I’ve owned a Whisperlite for about 25yrs, and a Dragonfly for probably 10, and not only have I never had any problems with either, but I’m yet to use my maintenance kit. Needed to ‘massage’ the pump gasket in colder weather a couple of times. All together they’ve been used on over 70 wilderness trips. Same goes for a good friend if mine. His only maintenance was the pump gasket after dozens of trips. My son also owns a problem free Dragonfly. They work well.
One extra thing: if you’re using them for an extended period of time, you’ll notice the flame will start to pulse. In order to prevent the flame from burning out, you’ll need to re-pump the bottle another 30 times or so.
As with all liquid fuel pressure stoves. In the bottle, as the fuel level drops, the air space above gets larger. This increasing air volume causes the compressed air pressure to drop. Eventually, the difference in pressure is not enough to push the fuel from the bottle to the stove.
@@phoenixrising4073 Just pulled one out of 8 years cold storage, burned perfectly. Although I will replace the pump gaskets as preventive maintenance.
Ive had one for 19 years best stove on the market msr ledgend. For long trips cooking dinners & making tea&coffee at camp sites. superfly gas stove for 2/3 day fishing adventures.
Thanks. I was asking myself how much pressure I could safely pump into my Whisperlite. And while I didn’t really get a clear answer, I noticed you turning the stove up so high that I don’t think it really burns efficiently. With its big yellow flame, that is. You can pump it up as much as you’ll ever have a rational reason to that is. And if your flame runs yellow like that, it’s too much.
21 haters... I love MSR products... I'm in Southern California and will be doing winter backpacking in the snow... I have 2 pocket rockets that have worked fine, which one of these stoves would you recommend???
Wondering how to store the fuel bottle after the stove is turned off and cooled down. Can I take the pump off of the bottle and put the original lid back on, or is this unsafe?
Hi Kate, Good question! There is no problem with leaving the pump in the bottle. However, we recommend that the pressure is released when not in use. Do this by slowly unscrewing the pump, away from open flames, while holding the bottle upright. If you'd rather not put the pump back on after releasing the pressure, you can put back on the original lid.
You could. However, many folks prefer to leave the pump-lid on. Saves having to remove it completely... which risks spilling, and the hassle of wiping the pump's insides clean of fuel... especially if kerosene's used. It should be depressurised first before storing it in your pack, by slowly turning the pump open (NOT the fuel lever). You'll hear a hissing noise as the pressure is normalised. Once the hissing stops, tighten it back. The idea is you don't have flammable fuel shooting out in your pack if the fuel switch is somehow wedged open.
Hi there, yes, lubrication is applied during assembly. Maintenance depends on storage temperature and usage. A good rule of thumb is at the beginning of season, apply a small amount of mineral oil to all the O-rings. If you don’t or forget, do it at the end of season before putting all the away for the winter. If you are using other fuels beside White Gas, more maintenance/cleaning will be required as those fuels are dirtier and cause carbon build up, which if left uncheck can lower performance of stove.
Can you use the liquid fuel stove bottles as water bottles if you plan on just using the Whisperlite Universal with canisters only, but want the bottle for liquid fuel use in an emergency but don’t want to lug around a useless bottle, but make it useful by using it for water until really needed for fuel? This would make the whole stove more viable to carry, or else may as well just get a lighter remote canister stove that also burns canister fuel inverted
The short answer is no. MSR fuel bottles are not considered food-safe (and haven't been designed or tested for that purpose). Therefore, you should not use MSR liquid fuel bottles for any form of water storage.
Hi Alex, We sell a 30 oz. MSR liquid fuel bottle which is the largest bottle of fuel we recommend using with our liquid fuel (white gas) stoves. We do not recommend any after-market bottles. We make a lot of these suggestions in the owners manual.
@@alexkaa6351 No. Even if you could somehow find a super large 3rd party bottle, you'll need to constantly pump up the bottle every now & then to keep the stove running.
