Clikstand in Garrapata

It was a fine day at the Garrapata State Park, 10 minutes south of Carmel, next to the Pacific Ocean. The sun was bright, but the wind was cool.

On the way, I collected the images of pretty things. Thisels boasted of the new fashion. California Poppies were happy to greet me. An unknown, tiny white flower demanded my attention. Then I crashed the party pad for some bugs. They did not care. A lone Poppy was enjoying the commanding view. I hope I did not disturb the suntan session for this little guy.

Unfortunately, because CA government could not come up with $22M, 70 State Parks are going to close, come September. Garrapata is one of the parks. Too bad. Some people wanted to keep these parks from the closure, but the CA Proposition 21 was soundly defeated, and this is the result. The Prop. 21 called for $18 increase in the motor vehicle registration. Mere $18 per year. Yet it was defeated. You go to a movie, and you spend more than $18 nowadays. It is just a pitiful state of mentality that keeps the good things from the public. Of course, CA residents have more grand and worthy things to accomplish with the annual savings of $18. Silly me. Who wants to visit State Parks, when they can visit the malls and night clubs?

Well, I will just wash off these thoughts with something hot. This is the Clikstand, an alcohol stove that uses Trangia burner. This is manufactured in Truckee, CA. The cool wind was pretty steady and strong, climbing up the hill from the Pacific. The pot was Snow Peak 1400. I would say it is a good combo: everything fits inside the pot.

As it turned out, its performance on the wind-swept hillside that day made its owner proud. With the windscreen on, the stove boiled the quart in 12 minutes. This is a performance, comparable to Trangia 25 or 27. Yet this is compact and light. Can't go wrong with that. Gram Weenies, take a look at this setup, next time. I bet you will have a hard time duplicating its performance, not to mention the elegance of the setup.

On the way down, I snapped a few pictures. A cute bunny was having an early dinner. At the coast, I watched the waves caress the rocks. Hope this place stays open.

SolHuma Vital Bio Mass Stove

I have been waiting for the right moment to line up all the planets that will signal the perfect time to buy this Vital Stove by SolHuma, a Canadian company.

The right moment came, but there was some glitches in the seller's supply side, and the seller did not have the stove on hand. Guess it was not the right moment, after all. No, planets obviously did not align, either. After the unexpected delay, the stove finally arrived. I promptly put the stove to the test.

The design of the stove was superb in principle, and prior to buying it, I have been studying it for a while, reading reviews and stuff. The Vital Stove is a small forge, in a sense. The air is supplied from the bottom through small holes, and the fuel is burned quite cheerfully.

I fed it a variety of bio mass: wood pellets, twigs, tree barks, wood chips, branches, pine cones, mesquite charcoals, and BBQ charcoals. I was impressed by its calorie output and performance.

Here, the stove firebox is glowing, because I put large chunks of mesquite charcoal. I think this is burning a little too hot. I think I will use smaller pieces for a lower heat. Adding woodpellets raised the temperature, too. Wood pellets do not start well, but adding them by a small handful after the stove caught fire keeps things glowing.

It boiled 2 quarts of water in a pot with a thick aluminum bottom in less than 12 minutes (the picture above shows a different pot). I am sure the boil time will change, as the weather and the wind condition change. But i thought the time was pretty good.

Then, at about 2 hours of total run time, the motor developed a noise. As I subsequently used the stove, the noise became louder (something like a far-away wood chipper's whine). At the last use of the stove, the motor quit after about 10 minutes into use. Now the total run time so far was less than 5 hours.

I was disappointed to say the least.

So I emailed SolHuma. The second try got the attention of the owner, Martin, and we exchanged investigatory emails. I offered to buy one spare motor in addition to the motor on warranty. I was concerned that the new motor might suffer the similar fate. Both motors arrived. It took a month, since the initial contact. But once the communication was exchanged back and forth, the motors took about 2 weeks to get here. Thanks, Martin, if you are reading this.

