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Debunking Cookware Myths
I'm a born skeptic. When I read people
making claims on internet message boards regarding the performance or failure of
their gear, I duplicate the experiment to either confirm or refute their
results. This article reports on an experiment I ran to determine if
people's claims that there is a significant difference between boil times and fuel consumption for the
three common cookware materials get the steaming pile award.
Pots tested:
- MSR Titan kettle (titanium)
- MSR Stowaway (stainless steel)
- Camping Gaz (Bluet) aluminum
- generic stainless steel 2 L pot
Experimental: A large basin of water was
set out and allowed to equilibrate with room temperature (72 degrees
Fahrenheit). Two cups of water were transferred to each of the pots using
a cooking grade measuring cup. The boiling point at my altitude was
determined to be 212 degrees F. A Primus Alpine Titanium canister stove
was used to heat the water to boiling as determined by the temperature probe
(see sidebar for details of temperature data collection). The probe was
suspended in the center of each pot so that the sensor was about one centimeter
below the surface of the water. The weight of
the canister after heating the water to a boil was subtracted from the weight of
the canister before to determine the mass of fuel used. The time to reach
a 212 degree boil was recorded in seconds. In each case the initial
starting temperature of the water was 72 degrees F and final was 212 degrees F.
Results:
|
|
material |
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fuel weight consumed |
|
time to reach a full,
rolling boil (212 degrees F) |
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| MSR Stowaway |
|
stainless steel |
|
0.3 oz |
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2 min 38 seconds |
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| Generic |
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stainless steel |
|
0.3 oz |
|
2 min 22 seconds |
|
| Bluet |
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aluminum |
|
0.3 oz |
|
2 min 33 seconds |
|
| MSR Titan |
|
titanium |
|
0.3 oz |
|
2 min 34 seconds |
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Conclusion: Even though aluminum,
stainless steel, and titanium have different heat transfer properties, no
significant differences were observed for boiling times and fuel consumption
between the different materials for the pots tested and stove used. Unsubstantiated
claims to the
contrary receive (fanfare & cheering) the steaming pile award.Weight, cost, and design should be at the
forefront of your cookware research. Another equally important conclusion you should
consider is that well-meaning people often
spread misinformation on internet message boards with regard to the performance or
drawbacks of gear.
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| Notes |
This experiment was conducted to give you some objective information regarding boil times and fuel consumption for some common camping cookware. The cookware tested were all pots I owned, so some pots on the market were not tested. I believe that this article can help you determine what is not important when researching your cookware purchase.
Please note that this test uses stove with a high heat output. I would expect that stoves with similar outputs would produce similar results; however, low power alcohol and esbit stoves may produce different results. Further testing is needed to determine if the heat transfer characteristics are significant with a lower powered stove.
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| AYCE says |
A Basic Stamp Microcontroller was configured with an ADC0831 to convert analog to digital data from an LM34DZ temperature probe. My laptop was relayed this info through a standard RS232 serial connection.
The LM34DZ is an interesting IC. You supply it with regulated 5 V DC and it outputs a voltage equal to the temperature in Fahrenheit. For example, a reading of .35 V means that the temperature is 35*F. A multimeter could be used to determine the temperature instead of the Basic Stamp. Or, you could just use a thermometer with a range of liquid water.
I would like to thank P.H. Anderson from Morgan State University for his excellent PIC and Basic Stamp tutorials. |
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