To burn alcohol in my MSR International I put a draft air control around the air intake. It's a piece of brass tube with a handle brazed on it. I bought one of the large repair kits to get extra jets to try. Based on race cars needing twice the alcohol to get the same power using pure alcohol, I drilled the UG jet to twice the size. So when using alcohol I still needed to tweek down the draft air a little to get similar results to the white gas. I also adapted my stove to use the butane canisters by buying a cheap Lixada stove to get the valve and the hose. I cut the hose off the fitting and installed a 1/8" barbtite so I could use the plastic hose inside the stainless braid. There's no more than 7 psi. in butane canisters so the hose holds well. I wouldn't use the butane setup as an every day camping fuel but I could use it if I had nothing else. Thanks for this fine video and for all of your interesting content.
5006 views (in 2021) are not that much compared to viral clips. But the community of adventurers is small and the amount of people interested in every aspect of a stove therefore as well. That said: the ones really interested in expeditions highly appreciate this precious information.
Love your MSR stove videos! Your review helped me decide which stove fit my needs. Bought myself a Whisperlite Universal and was really happy with the results. Looking forward to your next videos.
Thank you for conducting these tests and making this video to let us know. However, I would like to suggest that performing test burns or having an open flame within 15 inches of a reloader that appears to be full of gunpowder may not be safe.
Great test, cool to see things possible, just some modulation needed, great info to have, keeps reminding me that i need to get off my ass one of these weekends and service my whisperlite intl again, kerosene gummed up my fuel line, didnt work so well at winter campout.
Would be interesting to see you do a comparison vid with the Primus Omnilite Ti, the cleaning needle would be a hassle but interested to see if the reduced weight and better pot support for solo size pots makes it as good or if not better than either Universal or Polaris
Interesting! I find changing the nozzle quite easy though, at least in my old whisperlite international. I love that thing. 15 years old, and all it ever wanted was some cleaning and lubing and a new pump seal a couple of years ago. It burns even alcohol (very cheap and common here in Germany as well as Scandinavia as far as I can tell) with slight modification if it has to, and low grade supermarket lamp oil. The universal looks tempting but man, those things got expensive since I bought mine. ^^
Now that’s pretty awesome .. so get a Optimus fuel pump an bottle and use my msr whisperlite universal with one jet and go seamlessly from butane to gasoline with no hassles ... thanks for posting this .. I’m looking for simplicity and backups all st the same time .. you achieve it .. now to find a Polaris pump ..ok keep my msr as a spare .... and keep the little peak one that’s very small as a last ditch spare ..in overland camping got room for spares
Yeah the ‘one jet fits all’ model has its pros and cons. One of the differences between those two stoves is the much lower pot height for the nova/Polaris burner. This limits the airflow to the burner. On my nova I get yellow tipped flames with kerosene UNTIL I put the pot on top. Then it goes all blue. This is definitely part of the design. On my primus multifuel the gasoline jet is the same jet for butane whereas the omnifuel has three different jets. The Optimus 111t came either with one jet for gasoline and kerosene type fuels. (popular with the military) There were consumer versions that came with separate jets. The alcohol burning option requires a jet change as well as an air reducing collar to get the right air/fuel mix.
A great video as usual excellent content very well said have you done any test with running isopropyl alcohol or heat through the whisperlite universal
Great video brother! I have a whisperlite, dragonfly, omnilite ti, Optimus 8r, Shea 123, Optimus 111T, etc. I love all my whitegas stoves but find the primus omnilite ti perfect for my solo or duo winter camping trips. I love my dragonfly for real cooking. I been eyeballing the Polaris and think I need to buy one. As always I gave you a 👍
+Angry Daddy Bird thank you so much for the kind words and support that you give my channel. Sounds like you're a stove guy too... boy it's like guns it just grows on you I can't stop. The Optimus Polaris is an amazing stove and so is the universal.