Initially, I suspected the heat from the stove did something to the motor. The stove got pretty hot during the uses previously. I thought I would have to take the motor off the stove, in order to see if there were any damage from the intense heat the stove generated.

I visually inspected the old motor, and I could not find any sign of the heat damage. The fins on the turbine were intact, as sound as those of the new motor. I could hear a faint "click" as I turned the turbine. The new motor did not yield any sound. The turbine is made of hard plastic, very light, yet tough.

At this point, I am not sure, if it was heat or the mechanical failure. Maybe it was the heat. Or, maybe, the motor had a defect. The fins are intact on the turbine, because it is in constant contact with air. I could have taken apart the motor, but I did not want to bother with that. Instead, I decided to run the Stove hard at the max fan setting. It ran for one hour continuously without any problem. This time the firebox did not glow red, however.

When I opened the underbelly of the stove, held by 5 screws, one screw decided to break off. Arrgh! That one was frozen inside, and the screw chose to die, rather than yield. So now the new motor is held by a team of 4 obedient screws, instead of 5. There is no problem with the security of the motor. I decided to lubricate the screws with petroleum jelly, before I reinstall them.

This is how Vital Stove looks underside.

The electric connector, which connects the battery pack to the stove, is held by two tiny screws: they gave up without any trouble. I popped in the new motor, tightened the screws, and the stove was good to go. A really simple operation, it was.

This time, I used only mesquite charcoal and wood chips.

When I dumped the remaining hot coal, I noticed one thing: this time, the stove ran cooler than the last time! Before, the stove was too hot to touch, and I had to watch the grass grow, before the fan cooled it down enough to touch. I guess I will keep the stove from glowing from now on. The new motor will likely serve its master faithfully before it wears out.

Vital stove is compact, compared to the Wood Gas Stove. My Wood Gas Stove XL is about the size of a gallon paint can. It is a superb bio mass stove. The advantage of the Vital Stove is its compactness. With a spare set of 2 AA batteries, you can stay out in the wilderness for a week. I count about 5 hours' worth of use on a set of alkaline AA. After that, the battery power is not so great to enjoy the full power of the Vital Stove. I figure 10 hours of operation time is more than enough for a week's cooking for 1-2 persons, even up to 4 persons, in my opinion.

The Wood Gas Stove produces little smoke, but Vital stove will produce significant smoke, when using woody fuel. That is the only downside of the Vital Stove. But once the fire is going strong, the smoke is minimal.

Normally, a liquid fuel stove needs a windscreen to raise its efficiency and to cut the boil time. With Vital stove, the fire area is so big, about 12 square inches, that a windscreen is not needed. I used the stove in the breezy area, and I did not feel any delay in boil time.

I was going to take this to Point Reyes's backpacking camp, but, alas, open fire is not allowed. I will have to take it somewhere else to put it through the test.

One gripe that I hear from other users is that it is difficult to store the fire box under the stove where it belongs. The problem is that the fire box's stainless steel panels distort under the intense heat at the first firing, and this warpage interferes with the smooth movement in and out of the storage space. All you need to do is to press the panel flat with your thumbs, and gently push it in or out. That will keep it from hanging up on the structure of the underside of the stove. There is no need to force it. You will hardly ever get it in or out by forcing it.

I would also caution against getting the battery pack wet. It is not so sturdily manufactured. I took the small screw off that hold the panel together. I did not want to carry another item, a screwdriver, when I venture out, in case I need to replace the batteries. I will wrap a rubber band around the pack, so I won't lose the cover.

I am quite satisfied with Vital Stove.

Wood Gas Camp Stove

This is Wood Gas Camp Stove XL. This is the larger version of LE. The broshure says it holds 2.5 time of the fuel than LE.


This stove runs best with the use of wood pellets, but twigs, pin cone, etc can provide great, comforting fire. In order to start, I just used the BBQ starter fuel. A couple second long squirt on the top of the pellets got it going. I filled it with 5 handfuls of pellets (medium-sized hand), and it lasted about 30 minutes at various settings, until the pellets were reduced to ashes and charcoals. I tried with 10 handfuls of pellets, and it lasted more than one hour at Low setting.