I haven’t tried a piezo igniter, but I’ll guess it depends on which fuel you are using and how cold it is. When at least parts of the fuel vaporises into gas, such as with unleaded fuel and white gas when it’s not too cold, it’s easily flammable and a piezo igniter should be enough. If the fuel is heavier, such as with kerosene, or also with other fuels at temperatures near to freezing, the fuel needs to be heated to a temperature where it releases vapour before you can burn it, as only fuel in vapour form can mix with air and then burn. The wick in the bottom cup is meant to help with that, but it needs to be heated enough to boil at least some fuel into vapour before it can burn. A spark will be much too small for that.
Yes. Primus and Optimus bottles have a thicker bottle opening. Using these bottles with the MSR Fuel Pump, you will not get a proper seal (not really a seal at all). The bottle opening will rest against the red ring of the pump, and not against the o-ring inside. It will leak and it is dangerous. Compare the two bottles and it's immediately obvious.
Honestly this seems like an overly complicated mess... and that wastefully large open flame in the beginning is just a forest fire waiting to happen. I have a small propane stove. I connect it together, I turn the knob, put a lighter on it and bam, im cooking. This one looks like it has more complicated steps, and has long wait times. 2 minutes for this, wait for this, if you don't time it right start over, but not before waiting 5 more minutes for this... Does anyone with experience find the timing of these steps to be wasteful where you can safely shortcut them? And can anyone with the wisdom explain to me the benefit of using this item over a (seemingly) more simple propane camp stove?
I’ve owned a Whisperlite for about 25yrs, and a Dragonfly for probably 10, and not only have I never had any problems with either, but I’m yet to use my maintenance kit. Needed to ‘massage’ the pump gasket in colder weather a couple of times.
All together they’ve been used on over 70 wilderness trips.
Same goes for a good friend if mine. His only maintenance was the pump gasket after dozens of trips.
My son also owns a problem free Dragonfly.
They work well.
One extra thing: if you’re using them for an extended period of time, you’ll notice the flame will start to pulse. In order to prevent the flame from burning out, you’ll need to re-pump the bottle another 30 times or so.
As with all liquid fuel pressure stoves. In the bottle, as the fuel level drops, the air space above gets larger. This increasing air volume causes the compressed air pressure to drop. Eventually, the difference in pressure is not enough to push the fuel from the bottle to the stove.
Manual says 10 additional pumps per 10 minutes of stove use.
pulled out my dragonfly after 15 years. gave it a quick dust off. worked perfectly. happy camper
I just got one last week. Going to test it today finally. Glad to hear they last a while in storage.
@@phoenixrising4073 Just pulled one out of 8 years cold storage, burned perfectly. Although I will replace the pump gaskets as preventive maintenance.
Camping on the ice or on glacier, they are the best. Greetings from Greenland.
I have the dragon fly it has worked in all kind of conditions. Uses different fuels it’s great
Ive had one for 19 years best stove on the market msr ledgend. For long trips cooking dinners & making tea&coffee at camp sites.
superfly gas stove for 2/3 day fishing adventures.
@@stephengomme777 Have you tried in winter yet?
@@johnbuxton9105
Thanks. I was asking myself how much pressure I could safely pump into my Whisperlite. And while I didn’t really get a clear answer, I noticed you turning the stove up so high that I don’t think it really burns efficiently. With its big yellow flame, that is.
You can pump it up as much as you’ll ever have a rational reason to that is. And if your flame runs yellow like that, it’s too much.
21 haters... I love MSR products... I'm in Southern California and will be doing winter backpacking in the snow... I have 2 pocket rockets that have worked fine, which one of these stoves would you recommend???
I have the xgk modell and it is solid like a tank. The ability to use all kinds of fuel is great. I love it.
Those little canisters suck when its cold. They loose about 50% of their performance.
Whisperlite universal
Wondering how to store the fuel bottle after the stove is turned off and cooled down. Can I take the pump off of the bottle and put the original lid back on, or is this unsafe?
Hi Kate, Good question! There is no problem with leaving the pump in the bottle. However, we recommend that the pressure is released when not in use. Do this by slowly unscrewing the pump, away from open flames, while holding the bottle upright. If you'd rather not put the pump back on after releasing the pressure, you can put back on the original lid.