I can find nowhere, including manuals and maintenance videos, where they remove the new style legs from the whisperlite universal. Looks like there's a retention ring (snap ring) holding them on? Will I ruin that ring trying to get it off? Have you ever removed the new style legs (not the loop style) from the whisperlite?
I bought a polaris pump just for this reason and love not switching out the valves. In fact it makes it way more precise adjustments for simmering. Only thing would make it better is if the polaris canister valve with the fold out legs would fit msr line. I hate that bulky snap on thing msr has. Yes it's stable but bulky to pack.
May I know if your Polaris pump fits the MSR fuel bottle? Or do you need the Optimus Polaris fuel bottle as well to use the pump? Has the combination worked for you for the last couple of years?
@@AK4PJ Thanks so much for the quick reply!! How does it work for you so far? Do the pump and all the different kinds of fuels mentioned work as claimed?
Interesting video! Just wondering what is the propane adapter that you used? Whats with the citronella? Do you have a lot of mosquitoes attacking your stoves? lol
tacticaltopractical lol, no bugs while I'm cooking. Ha ha... the propane adapter is a kovea. I have a fairly recent video on it. They work great and you can find them on Amazon I think I have links in that video
I can get a primus nova pump but doesn't come with that lindell valve adapter I think. I have an Msr universal. Would the Vega and vega+ fuel pump work the same?
Have you done a test to see what the difference in fuel burn is over using the specific jets for each fuel compared to one jet for all? And does the different pump set up use more or the same?
I loved my Whisperlite universal but where the hose connects to the generator loop is leaking and I can't find any info if you have any or an idea get back to me
@@jiujitsu2000 It was spewing fule like crazy so I ended up sending MSR an email explaining the problem. I think the gasket inside the hose may be the culprit they said it may take 8 weeks to reply but the process has begun. Thankfully the fireban in my area was just lifted, with beans,rice and Jesus Christ we will always find a way! Thanks for the quick response buds!
Can you use a MSR whisperlite universal bottle and pump with the Polaris? Not suggesting you would want to but my plan was to either a Whisperlite Universal or Optimus Polaris as my ‘all-rounder’ and pair it with a Dragonfly or XGK I was thinking to get the XGK for emergency use (vehicle fuels) and a Whisperlite Universal for general backpacking use, but although the canister simmer is fine on WU the poor liquid simmer would be annoying, and the XGK has no simmer at all! so the combo would lack simmer ability but be very reliable. But from this vid it looks like pairing the Whisper Uni with a Polaris instead but with two Optimus Polaris bottles and pumps would be better since I get multifuel adaptability AND simmer ability on both stoves? And since I still have 2 stoves with one as a backup it would still be a very reliable combination? But Optimus a Polaris paired with the XGK as a backup would be an awesome Combo too, since simmering won’t be my priority once I’m force to burn vehicle fuels to boil/purify water and food?
The British Royal Marines chose the Optimus Polaris as their stove over the MSR Universal because they said the Polaris is a ‘dry’ system when stored in the cook pot, what do they mean by that? Isn’t the Universal a dry system too? Both systems would have the fuel burned out of their lines right? 🤔
You might have already figured it out lol. But as my understanding to the Polaris, to turn off the stove with liquid fuel, the first thing you wanna do is to flip the bottle 180, and you'll see the "off" label on the pump. This will allow the stove to burn all the remaining fuels in the line, including depressurizing the fuel bottle. This means that when you close all the valves, take the pump out, and put them away, the pipeline (including the transparent one, with a filter attached to the pump ) will be fully "dry". Where the MSR will still have some fuel left in the pump, because closing the valve on the MSR will only allow the stove to burn out the remaining fuels in the fuel line, but not in the pump. If you want to achieve the "dry" system, you might try to mix and match the MSR Universal with the "canister valve" and use the Optimus fuel pump and bottle. So you will have the flip function for burning out the fuels.
