The Importance of Assessing Fuel Efficiency in a Backpacking Stove

By Jon Rose


When selecting a backpacking stove, or one to be used for mountaineering, most people look at the features that the stove offers and the weight of the cooker itself. In many cases they will pay more to buy a model made from exotic materials such as titanium because it will be a few grams lighter than a rival model. Yet few people take time to look at how fuel efficient the stove is, a factor that plays a far greater role in how much weight they will have to carry when hiking a long trail.
This is because backpacking and camping stoves vary considerably in their use of fuel with some using close to twice as much fuel to boil a given quantity of water compared with more efficient models. The choice of fuel is also important as some are far richer in energy than others. Choose wisely on both and you may end up having the weight you have to carry on the trail that is dedicated to cooking your food and preparing your coffee.
A study by university researchers in South Africa into the efficiency of four popular backpacking stoves found, for instance, that two models by the same manufacturer (in this case MSR) varied considerably. The MSR Expedition model managed to extract little more than 50% of the potential energy from the fuel it burned while DragonFly stove made by the same company extracted 70%. A rival model made by Primus meanwhile managed to achieve almost 90% efficiency. The impact this may have on the final weight carried on a trail is considerable since one would usually expect to carry some 600ml (weighing fairly close to 600 grams excluding the fuel bottle) for about two hours of cooking. A difference of efficiency of the order revealed by the research would lead to a difference of 200grams for a short hiking trip of just a day or two for a small group.
You can read more about backpacking stoves and particular models such as the MSR DragonFly.

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