I am sure there have been hundreds or perhaps thousands of articles written on this stove. However, there is one trick with this stove that I have not found written about anywhere. It is the trick of making this stove SIMMER. But, we will get to that later. As for now I will explain how I came to know and love the Whisperlite. I first experienced the thrill of cooking on a small backpacking stove during my NOLS course back in 2001. I was with a group of 10 others in the wilds of the Yukon Territory Canada. Our instructors taught us all the ins and outs of this stove. We learned simple operation, maintenance and field repair. I thought it was so cool to be able to repair this stove in the field. After using this stove for 3 weeks cooking breakfasts and dinners I absolutely had to have one. Fortunately, NOLS allowed us to purchase our gear at a signigificant discount. For $35 I had a complete stove minus fuel bottle and maintenance kit. So you might be wondering...what is so great about this stove? The Whisperlite stove runs on liquid fuel like Coleman fuel or white gas. White gas is a highly refined form of gasoline, or petrol as my friends from the UK say. Coleman fuel is a form of white gas, but not as refined. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coleman_fuel You can use the two terms interchang
eably. I primarily use Coleman fuel as it is easy to find and cheap. (About $8.50 a gallon at Wal-Mart, white gas is $5 a quart!) As with all liquid fuel stoves, the Whisperlite must be primed with a little fuel first. This heats up the stove to turn the liquid fuel from the fuel bottle into gas form when it reaches the stove burner. Priming only takes a minute or two. Then a VERY hot blue flame erupts. The edges of the stove often glow red. Water can be boiled in about 4 minutes. The stove is fairly compact for a liquid fuel stove. It can also be cleaned and fully disassembled in the field. This is a plus when the stove gunks up from dirty fuel. To help with this problem, the stove has a "shaker jet". If the fuel jet is clogged, shake it like a polaroid picture and the jet is cleared. Ok, the stove is cool. What are some tricks with the stove? There are some tricks to make the whisperlite much more useful. This stove is known for sounding like a jet engine and having two settings: ON or OFF. I beg to differ. If all you need is a low flame to warm up a sauce, don't pressurize the fuel bottle much. Five pumps is all you need to get the fuel into the fuel line and prime the stove. No matter how far the fuel valve is opened, the flame will stay a constant low blue. If you need a low flame after your water has come to a boil two things can be done.
First, you can "feather" the stove. This is a long process of gradually closing the fuel valve until the desired flame strength is achieved. Second, you can depressurize the fuel bottle. I prefer the second method. To depressurize the stove you must first turn off the stove. Make sure all flame is estinguished. Next, unhook the stove from the fuel bottle. Set the stove aside. Slowly unscrew the fuel pump from the bottle. When you hear air escaping stop unscrewing. Once you no longer hear air, screw the pump back onto the fuel bottle. Connect the stove to the fuel bottle. Finally relight your stove. If this procedure is done quickly you will not need to re-prime the stove. Now you have a steady low blue flame and a true SIMMER! This is a really awesome stove, but is it safe?
The Whisperlite is a safe stove if it is respected at all times. Story time... Back in December of 2003 I was camping out in near Athens, Ohio. I was taking a Wilderness First Responder course and to save money I camped at a state park. It was VERY cold but I was prepared with my brand new MSR 4 season tent, 20F sleeping bag, and my whisperlite stove. I was cooking dinner when a blast of cold air blew off the wind screen and hit the stove. It was so cold that the fuel instantly turned from a gas back to a liquid. Immediately the perfect blue flame turned into a massive pillar of yellow flame. It was this experience that made me switch, for awhile, to the Trangia Westwind.
With liquid fuel stoves, care must be taken when handling the fuel. Winter time is killer if l is spilled on bare hands. Frostbite happens much quicker this way as the fuel evaporates quickly.
The fuel is highly flammable so dont open fuel bottles near open flame like a campfire or a cigar. So, this is my take on a Whisperlite stove. The benefits are quick cooking times, cheap fuel, field maintainable, and portability. The negatives are dangers of liquid fuel, weight, and many moving parts. The MSR Whisperlite is a fine stove to have on any adventure!
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