@@ryanl3106this combo of Polaris Pump with Whisperlite Universal stove (including its fuel line) does seem like the best possible multifuel stove system 🤔 you get a ‘dry’ system like you say, and all fuel types (except diesel possibly but I can’t imagine when I would ever want or need to burn diesel) plus the Optimus pump valve gives the Whisperlite much better simmer ability, plus the Whisperlite hose has a cleaning rod to clean any residue out of it if burning dirty fuel for any length of time. Whereas the Optimus Polaris doesn’t have a cleaning rod, and I can’t even see any spare hoses for sale as replacement parts? However one potential advantage of the Optimus Polaris stove is that when the legs are contracted/closed the stove fits in the center burner ring of a Trangia 25 stove system, so you can use the Polaris instead of an alcohol burner which is handy if someone already owns the trangia system
Had to watch this a couple times now because a couple things went by me quite quickly the first time round. It looks like I have the possibility to get a new in box WhisperLite Universal, but it is missing the black plastic canister holder, or stand. Looking to see whether I can get one of these little guys through MSR directly. I've also been spending some time, after seeing this video the first time, watching your four part Optimus Polaris Optifuel videos to understand the pump and little tank better. I really like what you suggest here, and hope to have that be my first outdoor, camping stove.
An update: Even though I live in Finland, a neighbour of Sweden where the Optimus stoves stem from, they are not available over here. Primus owns the market. Fortunately, some MSR stoves do make it here as well. Anyway, may have to get an Optimus Polaris Optifuel stove/fuel pump when in the States next, or maybe look for it in Sweden directly if I'm over there again some time next year.
So has anyone tried this and tested it for a long period of time? Any issues? I'm just wondering if exchanging parts amd keeping the UG can cause any kind of harm when using, canister, diesel or games with that setup. I'm interested, I'm ordering the optimus pump.
hi man JIUJITSU2000... eu amo meu msr... consegui 2 usador e bem surrados e depois de muito trabalho, esta como novos... comprei mais 2 primus gravity2 mas nunca uso.... eu amo meu whisperlite.... infelismente no brasil preco 1500 R.... UM ABSURDO. eu quero muito ter um da ww2 coleman.. nao vi um video seu falando sobre eles... se quizer pode me presentear com um desses ww2 kkk. i love your movies... god bless you.
To burn alcohol in my MSR International I put a draft air control around the air intake. It's a piece of brass tube with a handle brazed on it. I bought one of the large repair kits to get extra jets to try. Based on race cars needing twice the alcohol to get the same power using pure alcohol, I drilled the UG jet to twice the size. So when using alcohol I still needed to tweek down the draft air a little to get similar results to the white gas. I also adapted my stove to use the butane canisters by buying a cheap Lixada stove to get the valve and the hose. I cut the hose off the fitting and installed a 1/8" barbtite so I could use the plastic hose inside the stainless braid. There's no more than 7 psi. in butane canisters so the hose holds well. I wouldn't use the butane setup as an every day camping fuel but I could use it if I had nothing else. Thanks for this fine video and for all of your interesting content.
Man ild love to see a video edited or not of that set up. Definitely something ild have to look into doing
5006 views (in 2021) are not that much compared to viral clips. But the community of adventurers is small and the amount of people interested in every aspect of a stove therefore as well. That said: the ones really interested in expeditions highly appreciate this precious information.
Love your MSR stove videos! Your review helped me decide which stove fit my needs. Bought myself a Whisperlite Universal and was really happy with the results. Looking forward to your next videos.
Thank you for sharing your methodology. Appreciate your time spent doing the tests and sharing the results with us.
Thanks for doing the testing for us. People don't realize how much time you save us
+40stefanie True, thank you! :-)
I value your testing video's head and shoulders above all real world testing. Keep up the good work and great video's!
Thank you!
Thank you for conducting these tests and making this video to let us know. However, I would like to suggest that performing test burns or having an open flame within 15 inches of a reloader that appears to be full of gunpowder may not be safe.
