|
| Home | Guest - Not logged in | |||
|
» Register
» Login
Gear Reviews
Documents
Tools
» Contact
|
Reviews > Cook Gear > Stoves > Vargo Triad Titanium Stove > Colleen Porter > Initial Report
Product Description: An alcohol-fueled backpacking stove made from titanium. The body of the stove is a cylinder which measures 0.75 in/1.9 cm in height and just over 2.5 inches across. The top of this cylinder is ringed with small pinholes - the burner holes. The center slopes down into a bowl shape, and in the middle of this bowl (in the center of the stove) is a larger hole (which I will refer to as the fueling hole). Attached at three equidistant points around the outside of the stove are six "legs" - three on the top of the stove, three on the bottom - which fold out to a 45-degree angle and act as stove legs and pot supports. The height of the stove with the legs and pot supports extended is roughly 2.25 in/5.7 cm. The ends of the leg bases/pot supports are just under 3.25 in/8.25 cm apart when fully extended. The stove is actually reversible and designed to be used two ways - when used with the "bowl" side up, it is fueled with denatured alcohol. When it is turned flat-side-up, it is meant to be used with fuel tablets (Esbit or comparable fuels). Initial Impressions: The stove arrived attached to an aesthetically pleasing cardboard hangtag, which has instructions printed on the back. The instructions are minimal but seem to cover all the basic operational procedures. The stove itself is quite small, easily sitting in the palm of my hand. The titanium does not have a polished finish; it is a matte steel grey. The body of the stove is very smooth and seems nicely machined. The leg/pot supports are a bit rougher and seem less smoothly finished. The construction appears solid, but there were two minor blemishes I'd like to point out. Each leg/pot support combination is attached (with tiny bolts) to a small rectangular metal channel that runs vertically up the side of the stove. Two of these are perfectly perpendicular to the top and bottom of the stove; one is slightly crooked. The crooked leg attachment also has some tiny burrs where it was welded onto the body of the stove (see picture below). These slight imperfections aside, I felt the stove was rather attractive and I was excited to try it out. I placed my SnowPeak Trek 700 (my favorite solo pot) onto it, and was disappointed to find that it is just barely too small in diameter to rest securely on the pot supports. I was able to balance it for the picture above, but I ended up using my AntiGravityGear 3-cup (24 oz) nonstick aluminum pot for all of the testing.  Burn #1 was an interesting and educational experience. I poured denatured alcohol from a small bottle into the bowl of the stove, and quickly discovered that the pouring must be done slowly and carefully, or the bowl will overflow (the fueling hole is small and can only allow so much alcohol through at a time). Slow pouring turned out to be very messy. I filled the stove until there was a very small pool of fuel in the bowl, as per the instructions: "Carefully pour Denatured alcohol (available at painting supply stores) into the center concave area until stove is full and alcohol level creates a small pool. Ignite the small pool of alcohol (which acts as a primer). Gradually alcohol will begin to vaporize and flame will expand to outside holes." I estimate I used about one ounce of fuel. I lit the small pool and waited, but I suspect the pool was too small, since the flame was smaller than a birthday cake candle and burned weakly for several minutes with nothing happening. So I blew out the tiny flame and poured more alcohol into the stove (of course I put my hand on it first to make sure the stove was cool enough to refuel safely), forming a larger pool than before. This time the pool lit with a much larger flame. I set my SnowPeak Trek 700 pot on the stove, filled with 8 ounces of ice-cold water, and placed a windscreen part-way around the stove because I wanted to be able to watch the flame. After a few minutes the alcohol inside the stove began to vaporize and I saw the burner holes begin to flicker with flame. Soon the burners were on fire as well. But then something went wrong. I had assumed that the spilled alcohol would evaporate quickly in my 81 degree (45 C) kitchen. alas, I was wrong. Fuel had spilled into the leg attachments, which began flaming. Then the remaining spilled fuel began flaming all around the stove. This was a classic alcohol stove mistake - I can think of several things I did wrong. Once I spilled fuel, I should have relocated the stove and lit