Reviews > Cook Gear > Stoves > Vargo Titanium Jet-ti stove > Ralph Ditton > Long Term Report

Long Term Report
Vargo 'Jet-ti' Titanium Stove

Date:6th January, 2006

Distance between top of Burner Head and base of pot: 15 mm (0.59 in).

Field Test Locations:
Bibbulmun Track - Three Mountains + one from 19.08.05 to 21.08.05
Elevation: from 450 m to 550 m (1,476 ft to 1,804 ft).
Temperature Range: 5 C to 16 C (41 F to 61 F).
Weather Conditions: Fine cool mornings, warm days and cold nights.

Andrew Priest cooking breakfast at Mt. Cooke

Gas Usage
Time     Reason                 Approx. Temp.         Volume (if applicable)

  7 min.    Breakfast              8 C (46 F)                   0.5 L (17 fl oz)
  7 min.    Breakfast              8 C (46 F)                   0.5 L (17 fl oz)
  8 min.    Lunch                   14 C (57 F)                  0.5 L (17 fl oz)
  5 min.    Lunch                   16 C (61 F)                  0.5 L (17 fl oz)
  6 min.    Tea                       11 C (52 F)                  0.5 L (17 fl oz)
11 min.    Sweets                 11 C (52 F)                 1.75 L (59 fl oz)
  7 min.    Breakfast                5 C (41 F)                 0.5 L (17 fl oz)
12 min.    Breakfast                5 C (41 F)                 1.75 L (59 fl oz)
16 min.    Bacon/Eggs           5 C (41 F)                  N/A
  8 min.    Breakfast                6 C (43 F)                     0.5 L (17 fl oz)
17 min.    Lunch                      14 C (57 F)                 2 L (68 fl oz)
  8 min.    Afternoon Tea         10 C (50 F)                0.5 L (17 fl oz)

Gas used (calculated by weighing gas canister prior to departure and upon return)
120 g (4.23 oz)
12 burns at an average of 10 g (0.35 oz) per burn.
Gas burn per minute. 112  ÷120  = 0.93 g (0.03 oz)

The next use of the stove was 7th to 8th October, 2005 at Prickly Bark.  I used 120 g (4.2 oz) on the trip from a combined total of twelve burns. The average burn was 10 g (0.4 oz) and the total time taken to burn the above mentioned amount was 112 minutes . This gives an average of 0.93 g (0.03 oz) per minute which is in keeping with other burnings over the test period.

Stove and bowl
There was another mishap with the support arm that travels the furthest from the fixed support arm. As there is no locking mechanism for the support arms, the aforementioned moved approximately 26 mm (1 in) from its correct operating position. The fully extended distance between the tips is 88 mm (3.5 in). This resulted in the fry pan tipping off the stove and spilling the meal of sausages onto the table and knocking the stove over in the process.
After this incident, I set the stove up again to finish cooking the meal with the support arms back in their correct place, and lo and behold, the arm moved again and another spill of the fry pan occurred, but the stove was not knocked over this time. The stove was set up on the table, so the surface was sturdy and flat. The culprit support arm moved approximately the same distance.
What I think is happening is that when I am turning the food in the fry pan and holding onto the fry pan with my spondonical, it is causing the support arm to move as the fry pan is not staying still when food is being turned over.
This has happened on three occasions now. Each time it was when I or my walking companion were cooking sausages and onions that need constant stirring and turning over.

As an experiment, I placed all of the support arms in their correct place then held up the unlit stove horizontal to the table with the support arm that travels the furthest vertical at 90°, then rotated the stove to the left.  By the time the aforementioned support arm reached approximately 75° from the vertical, it rapidly moved to the 45° position then stayed there. It was horizontal to the table. When viewed from above, I could nearly draw a straight line from the non moving support arm to the furthest traveling support arm. This corresponded to the position when the mishap happened when cooking sausages and onions.
The middle support arm did also move the same distance and as it was vertical, pointing down at the ground/table it would not move any further in the upwards position.
This experiment showed how freely two of  the support arms move.
When the incidents with the cooking happened, I did not take any notice of the second support arm to see if it had moved as the large gap between the fixed support arm and the furthest traveling support arm caught my eye at all times, going from 88 mm ( 3.5 in) to approximately 100 mm (4 in).

