It is sometimes necessary to warm up a gas canister to boost performance. Typical scenarios for warming a canister include:
- On a cold morning when the canister and its contents have become very cold over night.
- If the air temperature is below freezing.
- If you have been running your stove for 10-20 minutes and performance starts to decline (despite having plenty of fuel left).
Warming up a gas canister increases the gas pressure inside and restores performance.
The two main methods of warming a gas canister are:
- Using body heat by keeping the canister inside a jacket or sleeping bag before to use.
- By placing the canister in a bowl of water (the water will always be above freezing. Heat will be transferred from th water into the cold liquefied gas inside the canister, thereby restoring pressure)
Be VERY careful to warm gas canisters to no more than body temperature.
- WARNING
- DO NOT warm up the canister when the stove is lit.
- DO NOT warm the canister with a flame.
- DO NOT warm the canister so that it is hot to touch.
- If the canister is hot to touch, stop the stove and cool the canister immediately.
If you are VERY careful, you can keep a canister warm by keeping it close enough to the lit stove so that it receives a small amount of radient heat. This should only be done by experienced users. The canister should be constantly monitored to ensure that it does not become hot to touch.
