Jetboil Issue

[jjentringer3921]

I have a fairly new Jetboil Ti. I've probably boiled about 10 cups of water on it since I bought it, and this past week I was up on Lake Superior boiling my 4th cup in a row when the flux ring/distributor on the bottom started melting. I want to know if anybody else has had this problem, if I boiled the water incorrectly, etc? The titanium cup is pretty expensive to have this happen that quick.

Jarred

 

[Shrek]

It's a known problem. Contact Jetboil and see what they will do for you. I haven't heard any glowing reports about their customer service but I haven't ever used them either. Good luck and report back what they do for you. I think Aron said his melted off when he was testing stoves last year.

 

[jjentringer3921]

Thanks, well I'm happy in a way to know that this has happened before, but a little nervous to buy another. Thanks for the input, yes I did e-mail Jetboil, lets see if they respond.

 

[Becca]

We had the same thing happen to us with a titanium SUMO cup last season, on exactly the second trip we used it on. The folks at jetboil were unwilling to do anything besides offer us a discount on the purchase of a new one. Backcountry.com (who we had ordered it from), however were great and accepted it as a return no questions asked. We love the SUMO cup, but went with the aluminum version on the second go round. It has been going strong now for us on a multitude of trips over the last year.

 

[PJG]

So, here's the deal guys. Titanium is a metal that is called reactive, which means that they have a strong affinity for oxygen. At room temperature, titanium reacts with oxygen to from titanium dioxide. This passive, impervious coating resists further interaction with the surrounding atmosphere, and it gives titanium it's famous corrosion resistance. However, when heated, titanium becomes highly reactive and readily combines with oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, and carbon to form oxides (titanium's famous colors come from varying thickness of the oxide layer.) Interstitial absorption of these oxides embrittles the part and can render it useless. This typically happens above 800F. My best guess is that if the water in the cup was more directly on top of the flux ring that this wouldn't happen, rather than the large gap from the water layer to the bottom of the flux ring.

 

[gelton]

So, here's the deal guys. Titanium is a metal that is called reactive, which means that they have a strong affinity for oxygen. At room temperature, titanium reacts with oxygen to from titanium dioxide. This passive, impervious coating resists further interaction with the surrounding atmosphere, and it gives titanium it's famous corrosion resistance. However, when heated, titanium becomes highly reactive and readily combines with oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, and carbon to form oxides (titanium's famous colors come from varying thickness of the oxide layer.) Interstitial absorption of these oxides embrittles the part and can render it useless. This typically happens above 800F. My best guess is that if the water in the cup was more directly on top of the flux ring that this wouldn't happen, rather than the large gap from the water layer to the bottom of the flux ring.

And jet boils engineers weren't smart enough to figure this out. I burnt up one myself. Won't be using jet boil when this one craps out (and it will).

 

[Elk Dog]

Thanks for the heads up. Guess I will be sticking to my old pocket rocket this season.

 

[dangerousD]

Not what I wanted to hear as I head into the mountains all September with my Ti. Good to know this info but sucks that Jetboil doesn't back their product very well. May have to look at a pocket rocket.

 

[Shrek]

The simple fix is put an aluminum pot on it and rock on. If Jetboil just pisses you off than they sell such a trouble prone product and don't back it then a MSR Reactor or a Primus ETA. Aron did a bunch of testing and rated the MSR Reactor best. Titanium isn't the solution for everything.

 

[Becca]

Not what I wanted to hear as I head into the mountains all September with my Ti. Good to know this info but sucks that Jetboil doesn't back their product very well. May have to look at a pocket rocket.

For what it's worth, we were able to continue using our titanium sumo cup for the rest of the trip, even after the flux ring melted off. I am sure it impacted the efficiency (the flux ring really does help heat the water faster) but it got the job done. So it shouldn't leave you stranded, just irritated! For what it's worth we know other people using titanium jetboil cups that have not had the problem we did. Have had no further issues with our aluminum model, and will cont using the sumo cup (sometimes with the jetboil stove, but more often with the soto wind master which Luke modified our cup to accept) for the foreseeable future as it's a super handy way to heat water for two or more people.

 

[eltaco]

That's a little disappointing since I also have the Ti. Haven't had a problem yet so hopefully the awareness of the issue helps with the longevity or mine. I actually had a full titanium exhaust system on a motorcycle and never hear of such an issue though temps are significantly high in that system. Interesting.

 

[gelton]

Here's a pic of mine as it was burning up. I didn't realize it until about two seconds after I took the pic but you can see the flame starting to burn the neoprene in the pic. I should have paid more attention to the warning to not melt snow.

 

[jjentringer3921]

Jetboil told me to send it in and they would look at it and see if this is something they will cover. I'm not holding my breath, but I should know in a few days how well Jetboil stands behind their products. I'll update everybody when I find out.