it somewhere else. I spent a few nervous minutes watching the flaming inferno, glad for my glazed tile floor - as well as the large pot of water and the fire extinguisher I had handy. Eventually the spilled fuel burned out and I was able to relax. On this run, I achieved the mind-boggling boil time of 4 minutes and 30 seconds (I started the timer when the burners caught fire, not when I began priming the stove). I attribute this to the large and scary flames created by the spilled fuel. After seven and a half minutes, I decided to extinguish the stove and see how much fuel was left. Just for kicks, I blew directly on the flames and saw them almost flicker out. So I blew another time, a nice stiff strong breath, and lo and behold the stove went out. Wow. i see this as both a great thing and a potential problem - more on that in my Test Plan, near the end of this report. However, the stove was too hot to handle until my timer passed eleven minutes, and even then it was somewhat uncomfortably warm. No fuel seemed to remain in the stove. I attribute all of this to the extreme heat that must have been produced by the burning of the spilled fuel. Burn #2 was done with half an Esbit tab, with the same pot and amount of water as burn #1, and also with a partially closed windscreen (so I could oberve the flames). My boil time for this test is flawed, because the flames went out and I had to re-light the tablet. Even so, I had a boil in a little over 8 minutes, with probably another 2 minutes of burn time left on the tablet. I was very pleased by this, because the Triad is much lighter than Esbit's burner stand. However, there is a problem with using the Triad to burn fuel tabs. In the standard folding Esbit burner, there is an indented rectangle in teh center, where The tablets are placed. Now I understand why - when the tab is burning, the exterior of the cube boils as it burns. This means the fuel is liquefying on the outside. Once the flames have heated the bottom of the tab, the bottom liquefies as well - allowing the tab to slide. So the fuel tab began to migrate across the top of the stove, in the direction of the slight slope the stove was set on (the flameproof base I had set the stove on is very slightly tilted). I was able to reposition the tab by poking it with a long metal instrument (my knife sharpener). This brings me to my first recommendation to the manufacturer - design the stove with either a slight indentation or a slightly raised "box" to hold an Esbit tab in place. Burn #3 was done yet again with denatured alcohol, and yet again I had enlightening results. Allow me to explain what led up to the test burn. Remember how I mentioned that I had a large pot of water handy, just in case? Well, I'm a bit of a klutz and I accidentally dropped the stove in the water after the test burn with the Esbit tab (I was washing off some of the Esbit residue). I shook out as much water as I could and then let it dry overnight. The next day, I filled the stove carefully, using my Brasslite fuel bottle to avoid spillage and measure how much alcohol I was actually pouring into the stove. I found that in order to have a pool of fuel sufficient to prime the stove, I had to pour in over an ounce of fuel - perhaps 1 and 1/8th ounces. I lit the stove, and after a few minutes the burner holes caught fire. But there was something wrong - the normally blue flames were spitting orange and the burning was much more audible. the stove hissed and spit, and flames began seeping out of the bottom seam between the top and bottom halves of the stove body. Once again I tensed up and hoped I wouldn't need the fire extinguisher. After another minute I blew the stove out. Once it cooled off I picked it up and looked it over, trying to figure out what had gone wrong. I shook the stove and realized that there was something inside of it, something soft and light that I could hear rustling around inside the stove. I had assumed the stove was hollow inside, much like my pop-can stove, but I realized there was some sort of pad inside - fiberglass or something flameproof was my guess. I wondered if this pad had retained water, which might have caused the spitting flames. I wrote to Brian Vargo and asked him what might have happened. He wrote back very promptly and explained that he uses a cotton pad inside the stove, in order to help regulate the flames. Since cotton retains water very well, suddenly the whole thing made sense. Our current heatwave is unusually humid, and I failed to take that into account when I assumed that the stove had dried out completely. The water retained in the cotton pad caused the