I got a Swedish Army Trangia mees kit from the bay of evil. I opted for the stainless steel version because it will hold up better to being used over a wood fire with the billy hook or the extendable handle (you can put a stick through the D-rings on the lid / frying pan handle) It came with a Trangia burner and a plastic fuel bottle, no simmer ring unfortunately but I'll pick one up somewhere. I gave it the tea test with 500ml of water. Here the burner has just been lit and is still warming up. Once it was burning from the jets I put the water on. I used the other pan as a lid. The flame soon became pretty fierce, it was putting out a lot of heat. A full rolling boil seven minutes after I started. I was astonished! I really didnt expect that kind of performance from an alcohol burner. From now on, I am a Trangia fan. I'm very impressed.
I have not tried it yet, but a SVEA 123 fits perfectly through the hole in the bottom of the pan holder/wind break. Hopefully I will be able to try that soon. It would give you a lot more cooking power.
You don't have to wait until flame is coming out of the jets before you put the pan on pop it on as soon as you have sparked it up it will save you both time and fuel Cheers Alan
As Cyprephrenia said, put the pot on right away. Thermal feedback helps heat the burner up which quickens the self-pressurizing/vaporizing effect. Do NOT put a Svea 123 IN the windscreen, for the same reason the windscreen helps the trangia heat up, it would very likely cause the 123 to overheat and possibly blow the safety valve or WORSE. You could cobble some sort of stand and arrange it so that only the burner bell of the 123 is up under the windscreen, but it all seems a lot of fiddling about when there are other, more elegant solutions. Search the forum for this stove and you will find someone (brother Bill I believe) put a nova burner into one of these and got cracking results. It's a stove with a remote fuel bottle, so it's a safe way to accomplish what you were thinking about with the 123. Best, Randy
Absolutely. I wanted to watch the warmup process because I have never used a Trangia burner before. I also wanted to get a measure of the performance of the burner at full output so I didnt start the boil until the jets were alight. I real use I'll be putting the pot on straight away, if only to help keep the wind out.
I still love my surplus Trangia; it's the stove that brought me to this site and introduced me to a whole other world of camping stoves. For that reason alone, it will always be a sentimental favorite. But I absolutely adore my Svea 123! Regards, Ridge
I modified the windshield and use one of my Swedish outfits with a Borde - which packs away nicely in the pans along with the fuel bottle, a lighter and a small mug. Poo Poo Warning: If you use a stronger flame than the meths burner the heat resistant paint on the pans isn't. Heck of a stink - so strip off the paint first and you'll be left with a lovely pair of silver pots. Looks better anyway IMO. Cheers, Graham.
Lovely kits I was excited to pick one up for each of my nephews (set aside for when they are older campers) in stainless last week at a military expo. for the princely sum of $22.00 USD for both I'm fairly sure I could use them to stop my jeep from rolling down a hill and still cook dinner
stainless is nice and you got them at a very good price! (i have an aluminum version in new-issue state i acquired for $7 a few years ago)
Hello This stove gives bad memories! I had to use it alot during my 7 month military service. But it worked well except for some soot on the bottom of the can. When we got food from the field kithen, we put a 3 liter plastic bag in the can, so no need to clean it. 8) regards/Anders
That was strictly forbidden where I did my service. I guess they wanted us to "learn how to clean" the utensils...
I got the paint off mine by lighting a fire in in with twigs, paint just burnt off, looked a lot better. https://classiccampstoves.com/posts/82956 POO POO warning number 2: This was the worst, stove I ever had. In NZ we have a taste in the meths to stop bozo's drinking it. This taste always got in the food (through cooking, not through burner storage in the pot). When used on an open fire and the smoke really got into the food, even with the lid on. Then there where the paint fumes and the insanely slow boiling time. When I read how much some of you like these stoves I do wonder if mine was a dud. It may have been but I won't be buying another to find out. I also won't be joining the Swedish Army any time soon, not that they would want me. Dan p.s. When I read that back it does sound a bit negative but it is a fair review of my experience with the Mil kit.
Lol, who doesnt have one of those things I applied the universal burner fix and installed a Trangia item which improved it's cookability, but as mentioned, it's something of paradox. On the one hand it's a perfectly usable cook set if you scrub off the paint with a brillo and detergent any place food touches, but meths being meths, there are time and soot issues. In fairness all meths burners are the same, pretty much, it's a fuel thing Possibly the most hardy stove set ever made, use it beat dinner to death then cook it, but dear lord is it UGLY! The saucepan is hard to dry fry in (deeper than wide) and will only take a coffee maker if you modify it or have a wire stand or something. Did I mention it was ugly? Sort of AK-47 ugly.........
Mike, ugly and bulky but it does the job. I guess soldiers do more stewing than frying but those kits are almost b-proof. Ron
Turn the stove part up-side down and put the Trangia on the wire supports so it burns UP through the hole in the bottom. Set stove on the ground, light, and put any pot you want on top: Coffee pots for example. Not quite as fast at using the stove as intended but it works. I also wonder if leaving the bottoms of the pots painted would not be a good thing for effective heat transfer. A highly reflective surface does not heat well by thermal radiation.
DavidColter said in his first posting: "I really didnt expect that kind of performance from an alcohol burner. From now on, I am a Trangia fan. I'm very impressed." I'd like to remind all, the volume of sound produced by a burner does not in any way reflect the heat output of the stove burner, or the speed at which it heats your food. lance
A question - does the Trangia rubber O ring which seals the burner lid fit the military burner? The O ring in my military is rather perished, but I can only find civvy Trangia rings on the net.