Ive had both of those stoves and the msr stove is hands down a better stove. The optimus pump is hands down the better pump. Killer combo
Lol I’m about to do exactly that, this will save me testing time! Thanks
Great test, cool to see things possible, just some modulation needed, great info to have, keeps reminding me that i need to get off my ass one of these weekends and service my whisperlite intl again, kerosene gummed up my fuel line, didnt work so well at winter campout.
Bearded Seabee 82 cleaning out the fuel lines is a fairly straightforward and simple process. I'm in the process of editing a video on that topic
Great video. You answered all my questions. Thanks.
Excellent thank you so much for the kind words and support you give my channel I really appreciate it have a great night
Would be interesting to see you do a comparison vid with the Primus Omnilite Ti, the cleaning needle would be a hassle but interested to see if the reduced weight and better pot support for solo size pots makes it as good or if not better than either Universal or Polaris
Interesting! I find changing the nozzle quite easy though, at least in my old whisperlite international. I love that thing. 15 years old, and all it ever wanted was some cleaning and lubing and a new pump seal a couple of years ago. It burns even alcohol (very cheap and common here in Germany as well as Scandinavia as far as I can tell) with slight modification if it has to, and low grade supermarket lamp oil. The universal looks tempting but man, those things got expensive since I bought mine. ^^
Very true, The prices went up with the popularity and demand. I have a few old international and they still run great! Thank you!
Great unbiased test. Thank You once again.
Liver on the mountain. Elk hunting camp call, when one is harvested.
Thank you!
Excellent video
Now that’s pretty awesome .. so get a Optimus fuel pump an bottle and use my msr whisperlite universal with one jet and go seamlessly from butane to gasoline with no hassles ... thanks for posting this .. I’m looking for simplicity and backups all st the same time .. you achieve it .. now to find a Polaris pump ..ok keep my msr as a spare .... and keep the little peak one that’s very small as a last ditch spare ..in overland camping got room for spares
Yeah the ‘one jet fits all’ model has its pros and cons. One of the differences between those two stoves is the much lower pot height for the nova/Polaris burner. This limits the airflow to the burner. On my nova I get yellow tipped flames with kerosene UNTIL I put the pot on top. Then it goes all blue. This is definitely part of the design. On my primus multifuel the gasoline jet is the same jet for butane whereas the omnifuel has three different jets. The Optimus 111t came either with one jet for gasoline and kerosene type fuels. (popular with the military) There were consumer versions that came with separate jets. The alcohol burning option requires a jet change as well as an air reducing collar to get the right air/fuel mix.
Excellent comment! I can tell that you're like me and LOVE stoves. Cool brotha! Thank you!
Does the Polaris fuel pump fit MSR fuel bottle? I hate the changing valves etc in the field. So this idea of yours is very interesting!
Ever figure out if it does. Curious myself
A great video as usual excellent content very well said have you done any test with running isopropyl alcohol or heat through the whisperlite universal
Great video brother! I have a whisperlite, dragonfly, omnilite ti, Optimus 8r, Shea 123, Optimus 111T, etc. I love all my whitegas stoves but find the primus omnilite ti perfect for my solo or duo winter camping trips. I love my dragonfly for real cooking. I been eyeballing the Polaris and think I need to buy one. As always I gave you a 👍
+Angry Daddy Bird thank you so much for the kind words and support that you give my channel. Sounds like you're a stove guy too... boy it's like guns it just grows on you I can't stop. The Optimus Polaris is an amazing stove and so is the universal.
Found your channel from over at the Bearded Seabee - Never knew lamp oil would burn in these. Need to try that. 😎Subscribed!
KrizAkoni Thank you! I think I mentioned you in my upcoming shoutout video!
Whoa, very cool, thanks!! 😀
KrizAkoni anytime! The video is up
That's pretty freaking interesting my friend very cool never would have guessed
Thank you brotha!
Great review. I've got the optimus, now I need to buy a whisper light and take parts from both and make the ultimate Stove.lol.
Thanks for sharing
+Jason Williams Thank you brotha, the Polaris and MSR are both extremely solid!