You could. However, many folks prefer to leave the pump-lid on. Saves having to remove it completely... which risks spilling, and the hassle of wiping the pump's insides clean of fuel... especially if kerosene's used. It should be depressurised first before storing it in your pack, by slowly turning the pump open (NOT the fuel lever). You'll hear a hissing noise as the pressure is normalised. Once the hissing stops, tighten it back. The idea is you don't have flammable fuel shooting out in your pack if the fuel switch is somehow wedged open.
Do replacement msr fuel pumps come pre-lubricated? How often does it require maintenance?
Hi there, yes, lubrication is applied during assembly. Maintenance depends on storage temperature and usage. A good rule of thumb is at the beginning of season, apply a small amount of mineral oil to all the O-rings. If you don’t or forget, do it at the end of season before putting all the away for the winter. If you are using other fuels beside White Gas, more maintenance/cleaning will be required as those fuels are dirtier and cause carbon build up, which if left uncheck can lower performance of stove.
Can you use the liquid fuel stove bottles as water bottles if you plan on just using the Whisperlite Universal with canisters only, but want the bottle for liquid fuel use in an emergency but don’t want to lug around a useless bottle, but make it useful by using it for water until really needed for fuel?
This would make the whole stove more viable to carry, or else may as well just get a lighter remote canister stove that also burns canister fuel inverted
The short answer is no. MSR fuel bottles are not considered food-safe (and haven't been designed or tested for that purpose). Therefore, you should not use MSR liquid fuel bottles for any form of water storage.
Hi @msrgear. Is there a way to connect/use larger white gas canister to increase burning time to let's say overnight?
Hi Alex, We sell a 30 oz. MSR liquid fuel bottle which is the largest bottle of fuel we recommend using with our liquid fuel (white gas) stoves. We do not recommend any after-market bottles. We make a lot of these suggestions in the owners manual.
@@MSRGear that would be couple hours burn time. So there is no solution for the overnight run as you could do with a large propane bottle and burner?
@@alexkaa6351 No. Even if you could somehow find a super large 3rd party bottle, you'll need to constantly pump up the bottle every now & then to keep the stove running.
Will the MSR Piezo igniter work on liquid fuel stoves ?
I haven’t tried a piezo igniter, but I’ll guess it depends on which fuel you are using and how cold it is.
When at least parts of the fuel vaporises into gas, such as with unleaded fuel and white gas when it’s not too cold, it’s easily flammable and a piezo igniter should be enough.
If the fuel is heavier, such as with kerosene, or also with other fuels at temperatures near to freezing, the fuel needs to be heated to a temperature where it releases vapour before you can burn it, as only fuel in vapour form can mix with air and then burn. The wick in the bottom cup is meant to help with that, but it needs to be heated enough to boil at least some fuel into vapour before it can burn.
A spark will be much too small for that.
I thought to turn off the stove you turned the fuel bottle upside down and let the air leave the bottle
2781 Iliana Shores
Can anyone explain why should I use MSR fuel bottles only? Is there any meaningful difference to primus or optimus bottles?
Yes. Primus and Optimus bottles have a thicker bottle opening. Using these bottles with the MSR Fuel Pump, you will not get a proper seal (not really a seal at all). The bottle opening will rest against the red ring of the pump, and not against the o-ring inside. It will leak and it is dangerous. Compare the two bottles and it's immediately obvious.
Yes, thread count and opening size are different, meaning those bottles won't properly seal on an MSR Stove.
That’s the most complex stove I ever seen 😅
Honestly this seems like an overly complicated mess... and that wastefully large open flame in the beginning is just a forest fire waiting to happen.
I have a small propane stove. I connect it together, I turn the knob, put a lighter on it and bam, im cooking.
This one looks like it has more complicated steps, and has long wait times. 2 minutes for this, wait for this, if you don't time it right start over, but not before waiting 5 more minutes for this...
Does anyone with experience find the timing of these steps to be wasteful where you can safely shortcut them?
And can anyone with the wisdom explain to me the benefit of using this item over a (seemingly) more simple propane camp stove?
Weight
In the snow, propane sucks.
Propane stoves are all fun and games til its -10 and you can't get a consistent flame because the fuel has turned to liquid
Cold weather.
@@shoersa thanks boss. Makes sense.
60434 Johnnie Port