Originally Posted by
Tourist in MSN
Thanks for explaining the extension, that did not look like an off the shelf windscreen.
If you are new to canisters, they perform best when pretty full. When they are closer to empty, the composition of the gas has changed and it does not burn as hot, especially when cold. If your tank is three quarters empty, it can be slow to heat your coffee water on a cold morning.
If you are out when it is pretty chilly, you can set your stove canister in a shallow pan of luke warm (not hot) water to warm up the canister and it performs better.
I've got lots of experience using my friends canister stove backpacking out west, as flying with a liquid fuel stove or tank, even an empty one, is problematic. We usually sleep with the canisters (and cameras) in the sleeping bags to keep them warm.
Said friend just bought a (one-way?) valve which allows you to suck some of the last fuel from a low-pressure tank into a fuller one. This of course defies the laws of physics except the trick is to submerge the recipient tank in a pan of ice water, which condenses the fuel and drastically lowers the pressure. The 2 tanks are linked by the valve and resemble an hourglass, with the recipient on the bottom. I suggested pouring some hot water into the concavity on the bottom (now top) of the donor tank to cause an even greater pressure differential.
I haven't seen it but he says it works.