (?)... said while snow camping several times, with The Mountaineers, people laughed at his use of the 96. Then, when their canister stoves no longer worked they came to him to melt snow.
I believe that there are two reasons for these old stoves never needing much change and still functioning as designed. First they were well built before the "throwaway" culture had started. We have all seen stoves that were used to the point that they needed extensive repair. I personally am amazed as the skill set some of the former members have in making repairs. I don't believe stoves were designed to last generations but the competitive market of the time forced manufacturers to design items that lasted. As mentioned above, the sales target was new consumers not replacing items already in possession. It should also be considered that the operational technology for kerosene pressure stoves reached the ideal early on in the development left little room for improvement. Simply put, the technology reached it zenith early on. Therefore, a stove made in the 1920's is as well designed as a stove made in the 1960 because the fundamental design has not and will not change. But, and there always is a "but", stoves and stove use has improved to the point that most western civilizations do not use them a primary source. Lots of reasons for that but I doubt if anyone in the forum actually uses these stoves as their everyday cooking appliance unless they are confirmed bachelors and live in a hut by choice. We all get simple joy out of owning and repairing these stoves but it is a sense of nostalgia and appreciation of the past, not because that is how we want to cook using them in everyday use. I still have a fireplace in my house and do enjoy a nice crackling fire but my main heat is accomplished via a natural gas heater with an electronic thermostat.
This is the first cold season that I've actually felt comfortable enough with my old brass stoves to give them a serious try winter camping. We had an early cold snap this year and I've spent a few nights out at 0degF with all my stoves: Primus 96 with a 210 burner Primus 210 with a larger silent burner for a 2 pint stove Svea 123 Primus Omnifuel with a Bernie Dawg Cap MSR Whisperlite I like using kerosene, and preheating with alcohol to minimize soot. Here are my observations: The modern Omnifuel and Whisperlite take MUCH more alcohol to prime on kerosene at 0 degF than either the 96 or 210. Removing the Bernie Dawg cap greatly reduces the alcohol needed to prime the Omnifuel, I suspect because the cap is very heavy and brass - so it can soak up a lot of thermal energy They are all about the same in terms of fuel efficiency - I did a post earlier with some numbers if your interested. On white gas, it's really just the Svea 123 vs the Omnifuel and the Whisperlite (I still preheat with alcohol): The Svea123 is slow to prime and heat up on cold weather (I've added a wick to hold more alcohol for priming and keep it insulated from the ground). It is more fuel efficient than the Omnifuel and whisperlite, but it is pretty slow to melt snow. That said, it is probably the most fail proof stove I own. Omnifuel works great on white gas, even with the Bernie Dawg Cap it primes using less alcohol as the Whisperlite. Whisperlite works great on white gas. I had to modify to the fuel valve to get some simmer ability - out of the box it has none. On pack-ability and fuel leaking: More care needs to be taken with the 96 and 210 to ensure the fount caps are secure so they don't leak kerosene while in your pack. You need a wrench to setup/break down the stove. The Omnifuel does an amazing job of purging it's fuel line when de-pressurizing. You can de-pressure the MSR by flipping the fuel bottle like the Omnifuel, but it is not stated so in the manual and might where out the hose to pump o-ring faster than normal. Still doesn't purge all the fuel. Really sucks when you've used kerosene. Svea123 easy, close the valve. Never had one of these leak. For winter use the Omnifuel wins for me. The 96 and the 210 are just as reliable performance wise, but they rely on a wrench that could be lost in the snow. I'm not a fan Whisperlite, I don't understand why MSR doesn't even try to make this stove regulate fuel flow stock and the plastic pump doesn't give me a warm fuzzy. I'd take the 96 or the 210 over the Whisperlite in the winter for sure. Svea123 is out for cold weather due to it's slow snow melting, I use it all the time in the summer.
@907_Nick , thanks for sharing your testing and observations. Care to share your alteration of the Whisperlite valve to achieve simmer?
I got the idea from a modification that I saw done on the older style MSR control valve. Take too much metal off and you're going to buy a new pump or try or find a new control valve stem. The stock pump looks like a plug with a corkscrew cut in it - this does a horrible job of regulating fuel flow. If you remove the control valve stem you can remove metal to make it conical shaped like most other needle type regulating valves. I did it by hand using sand paper in about 10 minutes. This mod in no way makes the whisperlite adjust as well as the Omnifuel, Dragonfly, etc. as those stoves have a proper needle control valve. But it does make achieving a low simmer much less fiddly and frustrating than the stock valve plug even if it is still trying to find the right 1/50th of a turn to simmer ;-) Just don't remove metal above the top of the corkscrew and you should be ok.
