I read about these on Steal This Wiki (note: this site appears to condone petty theft, which I do not, but it does have some good tips for living cheap and other things which would apply to bike touring) and they sound like they'd be perfect for a tour (within civilization, of course, because it requires an electrical outlet), but I can't for the life of me seem to find where they can be purchased. For those of you who aren't sure, an immersion boiler (also known as a "stinger") is a little metal and plastic device you clip to a cup or pot to boil water/cook liquidy things. It has a metal coil which is submerged in the water/liquidy thing and heats up, subsequently heating up the liquid. It sounds dangerous, I know, but apparently they have a failsafe and work well enough. Do any of you own one and know where they can be found and for how much? Do they work well for tours? Any info anyone has would be fantastic - cheers!

That is a whacked out left wing terrorist website and should not be promoted in any way.

They promote theft (means and methods) and violence (instructions for several types of bombs).

Well, terrorist is certainly an alarming word these days, isn't it?

Anyway, Amazon.com may be mainstream enough for us to agree on, and they usually have what you are looking for with out having to take extra blood pressure meds.

https://www.amazon.com/Travel-Immersi...1385125&sr=8-3

yeah, idiots...

Don't they know its the crazy right wing terrorists that have all the good anti-establishment brew your own military advice? sheesh

My post would have been identical if it was a right wing group, just swapping right for left.

I'm sure your not advocating this type of group, are you?

Let's not get into politics, as I said in my original post I was not condoning criminal activity by linking to their site, only saying that they did have some good information there (which they do). Shifty: Thanks a bunch, not sure why that didn't come up in my search!

https://www.amazon.com/Progressive-GT.../dp/B00004RIZB

To address your real question: For boiling water, an immersion heater is better than nothing, but not by much.

My wife and I don't carry a stove on tour (a whole other discussion...), but I do carry an immersion heater. At 2 or 3 ounces, it's insignificant on weight, but useful when you desparately need a cup of hot water. But don't expect it to substitute for a stove in any capacity -- except for packets of instant soup, oatmeal, or the like.

It takes more than 20 minutes to boil a 12 oz. cup of water. The real problem with this is that we don't normally hang out around an electricity source that long (the camp bathroom, for instance). In most cases, it's probably easier to ask your fellow campers for a cup of boiling water. But we end up using it about once a week for making instant oatmeal or tea. All in all, it's barely worth the 2 ounces.

It can only be used in water -- not soup, not coffee, nothing except pure water. The instructions are clear about keeping it immersed in water while it's plugged in. The heating element would probably self-destruct, or worse, in less than 5 seconds if not. But as long as you keep it immersed, it's safe. We use plastic camp cups, and the immersion heater is safe in that. It can even be used in a styrofoam cup -- the heating element doesn't touch the cup wall, the water absorbs all the heat.

Not the most useful thing we carry, but like I said, it's worth the 2 ounces.

-- Mark

Wow! Bike forums never ceases to amaze me with the contributions our far flung cyclists make! I haven't seen an immersion boiler since the 1960s, when ya used to put them in a coffee cup to cook up instant soup/broth at the factory where I worked. They used to fizzle out and implode if ya plugged them in and they weren't 'immersed' in anything! Watch out.

So many campers/cyclists start their evening meals by 'boiling water.' Thats too bad, because boiling water is energy intensive and, in many cases (as with pasta, freeze dried bagged meals, etc) the hot water is just thrown away, usually right next to your picnic table and wasting the local flora and fauna. Be more creative, my two wheeled chefs! You can stir fry or make a small stew over your cookstove, and it'll be much better. Vitamins, minerals, and good flavor are very preciousssssssss.....

roughstuff

Ya can't stir-fry coffee. Well, I guess you could, but it wouldn't taste very good.

Nope, they're both stupid extremists, I'm just having some fun...

Immersion boilers, as was pointed out, suck. Unless you're in Britain with the 220V grid. My kettle at home boils 1L water in about a minute

Actually it's a great way to start a meal. Check out freezer bag cooking. https://www.trailcooking.com/

Most meals consist of a base carbohydrate, dried lentils, couscous, rice, beans, oats, things like that. Then you add either fresh or dehydrated veggies and tofu. Meat eaters add tuna, chicken, jerky etc. It's also very efficient, you heat (typically) 1 1/2 - 2 cups of water to a boil and the rest of the cooking happens in an insulated bag. Most alcohol stoved need only 1 oz of fuel to do that.

Just sayin

Tell that to my wife!

https://www.rei.com/product/781694

You probably have an REI in Madison which sell sthem in the travel seciton

Golly gee, we sure do have an REI in Madison - not paying for shipping for the win!

I've seen them at travel stores, and have one that I bought second hand. I prefer hot pots (which are similar to a fast immersion heater with pot), in most cases, and posted some comments and links in a recent thread, "Another Way to Cook."

OOps! Good point, because I used to get International Instant coffees, the small metal tin fit PERFECTLY in the back of my Kirtland tour pacs. Or, of course, tea bags.

roughstuff

We used ours constantly on our last tour along with the kleen kanteen. Works great and boils fast. For some strange reason they seem to stop working after a few weeks or months so do not spend a lot on one.

There are kettles that have built in, high powered immersion heaters inside. If you really wanted to, you could probably separate the heater from the kettle; or you could just use it as it comes.

You can find them with the hot pots in some of the stores that carry these sorts of items.

I`ve never used an immersion heater, so I could be wrong, but they don`t look very handy to me. Since you need an electric outlet, if you`re able to make use of one you`re able to just as easilly walk across the street to a gas station for your coffee or microwaved food. I don`t know what they weigh, but it must be fairly comparable to the weight of a Pepsi stove, small pot, and small bottle of HEET, which would give you the same cup of boiling water much faster pretty much anywhere you happen to find yourself. The one situation I can think of where the immersion heater would be better than an alcohol stove would be staying in a motel- you could plug in and heat your water right in the room as opposed to having to step out and heat water outside your door with a stove. Then again, most motel rooms I`ve stayed in recently have had coffee pots in the room already.

If you go to Laos, you can buy an immersion boiler in the markets there for cheap. It's a 'use at your own risk' kind of thing but a cyclist we know says it boils a cup of water for coffee in just a couple minutes.

If you want a simple light method of boiling water just make a soda can stove.