White Gas Stoves
Before selecting a particular model of stove, you must first decide what type of fuel you want to burn. North American backpackers have two main choices: white gas and butane. Both fuels have strong advantages and distinct drawbacks.

The main advantage of white-gas stoves is high heat output in all conditions, even in severe cold. A minor advantage is the lower cost of the fuel compared to butane cartridges, but few people spend enough time backpacking for the cost to make much difference. (As an aside, white gas, more accurately known as naphtha, is not the same as automotive gasoline, either leaded or unleaded. Trying to burn automotive gas in a white-gas-only stove will result in rapid clogging of the burner orifice where the vaporized fuel emerges and ignites.) The disadvantages of white-gas stoves are the inconvenience of lighting them, the racket they produce when they're burning and the greater amount of maintenance they require. White gas is extremely volatile, which means that spills evaporate readily without leaving an oily residue like kerosene does; it also means that accidentally igniting a spilled pool of fuel would cause a disastrous fireball that would make my little epic seem like a candle-lighting ceremony.

A modern white gas stove consists of a tank to hold the fuel, a pump to create pressure in the tank so the fuel will flow out through the fuel line, a valve to control fuel flow, and a burner assembly where the gas mixes with air and burns.

To burn efficiently, white gas must be vaporized by heat. Once the stove is running, vaporization takes place in the fuel line as the line passes directly through the flames emitted by the burner. The vaporized fuel then burns, vaporizing more fuel, and the cycle is completed. The trick is getting the cycle going. To do that, most white gas stoves must be primed, which is tech-talk for preheating the fuel line by releasing a teaspoon of fuel into a small depression at the base of the burner, then igniting it. The easiest way to get the priming fuel in place is to give the pump a dozen strokes, then open the valve a crack, which lets a small amount of liquid fuel escape through the orifice and dribble down to the priming cup. Priming with white gas is a potentially dangerous maneuver that must be executed with great care well away from anything flammable. If you use too much priming fuel, the stove will flare up. If you use way too much priming fuel, the Russians will think we've launched an ICBM. (A few white-gas stoves don't need to be primed unless the temperature is below freezing). An alternative to priming with white gas is carrying a small squeeze bottle of stove alcohol or a tube of priming paste. Neither alcohol nor priming paste will flare up like an excessive amount of white gas will.

You may occasionally run across old white-gas stoves that lack a pump. Do not be tempted to buy. These ancient geezers are supposedly "self-pressurizing," meaning that the heat of the flame was supposed to keep the tank hot enough to maintain sufficient pressure inside for the stove to continue operating. Set the stove on cold ground, however, and you could gradually lose pressure and heat output. The pump found on all modern white-gas stoves makes the whole operation a lot less finicky because you can reliably add pressure to the tank whenever you need it. For years, the best white-gas and multi-fuel backpacking stoves on the market have been made by MSR and Coleman's Peak 1 division. If you choose to buy a white-gas stove, select a model from either of these two companies, and you won't go far wrong.

Next Page: Butane Stoves

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