Strong Roots Training asked 1000 outdoor enthusiasts and instructors what were the most common mistakes they had come across when using an outdoor stove.
Here's the results: (with my comments)
- Not allowing a stove to cool after use, or forgetting it’s hot before picking it up. (I have hot potato-ed a micro stove to get it packed away in the morning!)
- Using the wrong fuel or not checking the gas bottle fits before use. (Not a problem I've ever come up against, threads have always fits and I always make sure the fluid is flammable, I'll get a flame going!)
- Setting up to cook on an uneven surface. (Again not something I have had an issue with, it's the first thing I check before lighting the stove and putting a pot on.)
- Putting a pan on to boil whilst setting up camp and forgetting about it, allowing it to boil dry and damaging the pots. (Especially when wild camping, water is too valuable to go to waste.)
- Refilling a meth’s stove prior to it being extinguished. Fire! (I can see how this would happen but I don't use meths stoves.)
A situation I have had the misfortune to be involved in is being subjected to the "Tent Rhino"! For those who haven't had this experience, it's when a pot is heating water or a stew and a esteemed member of your outdoor brigade charges passed knocking the contents over the porch's grassy floor or over the groundsheet of the tent! As you can imagine there are some expletives shared, from there it's luck to see what can be salvaged. Stews have been eaten whilst picking out unwanted content.
Learn how to avoid making mistakes with your outdoor stove at the Primus Stove Demos that will take place at the Telegraph Outdoor and Adventure Travel show on the Primus Stand OU 1136 on the 12th – 15th February.
If you're going go check it out. Let me know what you think.
