Is Your Stove Burning Too Much Fuel?

Are you burning three times the fuel you should? You might be — without even realizing it. What’s the issue? Wind.

by hiking_jim

OK, so here’s the deal: If you’re not blocking the wind, the wind is robbing you. It’s robbing you of fuel and time. You’re going to be burning more fuel, yes the fuel that you carried ounce by precious ounce on your aching back, and here you are just throwing it down the drain, yes, that fuel. And time: You could be done by now but on this windy night your pot hasn’t even begun to boil. Say, you weren’t hungry were you? Oops.

How can we stop this thief? With a windscreen. Not using a windscreen could result in fuel usage up to 300% of what you might otherwise* need. And, yes, you could go through your entire fuel supply† without ever bringing your pot to a boil.

What’s that you say? Your stove’s directions say “don’t use a windscreen?” Well, fair enough, we can’t use a complete and total windscreen on every stove, but you still don’t have to just sit there doing nothing and be at the mercy of the wind. Read on, dear reader, read on.

Note: If you’re using an integrated canister stove such as a Jetboil (except GCS) or an MSR Reactor, you’ve already got some pretty good wind protection. This article is far less critical for you.


OK, first let’s let’s define what we’re talking about here so we’re all on the same sheet of music. There are a couple of basic types of stoves out there: upright and remote. An upright stove has burner right on top of the fuel, for example an MSR Pocket Rocket.

To read the rest of the article go here.