JIUJITSU2000
very informative, great vids, thanks from the UK
Very interesting video. I wish you would have shown the set up in use.
I can find nowhere, including manuals and maintenance videos, where they remove the new style legs from the whisperlite universal. Looks like there's a retention ring (snap ring) holding them on? Will I ruin that ring trying to get it off? Have you ever removed the new style legs (not the loop style) from the whisperlite?
There is a snapping holds the legs on the stove I've never taken it off I don't know why a person would need to
I bought a polaris pump just for this reason and love not switching out the valves. In fact it makes it way more precise adjustments for simmering. Only thing would make it better is if the polaris canister valve with the fold out legs would fit msr line. I hate that bulky snap on thing msr has. Yes it's stable but bulky to pack.
@@psyamok3735 it fits on the MSR fuel bottles
May I know if your Polaris pump fits the MSR fuel bottle? Or do you need the Optimus Polaris fuel bottle as well to use the pump? Has the combination worked for you for the last couple of years?
@@AK4PJ Thanks so much for the quick reply!! How does it work for you so far? Do the pump and all the different kinds of fuels mentioned work as claimed?
You did a cool test. I just need to sleep on it and order one tomorrow by flip'n that 0l' Coin. he-he.
Danny Walker look at my latest video if you haven't seen it yet... msr is having a sale
How do the engineers match hole size to fuel? I can't even find out what size the jets are. Just want a rule of thumb
you think there is any reason that primus ergopump wouldn't work the same as the optimus pump?
Well Done My Friend!
lonestarrider thank you my brother I hope things are going well in your neck of the woods
Great video I think that is very interesting wonder if MSR will consider making some changes
I'm hoping they take some of my thoughts in. They're pretty good at that and I've definatly been in their ear. Thank you!
Have you done any tests on Whisperlite Universal with diesel and rubbing alcohol?
Interesting video! Just wondering what is the propane adapter that you used? Whats with the citronella? Do you have a lot of mosquitoes attacking your stoves? lol
tacticaltopractical lol, no bugs while I'm cooking. Ha ha... the propane adapter is a kovea. I have a fairly recent video on it. They work great and you can find them on Amazon I think I have links in that video
I can get a primus nova pump but doesn't come with that lindell valve adapter I think. I have an Msr universal. Would the Vega and vega+ fuel pump work the same?
Hi JIUJITSU2000 thanks for all your video I like it very much. Have u try primus omnifuel or Omnilite ti use 1 single jet for all fuel tipe?
Have you done a test to see what the difference in fuel burn is over using the specific jets for each fuel compared to one jet for all? And does the different pump set up use more or the same?
I loved my Whisperlite universal but where the hose connects to the generator loop is leaking and I can't find any info if you have any or an idea get back to me
Sounds like it could be damaged. Give them a call! I'm confident you'll be able to get a replacement
@@jiujitsu2000 It was spewing fule like crazy so I ended up sending MSR an email explaining the problem. I think the gasket inside the hose may be the culprit they said it may take 8 weeks to reply but the process has begun. Thankfully the fireban in my area was just lifted, with beans,rice and Jesus Christ we will always find a way! Thanks for the quick response buds!
I hope they get you squared away! Blessings always!!
Another awesome video
Thank you!
Can you use a MSR whisperlite universal bottle and pump with the Polaris? Not suggesting you would want to but my plan was to either a Whisperlite Universal or Optimus Polaris as my ‘all-rounder’ and pair it with a Dragonfly or XGK
I was thinking to get the XGK for emergency use (vehicle fuels) and a Whisperlite Universal for general backpacking use, but although the canister simmer is fine on WU the poor liquid simmer would be annoying, and the XGK has no simmer at all! so the combo would lack simmer ability but be very reliable.
But from this vid it looks like pairing the Whisper Uni with a Polaris instead but with two Optimus Polaris bottles and pumps would be better since I get multifuel adaptability AND simmer ability on both stoves? And since I still have 2 stoves with one as a backup it would still be a very reliable combination?