At "high" setting of the fan, it can boil 2L of water under 9 minutes. There was a slight breeze, and the flame was not blown about by the wind. The pot in the picture has a 1/4 inch-thick bottom, so if a backpacking style pot with thinner bottom is used, I am sure it will cut the boiling time down. The firepower of the Wood Gas Stove at High setting matches the firepower of Optimus 111T, if not more. 111T can boil 1L of water in 4 minutes.



It appears that each handful of pellets adds the average of 5-6 minutes of burn time. For regular cooking duty, I would recommend wood pellets first, then twigs. Pine cone burns too ferociously, and it generates too large a flame. I would save pine cones for the camp fire. Besides, a single pine cone can take up the space inside the fire bowl, and leave not much room for other fuel. The pine cones I collect from nearby pine trees are rather large, and one pine cone completely fills the fire bowl.


Wood Gas Stove needs the battery power to operate properly. Without the battery connected to the socket (2 sockets: High and Low), it generates a lot of smoke. Once bettery power is supplied to the fan, the smoke is significantly reduced. At Low setting, you can smell the smoke, but it is not eye-stinging. You can hardly see the smoke rising. At High setting, you can hardly smell the smoke, and it is almost completely removed. Above picture shows the flame at Low setting.

The picture below is a screenshot of the Stove running with power off. The flames are long and smokey. It can be used this way, but the pot will become very sooty. By the way, the picture of the pot above shows the soot-covered bottom, but the Wood Gas Stove will never let that happen, unless you run it with the power off.


Once you let the fire go out by not adding the fuel at the proper interval, the new load of fuel will generate much smoke. Just blow a few times into the fire bowl, and the flame will catch easily. The pine cone tends to generate a lot of smoke, if the flame was not big enough to begin with. Just blow into the fire bowl, and it will catch fire easily. Sometimes, the fan does not help your fuel catch fire, if you just added a large piece of wood or pine cone on a weak flame. Again, blowing your breath into the fire bowl will get the fire going quickly.

The above video shows Wood Gas Stove running at High setting. The flame is generated by mere 5 handfuls of wood pellets. That amount of pellets barely covers the bottom four pellets thick.

The stove is rather large, similar to 1-gallon paint can. So it would not be ideal to pack, if you backpack--unless you have a sherpa. If you car camp, then this is one heck of a stove to carry along. If you have a canoe or kayak, then this stove should serve you very well.

I am quite impressed, and completely satisfied, with Wood Gas Stove. Its fuel efficiency is amazing, and you can have a hot fire going, after spending just 5 minutes gathering the twigs. I would not hesitate to recommend this one to anyone interested in wood burning stove.

Now, I have to make the excuse to take this stove to the woods.

This Started It

I remember seeing it as displayed on the shelf. My eyes caught it. It was priced at $35. That was back in 1975 or 76. It was an eyecandy, only an ugly version of it. Coleman Stove 502. $35 was a big money then. And I did not have a penny. Here, I am burning kero in it, although it is designed to burn Coleman white gas. The flame is pink, but it is burning cleanly. I will reveal how I managed to burn kero later.

A couple years later, I was going to buy a 502, just for the sake of owning it, for the sake of the nostalgia! Then a buddy of mine dissuade me from buying it, and into buying Coleman suitcase stove, 425, saying the two-burner model would be much more useful. 425 became the stove number 1. I think it was 1979.

I used 425 for all the camping needs. I stopped using it, when it developed a yellow flame, I believe it was around 2003. That was a long, faithful 24 years of service, I would say. Since I did not know what caused the yellow flame, I decided to get rid of it, and, in the mean time, bought another, very used-looking 425 from eBay. Then it dawned upon me: why not find out how to fix it? Who says I am not a doldaigal? I should have thought of this before I attempted to buy the second one. But I will talk about it later.

