My camp stove regulator died at 11pm in a downpour, what a night

I was up near Lake Wenatchee last month, second night of a three day trip, and the temperature dropped hard. I went to fire up my old two burner stove to make some ramen and hot coffee, but the flame just sputtered and went out. Turns out the regulator had a hairline crack in the plastic housing, probably from years of bouncing around in my truck bed. I spent an hour fiddling with it in the rain, using my headlamp and a roll of duct tape, but no luck. Ended up eating cold tortillas with peanut butter and sleeping without my usual hot water bottle. The next morning I hiked out to the ranger station and borrowed a camp stove from a friendly couple in the parking lot. Has anyone else had a regulator fail suddenly like that, or do you carry a backup part in your kit now?

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rowan_kelly6423d ago

Regulator failure is a classic move, mine did the same thing on a smoky evening near Baker Lake a few years back. I stopped messing with the broken piece and just screwed the propane tank straight onto the stove, bypassing the regulator completely. It ran like a small blowtorch so I only used it on low for boiling water, but it got the job done for one night. Now I keep a cheap spare regulator in my repair kit and test it before every trip, takes two minutes and saves you from eating cold mush. Cold peanut butter tortillas are a grim breakfast, so I hear you on that one.