The next occasion I used the stove was on 9th October, 2005 at Hewett's Hill Campsite on the Bibbulmun Track on a geocaching trip.
I only did one burn to boil approximately 1.75 l (59 fl oz) of water. The canister was nearly empty and the outside temperature was approximately 10 C (50 F). When I turned on the stove to ignite the gas, there was no hissing gas noise.  I was unable to light the stove, but I could smell gas. This turning on and off of the gas control knob and lighting of matches resulted in no ignition but the gas smell lingered. An offer of another gas canister was made to me and I accepted to ascertain where the problem may be. The stove lit when using the new gas canister, so I went back to my near empty gas canister. I reattached the stove and this time I had success with the gas igniting. The only conclusion that I came to was that the pin that opens the valve in the gas canister was not engaging fully and that I did not have the stove tightly screwed down onto the gas canister.
I used 20 g (0.7 oz) of gas and it took 22 minutes to boil the volume of water. This worked out at 0.91 g (0.03 oz) per minute. So it is still within the keeping of other gas usage by this stove.

Comments on the stove
The stove is very good at simmering as a gas canister of  230 g (8 oz) with a stamped "Burn time" of between 1-2 hours lasts approximately 3 hours. When I turned the simmer control to 180°, I used 8 g (0.28 oz) of gas in four minutes, i.e. 2 g (0.07 oz) per minute. When the simmer control was only turned 90° to 110°, I used on average 0.94 g (0.03 oz) of gas per minute. By burning gas at 2 g (0.07 oz) per minute, it would take 115 minutes to empty a full gas canister of 230 g (8 fl oz).  I would recommend the deletion of quoting boil times of a litre (33.81 fl oz) of water in approximately four minutes, because to achieve this time, the gas has to be fully turned up and it is wasteful and an inefficient use of gas.
When I was running the stove in very cold weather, especially when cooking sausages, the temperature of the gas canister dropped and condensation formed on the outside of the canister as a sign of this. Fortunately, I did not have to rewarm the gas canister to prevent the flame from going out. I was mindful of this potential problem because effective gas pressure drops when the temperature of the gas canister drops.
Apart from the support arms design and addition of a piezo ignition, the rest of the stove is identical to the Kovea  Camp 3 Titanium. I would recommend the addition of a piezo ignition system because it is much more efficient than matches that can absorb humid atmosphere and become useless if accidentally left out of its protective case after use. This has happened to my walking companion when I was with him. The weight gain would be offset by the loss of a box of matches and protective case or a gas lighter.
To achieve a quicker boil time, the ported holes in the burner head need to be larger, thereby increasing the output from 9,000 BTu/hr.
The stove cools down relatively quickly. In approximately three minutes, I can unscrew the stove from the gas canister and pack it away.
There is no sign of rusting in the ported burner or support arms after being subjected to flames.
Things I like

• Ease of use to set up.
• Extremely lightweight and small.
• Excellent simmer control and very fuel efficient.
• Ignites very easily most of the time.
• Has not refused to work in below freezing temperatures. 
• Easy to find a spot in my backpack for the stove.

• Does not like lighting in coolish weather when the gas canister is low in gas.
• Have to hang onto pans with diameters much bigger than the stove's all of the time when cooking.
• Bad habit of support arms moving out of position when cooking, causing the pan and food to spill.
• No means of locking support arms into position.
  
• Lack of piezo ignition. 

Reviews > Cook Gear > Stoves > Vargo Titanium Jet-ti stove > Ralph Ditton > Long Term Report