UL fuel efficient cook system

TOLeary

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Listening to some podcasts of ultralight backpackers, many of them recommended the msr pocket rocket deluxe and soto wind master as the most efficient stoves for use away from a controlled environment.

I was hoping they would get into pots but never did. Currently I use a pocket rocket deluxe paired with the FM petrel and a jetboil zip cozy around it. Comes in at 9oz total for stove and pot which is about the lightest I think I can get and still have great efficiency even with wind.
How’ve you liked this pot? Do you have any experience with other heat exchanger pots to compare to?
 

BBob

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The Petrel isn’t as efficient as the Inferno but you can’t get an Inferno unless you get lucky and find old stock or a used one. The light backpackers tend to use plain bottom pots like the Toaks and those combos aren’t as efficient as a heat exchanger pot but they are lighter. My Windburner is pretty efficient but it isn’t always the best. I don’t have a PR Deluxe so I’ve never tested one. With a plain bottom pot the PR Deluxe and the Windmaster make sense with the efficient shrouded burners especially if there’s any wind. With a heat exchanger pot like the Inferno you can more get away with an exposed burner like the BRS. The Petrel heat exchanger short depth doesn’t give as much wind protection as a pot like the JetBoil’s or an Inferno and I think the smaller surface area of the exchanger fins on the Petrel is likely why it doesn’t quite stack up to the Inferno. The bottom of the fins on the Petrel also touch the bottom of the shroud and I suspect that’s another reason it’s less efficient.
 
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TOLeary

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The Petrel isn’t as efficient as the Inferno but you can’t get an Inferno unless you get lucky and find old stock or a used one. The light backpackers tend to use plain bottom pots like the Toaks and those combos aren’t as efficient as a heat exchanger pot but they are lighter. My Windburner is pretty efficient but it isn’t always the best. I don’t have a PR Deluxe so I’ve never tested one. With a plain bottom pot the PR Deluxe and the Windmaster make sense with the efficient shrouded burners especially if there’s any wind. With a heat exchanger pot like the Inferno you can more get away with an exposed burner like the BRS. The Petrel heat exchanger short depth doesn’t give as much wind protection as a pot like the JetBoil’s or an Inferno and I think the smaller surface area of the exchanger fins on the Petrel is likely why it doesn’t quite stack up to the Inferno. The bottom of the fins on the Petrel also touch the bottom of the shroud and I suspect that’s another reason it’s less efficient.
I tested the PR deluxe with my windburner pot and got slightly faster boil times than with the windburner stove. Just tested inside out of curiosity. Would be interested to compare results in lower temps and wind
 

BBob

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the windburner stove
I suspect the Windburner sits too close to the bottom of the Petrel and is choked a bit by the fins and the shroud along with that small gap to the bottom of the pot. I’d bet if it was a bit further from the bottom of the pot it’d do better. I mentioned either in this thread or another that the Windmaster wouldn’t light if it was just sitting up against the Petrel pot. I had to lift one side to get it to light.
 
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How’ve you liked this pot? Do you have any experience with other heat exchanger pots to compare to?
Msr windburner is the only other one I have experience with. I would say it’s more efficient, but I have put a timer to the petrel and I don’t know that I will. For the price and the weight, it’s about as good as you’re going to get without making a custom pot IMO unless you find one of the golden egg infernos.
 

nnmarcher

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A couple useful resources from Backpacking Light (protocol for testing power and efficiency of stoves) and Gear Skeptic (Youtube playlist looking at efficiency based on pot diameter, burner size, windscreens, and heat exchanger pots).
 
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Listening to some podcasts of ultralight backpackers, many of them recommended the msr pocket rocket deluxe and soto wind master as the most efficient stoves for use away from a controlled environment.

I was hoping they would get into pots but never did. Currently I use a pocket rocket deluxe paired with the FM petrel and a jetboil zip cozy around it. Comes in at 9oz total for stove and pot which is about the lightest I think I can get and still have great efficiency even with wind.

I tested the PR deluxe vs the BRS stove with a jetboil pot before I got one of the sterno pots. Posted results in this thread or maybe on another, can’t remember. BRS was more efficient even with a fan blowing on it.

Edit: my original results are in post #44 but I can’t find where I posted the fan results. Maybe I didn’t, but BRS still won.
 
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I'm thinking I may use my old flash pot and the brs stove this year. Those two items, with the flash lid (old gen 1 or 2) , are about 9.1oz. I think I can cut that weight considerably if I chop the top of the pot and cozy since I only boil 2-2.5 cup at most, cut the nylon strap off the cozy, and find a lighter lid.

Couple questions, which i think the answers should be yes but not sure.

Would those lightweight Sterno replacement lids work for the old flash pot?

Would this setup be as efficient as the Sterno w brs due to the lower pot wind shroud?

Would efficiency be improved by chopping the pot shorter?
 

gtriple

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I suspect the Windburner sits too close to the bottom of the Petrel and is choked a bit by the fins and the shroud along with that small gap to the bottom of the pot. I’d bet if it was a bit further from the bottom of the pot it’d do better. I mentioned either in this thread or another that the Windmaster wouldn’t light if it was just sitting up against the Petrel pot. I had to lift one side to get it to light.
Do you think the MicroMo lid from JetBoil will fit the Petrel?
 

BBob

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I'm looking for a lighter lid for the Petrel
I haven’t weighed them but I doubt the JB is lighter, probably heavier.

I’ve searched around for something lighter and haven’t come up with anything yet.

Comment from Backpacking Light:

“Happily, the Petrel is a nominal 95 mm pot, and this is a standard size for the top of many “large”, ~32 oz soft drink cups. 3 options are shown in the photo attached, and all 3 lids fit the Petrel. I’ve settled on the heaviest of the 3, still only 5.5 g, for more wind resistance, on the pot and off.

I may add a bit of Dyneema repair tape to top for a lifting grab.

(A Toaks Ti 95 mm lid also fits, but it was heavier than listed on-line, about 22 g; and so I returned.)“
IMG_3467.jpeg
 
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BBob

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Gotcha, what are you using on yours?
The original right now. I have an Inferno that I’ve been using in the field for awhile and only have the Petrel for fun testing sake. I’ll probably pass it on to a buddy that need something more compact and efficient when I’m done messing with it.
 
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Do you think the MicroMo lid from JetBoil will fit the Petrel?

It just sits on it, the groove in the lid doesn’t fit tight and hold on the rim at all.

I just went and looked at mine and then realized that BBob beat me to the answer. As he stated, it fits, but is not tight. The top of the petrel seems to be rolled a little tighter than the jet boil, so its got a smaller lip.

I kinda like the look of that Quick Trip big gulp lid, but the more I think about it, I'm not even sure why I want a lid..
 

gtriple

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I just went and looked at mine and then realized that BBob beat me to the answer. As he stated, it fits, but is not tight. The top of the petrel seems to be rolled a little tighter than the jet boil, so its got a smaller lip.

I kinda like the look of that Quick Trip big gulp lid, but the more I think about it, I'm not even sure why I want a lid..
My guess is that the lid increases the efficiency of the system. I know that my other pots boil faster with the lid on.
 
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