I was rooting around on the internet for why the canister stoves aren’t as good as liquid fuel stoves at melting snow, and came across this:

Current generation canisters contain a mix of Propane and Isobutane, (plus sometimes regular Butane.) The problem with regular butane is that it boils at -0.5 degrees C. So if the ambient temp is below freezing, your fuel would not vaporize. Isobutane is better in that it has a boiling point of -11.7 degrees C. (Propane boils at -42.1 degrees C.) So, why not just use Propane in the canisters?? Well, Propane has a higher vapor pressure, so requires a stronger (heavier!) can — like the giant cans used for car camping, or your backyard BBQ. So, in order to keep the small canisters light, yet still work at low temperatures, manufactures use the Propane/Iso blend.

This blend approach is not completely trouble free, though. The different gases in the canister boil off at different rates. So, as you run the stove, the Propane is used up first — leaving behind the (iso)butane. This explains why partially used canisters are particularly bad in cold weather — there is little propane left in them.

To make things worse, the fuel in a regular canister vaporizes inside the canister as the stove is run. This causes evaporative cooling of the fuel, lowering it’s temperature. So even if you start off with a warm canister, after running it for several minutes, it will cool and it’s output will drop off or stop. That’s why canisters are problematic for things like snow melting where 30-40 minute boils are needed.

Apparently, the canister models (like my PocketRocket, which let me down last winter on a very bad trip) feed off the vapors within the can, whereas other canister style stoves (like the Coleman XTreme) use a can that feeds from the bottom, sucking up the liquid fuel and allowing it to vaporize at the stove… where it would be warmer, so you won’t have freezing bottle issues. I’ve seen where some people have modified their canister stoves, with the can pointing downward, to reproduce this effect… but, until now, had no clue why they were doing it.

Now here’s something that will bake your noodle: According to this article a JetBoil was the most efficient at melting & boiling snow in that it uses less fuel than other top of the line stoves… but, at 51mins for 2L, it took for freaking ever! My liquid fuel stove is similar to the SimmerLite that was pitted against the Coleman and JetBoil… and I’m confident to say that from now on my long-distance, Winter, international and/or high-altitude stove will remain my old buddy the WhisperLite International– it’s twelve years old and still purrs like the day I bought it. However, due to ease of use, weight and efficiency… on short (3-4 days or less) three-season hikes, I’m gonna continue with my PocketRocket.

[Edit]
Just to add… my WhisperLite was my favorite toy out on the trail. Pump it; prime it; and let it burn. It just plain worked, no matter what. This thing will burn any type of liquid, petroleum based fuel you can find… white gas, gasoline, diesel, kerosene, and jet/aviation fuel. And after traveling internationally with my canister stove, I wished that I had brought this one instead. It’s impossible to find a canister without asking around for hours. I only once accidentally stumbled upon a place that sold them while on my two-month Euro-trip.
The PocketRocket had actually turned me into a convert about two years ago on a one week trip… I carried two 8oz canisters… and didn’t even finish my first canister… and that included repeatedly heating up a nail in order to facilitate some emergency boot repair. I’ve only had problems with it in the cold (even though I insulated the canister from the snow) and trying to light it at high altitude.

I’d like to compare the movie Americano to others, but can’t. I’ve never seen a movie that so completely presents the spirit of traveling. I’ve never seen a movie that inspires me to jump on a plane tonight and fly to some far off land. I’ve never seen a movie that could illustrate what only books seem to have done before. Of course Discovery Channel documentaries come close, but none can capture the emotion of the traveler’s in their stories quite like this movie has.

Having, myself, done the two-month soul-searching backpacking trip through Europe within the last six-months this movie struck a special cord in my heart. Kevin Noland is an obvious traveler. From the way Spaniards and Spain were presented, to the way that Americans act while traveling, he hasn’t missed a thing. Only a seasoned traveler with a serious case of wanderlust could capture these things so perfectly.

The soundtrack (all orignal I believe) was spectacular, the visuals were gorgeous, and the acting wasn’t too bad. Overall I’d give this an ‘A’, and for those that know me, I’m a picky little bitch about what I give an ‘A’ to.

Cristi let me tag along last night to catch the premier of this movie and hang out with the director and some of the crew, including the director’s mother (who was way cool)… definitely see this in theaters [now showing on Sunset in Holywood] if you can, if you can’t… pre-order it on Amazon… I already have!

I’m having issues with my single post pages right now… you’re still able to view them, but they are not displaying commenting and other additional services. I don’t know why. I’ve done a little playing around with it… like re-uploading WordPress, changing out my theme for another, etc… nothing seems to work. I know I need to go through the code and figure it out, but I just don’t have time right now with work and all. I’d ask you all to be patient… but it’s not like you use the damn commenting anyway. I know I have readers, because of my log files… but you guys are just a bunch of lurkers!

I’m still a geeky Google fanboy. A month ago I wrote a post about Google’s new Gmail for your domain feature. They are offering to let people beta test it on an invitation only basis, so I applied in hopes of having my ‘danegardner.net’ email brought to me by the best web interface for email I’ve ever seen. I never expected to be selected, but aparently I crossed my fingers hard enough! The cool thing is they truly host it… it’s not a POP/IMAP interface… I’m in the process of waiting for my domain registration to begin pointing to their MX servers.
So freakin’ awesome.

Have you ever done the laundry and discover a long lost twenty dollar bill? If you can’t remember where it came from it almost feels like you discovered a pirate’s fortune. It’s yours, it was in your pocket, you earned it (maybe), and yet it feels like a gift from above. If you’re like me you enjoy spending it frivolously. There’s no reason to waste a ‘gift’ on something prudent… blow it on something you want.

Today, I had the distinct pleasure of having this feeling multiplied by two orders of magnitude. Yup, you read right. I discovered some long lost money that was more than a hundred times greater than a twenty.

Doing my taxes for this last year I discovered a discrepancy. My banking records were not agreeing with what I’d actually invoiced a client. The bottom lines weren’t adding up. So I dug into it a little and discovered an eight month old invoice for which I had not received a payment.

I make it a point of pride to watch my finances like a hawk. I’m aware of every penny that goes in and out of my accounts. I balance my checkbook more often than weekly. I’m constantly looking at my future income vs. spending; I’m looking at what I spent in my past. I can tell you, from memory, my exact balance for all my credit cards, and my checking and savings accounts. So to have to admit that I lost this much money is rather embarrassing — especially to a client who relies on my meticulousness in my work.

Fighting through my embarrassment I talked with their accounting department and discovered that a check had been mailed, but was still outstanding. Given that I was expecting it around the time that I started doing a bunch of traveling (Burning Man, Maui, and then Europe), and the fact that, until today, my invoicing system (a custom MS Access app.) was separate from my accounting software (Quicken), and relied on me keeping track of my receivables balance by hand, it’s a small wonder that I hadn’t screwed it up more.

So today, with my new found money, I purchased Quicken’s small business package, which will allow me to better track my invoicing, payables, receivables, and schedule C items. And with the balance I’m buying myself a really nice road bike that I’ve been drooling over for a while, but put off because I wanted to pay down a few other things first — now I get to do both!