flames to sputter and spit. I was beginning to feel like a bit of an idiot - two times I'd lit the stove, and two times I had managed to screw it up. Burn #4 was a complete success. The stove was dry and once again I used my Brasslite fuel bottle to fill the stove without spilling. I filled the stove with a little over and ounce of fuel. I lit it, placed a pot of ice-cold water on top, put down the windscreen, and started the timer. It took 3 minutes for the stove to prime and the burners to catch fire. I had bubbles at 7 minutes and a full boil by 7 minutes and 40 seconds. I decided to blow the stove out at 8 minutes and 30 seconds, and by 10 minutes I could handle the stove and pour out the unused fuel, using one of the pot supports as a spout. I was able to pour out a little bit over a tablespoon (15 ml) of fuel. Pouring the fuel out is a little bit messy and I did spill some. Even after pouring out all I could, the stove still retains fuel - I shook it and fuel seeped out of the burner holes. I could also hear the wetted cotton pad rustling around inside the stove when i shook it (when the stove is dry, the pad makes almost no noise). I'm not thrilled about that, but it remains to be seen whether the fuel remnants will evaporate quickly during actual field use - after all, I don't put my stove away immediately after using it. Brian Vargo also suggested that I only fill the stove with as much alcohol as I need, then use a finishing washer or even a dime to create a pool in the bowl without having to fill the stove all the way. I will be trying that for my Field Report, but I've run out of time to do it for this report. Conclusions: If I can avoid making any more mistakes, I think the Triad has the potential to be a great little stove. I really regret that my SnowPeak Trek 700 pot is just barely too small to sit stably on the pot supports. I could extend the pot supports halfway, so that they are upright (at a 90-degree angle instead of fully extended to a 45-degree angle), but one of the supports is a bit looser than the others and kept collapsing outward (to 45 degrees) when I tried that. So from here on out I will be using my 3-cup (24 oz) AntiGravityGear pot. Test Strategy: Pretty basic - I'm going to use this stove on every single trip I take for the next six months. I know it's sufficient for a solo stove, but how about as a stove for two people? Two adults and a child? The stove capacity is 1.75 ounces and Vargo claims a maximum burn time of 30 minutes. I intend to fill the stove completely and see how much water I can boil with 30 minutes' worth of fuel. I will always be using a windscreen with the stove - the flame obviously blows out too easily to use without one, plus a windscreen is an essential element for any alcohol-fueled cooking system I know of. Field Information: I will primarily be using the stove in southern California. I have no definite trips lined up, but once the weather cools down local trips will be an attractive option. From November through February, I will probably be in the desert (Colorado or Mojave) at least one weekend a month. Elevations will range from sea level to at least 5000 feet/1524 meters. Tempertaures will range from over 100 degrees F/38 C to possibly under freezing. I have no snow trips planned, but hopefully I will have the opportunity to snow camp this winter (I'm completely inexperienced with snow). If I do, the Triad will come along on that trip as well (but with a white gas stove for backup - just in case). I'd like to thank BGT and Vargo Outdoors for the opportunity to test this stove. Thank you. Tester Information Name: Colleen Porter Gender: Female Age: 29 Height: 5'8"/1.73 m Weight: 140 lbs/64 kg Email address: tarbubble at yahoo dot com Location: Orange County, CA Date: June 20, 2004 Backpacking Experience: I have been hiking for fifteen years, backpacking for eight. I've only been serious about it in the last two and a half years. I mostly hike on established trails. I never intend to bushwhack, but occasionally I find myself on a disused trail and at least attempt to make my way. I like gear to be simple and light, and I do make some of my own equipment. On my own or with other adults, I pack pretty light (about thirteen lbs/6 kilograms base weight), but I am often on family trips with my two-year-old son, so the weight usually doubles for those trips. My usual backpacking haunts are the San Gabriels, the Sierra Nevada, and the Grand Canyon. Read more reviews of Vargo Outdoors gear Read more gear reviews by Colleen Porter Reviews > Cook Gear > Stoves > Vargo Triad Titanium Stove > Colleen Porter > Initial Report | |||
