Camping beginners are likely to be enticed by propane stoves with the promise of convenience and instant heat. It’s not perfect but they’re good enough for many people.

Heating Efficiency

Pressure decreases as the cartridge of a propane cooker empties making them less efficient when there is little fuel left. Temperature, wind and altitude has has an effect on efficiency. A propane stove might not work below a certain temperature and above a certain altitude depending on the propane mixture in the cannister.

Reliability

A hiking stove must be able to take rough handling and still work perfectly|Conditions inside you backpack and you body movement subject the stove to constant abuse. You can’t have a broken stove on a backpacking trip. Puncture fit coupling was once popular with propane stoves but they’re not very easy to install and you might end up losing a lot of fuel.

Improvements in design makes the propane stove much more realiable. You can now use a propane stove at a lower temperature than before. Reliability will be determined by the design rather than the fuel used.

Weight

Propane stoves (used for backpacking) are lighter than multifuel stoves but the fuel is much more heavier. Since the fuel is relatively heavy, use a bigger cartridge to save weight on the container. A bigger cannister means that you will be carrying less metal for the same amount of fuel compared to carrying smaller cannisters.

Litter

When you carry a lot of fuel you will also need to carry a lot of litter. You can’t reuse cartridge stoves and they need to be disposed when empty. If you have empty cartridges, you’ll have to carry them until you find the proper place for disposal. An empty cartridge should never be thrown in the wild.

Convenience

You can get heat almost instantly with a propane stove. It’s just so easy to use. It’s simple to use and it’s the main reason why people don’t want to convert to liquid fuel stoves.

Safety

When lighting up a propane stove, you would know that the flame is small because you turned the knob just a little bit. When starting up a liquid fuel stove, things can get a little bit unpredictable. So it’s safer to use the propane stove inside a tent. This should however be done with caution and with good ventilation only. There are quite a few known cases of deaths due to carbon monoxide poisoning inside tents. Not to mention that it’s a fire hazard as well. Flareups from starting a liquid fuel stove can easily destroy your tent.

Although rare, propane stoves are also known for blowing up due to damaged rubber tips or other parts. Again, more complexity equals more parts equals more potential problems so keep it simple.

Fuel Availability

Gasoline stoves can use fuel that is readily available. Propane cartridges may be hard to find in some places.

Cost

Initially, propane stoves are a lot cheaper than liquid fuel stoves but the running cost of propane stoves is higher because the fuel is much more expensive. If you camp regularly, you might spend 5 to 10 times more on cartridge fuel.

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