In 1987, or somewhere around it, I have discovered on a store shelf, another one of Coleman stoves: Coleman Peak 1 400A. Ah, how it grabbed my attention. At $40, it was affordable! And it looked so slick, compared to a 502 (which, until this time, I did not own). A new and improved version, no doubt. 400 became my #2 stove.

Of course, I had to have it. It is a very good stove, its heat output is strong, and can boil a liter of water in a zip. I took it everywhere. One thing I did not like about it was the fume it generated after being shut down. By design, the stove carries the remnant of the fuel vapor under the burner, and it slowly escapes after shut off.
Another annoying habit of the 400 series is the tendency of the valve nut (one over that control lever that regulates fuel flow from simmer to light position) to loosen over time. Suddenly, it will spring a leak, and you have an extra candlelight under the burner. The user is instructed by the factory manual to tighten the nut. Over the period, the user will have to tighten it, as it leaks. Then one day, when the nut is fully seated, it will not leak no more.

There is one more: I would not call this a habit, but the matter of design. The generator tube ends up being clogged with carbon inside. When this happens, the generator does not vaporize fuel as expected to, and flame stays yellow. The remedy? Remove the generator and heat it up with a blow torch. This burns off whatever carbon deposit inside, and it is good as new.

But going back to the fume it generates. Because of this fume, it was not advisable to use the stove in the enclosed space. It had to be shut off outdoors, and left outside until the fume clears, away from the picnic table. So next time I saw this new thing, I thought it was wonderful: Primus Yellowstone Techno Trail. It was so incredibly small (compared to Peak 1) and put up the respectable flame, comparable to the Peak 1. And it did not fume, when shutoff. Wow! So clean, I thought. So, Primus took the honorable #3 position in my collection.

Uh, that will be the one on the left in the picture. One on the right is called Primus Light Stove. Basically the same performance, but with a windscreen ring, which is worthless. Better to leave it at home and avoid nuisance of having to fumble with it.

From this point on, I confess, I was hooked. I started to buy stoves. When I had total of 4 stoves, I honestly stopped and asked myself, whether this was a rational thing to do. I mean, besides the drain in the budget, who needs more than 2 stoves (interestingly, I happened to own two stoves at the time: Coleman 425 and Peak 1), even 4?

Did you meet one drug addict who questions why he or she wants one more hit?   No? Well, you are not going to see a stove addict who questions why he or she (actually, mostly he) needs another stove. The question is wrong. The correct question: Why do you want another stove? The answer: Cuz I wannit.
Now, some of you good readers might wonder, what was my #4 stove? Well, that would be my trusted Primus Omni Fuel. Yeah, when I paid for this, I thought I was losing my left arm. Hey, did you see a drug addict exercise logic of taking or not taking the next hit? Unlike the drug addicts, ahem, I rationally weighed the plus and minus of this massive expenditure, and the logic won: I bought it.



Well, actually, it is not the picture of Omni, but that of Multi Fuel EX. Multi EX is an improved version of Multi Fuel, but with the redesign that closely resembles that of Omni. The only serious difference from Omni is that it lacks the fuel control at the burner. That makes it a little more difficult to control the flame to simmer, but if you are mainly boiling water, it does not matter. If you want to cook rice or eggs, however, then you would want to have something like Omni or MSR's Dragonfly, as follows.

One good thing about the liquid fuel stove is that you do not need to worry about low pressure of the canister, or the cold temperature that lowers the output of the stove. You can virtually run the stove dry at full pressure, if you wanted to. In addition, all Omni, Multi, and Dragonfly can run on kerosene, by changing the jet to an appropriate one. Optimus Nova is another good stove, but it runs rich, and you will smell the fume. Try to run it inside the enclosed space, and you will know what I am talking about. Nova will continously produce fume, as long as it is lit. It all has to do with having only one jet to handle all grades of fuel. You won't, and you shouldn't, have such a problem with Primus and MSR stoves listed above.

I am not going to tell how many stoves I ended up with, but I do not plan to check into rehab any time soon, either. There are still others that need to fall into my hands. It's a never-ending quest. It satisfies my greed in a small way, yet makes me thirst for more. Isn't greed fun?