But Optimus a Polaris paired with the XGK as a backup would be an awesome
Combo too, since simmering won’t be my priority once I’m force to burn vehicle fuels to boil/purify water and food?
The British Royal Marines chose the Optimus Polaris as their stove over the MSR Universal because they said the Polaris is a ‘dry’ system when stored in the cook pot, what do they mean by that? Isn’t the Universal a dry system too? Both systems would have the fuel burned out of their lines right? 🤔
You might have already figured it out lol. But as my understanding to the Polaris, to turn off the stove with liquid fuel, the first thing you wanna do is to flip the bottle 180, and you'll see the "off" label on the pump. This will allow the stove to burn all the remaining fuels in the line, including depressurizing the fuel bottle. This means that when you close all the valves, take the pump out, and put them away, the pipeline (including the transparent one, with a filter attached to the pump ) will be fully "dry". Where the MSR will still have some fuel left in the pump, because closing the valve on the MSR will only allow the stove to burn out the remaining fuels in the fuel line, but not in the pump. If you want to achieve the "dry" system, you might try to mix and match the MSR Universal with the "canister valve" and use the Optimus fuel pump and bottle. So you will have the flip function for burning out the fuels.
@@ryanl3106this combo of Polaris Pump with Whisperlite Universal stove (including its fuel line) does seem like the best possible multifuel stove system 🤔 you get a ‘dry’ system like you say, and all fuel types (except diesel possibly but I can’t imagine when I would ever want or need to burn diesel) plus the Optimus pump valve gives the Whisperlite much better simmer ability, plus the Whisperlite hose has a cleaning rod to clean any residue out of it if burning dirty fuel for any length of time. Whereas the Optimus Polaris doesn’t have a cleaning rod, and I can’t even see any spare hoses for sale as replacement parts?
However one potential advantage of the Optimus Polaris stove is that when the legs are contracted/closed the stove fits in the center burner ring of a Trangia 25 stove system, so you can use the Polaris instead of an alcohol burner which is handy if someone already owns the trangia system
Had to watch this a couple times now because a couple things went by me quite quickly the first time round. It looks like I have the possibility to get a new in box WhisperLite Universal, but it is missing the black plastic canister holder, or stand. Looking to see whether I can get one of these little guys through MSR directly. I've also been spending some time, after seeing this video the first time, watching your four part Optimus Polaris Optifuel videos to understand the pump and little tank better. I really like what you suggest here, and hope to have that be my first outdoor, camping stove.
An update: Even though I live in Finland, a neighbour of Sweden where the Optimus stoves stem from, they are not available over here. Primus owns the market. Fortunately, some MSR stoves do make it here as well. Anyway, may have to get an Optimus Polaris Optifuel stove/fuel pump when in the States next, or maybe look for it in Sweden directly if I'm over there again some time next year.
So has anyone tried this and tested it for a long period of time? Any issues? I'm just wondering if exchanging parts amd keeping the UG can cause any kind of harm when using, canister, diesel or games with that setup. I'm interested, I'm ordering the optimus pump.
What about diesel fuel?
Works similar to kerosene.
So you made a "Hot Rod" MSR stove ?
Runs like a champ!
@@jiujitsu2000 where can. I get the parts to make this "Hot Rod'?? Great info videos. Sir
Ready for warmer weather here to use the whisperlite I won
bone's yard I'm doing the same thing brotha! Outs been chilly here (for Arizona)
👍
+Wil Standridge :-)
hi man JIUJITSU2000... eu amo meu msr... consegui 2 usador e bem surrados e depois de muito trabalho, esta como novos... comprei mais 2 primus gravity2 mas nunca uso.... eu amo meu whisperlite.... infelismente no brasil preco 1500 R.... UM ABSURDO. eu quero muito ter um da ww2 coleman.. nao vi um video seu falando sobre eles... se quizer pode me presentear com um desses ww2 kkk. i love your movies... god bless you.