UKC

On a recent 3 day trip above 3000m our Jetboil stove failed to automatically ignite. The problem was that the plastic pipe that contains the automatic ignition spark cracked. This meant the ignite was below the level of the escaping gas.

The other party with us had a pocket rocket but their lighter flint failed too! Sod's Law?

Has anybody else suffered problems with Jetboil as I wouldnt like to go on a multi-day expedition using one of these things. Reliabilty above 3000m and in temperature of -10 and below must be in question?

In reply to Boff:

Take a petrol Primus, can't beat them at high altitude... the higher you go the better they work. Petrol doesn't freeze either... you may need a box of matches or a lighter though unless modern ones have got this covered too.

In reply to Boff:

I have had problems, not at altitude, but definately with colder temperatures.

I bought one of these rather than use the igniter:

http://www.turboflame.co.uk/turbostick.php

Bought it on ebay for about a fiver, great bit of kit!

Although there are better stoves out there than the jetboil, I wouldn't swap it because of it's design and easy to use-ness (it is a word!)
HTH
Fauvé

In reply to Boff:

Any gas stove will work less well at altitude and/or in cold conditions.

I've used my jetboil at around 3000m with no problems. However, I couldn't get it lit in Glencoe a couple of weeks ago due to the same problem you have with the ignitor.

I replace the ignitor (£6) and it's fine again now. I think the trick is to make sure you always have a little cardboard tube or something similar over the burner+ignitor when it's all packed away, so that the ingitor doesn't get bashed against the lid when it's in your sack.


P.S. Jetboil do say that you should always carry matches/lighter too.

In reply to Boff: I used mine for the first time this weekend and it does the same thing. The ignition spark arcs across to the metal base about half way up the plastic pipe instead of up near the gas burner. You can just use a lighter but it seems a bit pointless.

In reply to Boff:

http://www.light-my-fire.com/default.asp?ID=209&pID=147

better than any lighter - works in wind and wet

In reply to Boff: Don't have a jet-boil to look at so this might just be rubish, but can't you hold it upside down or sideways so the gas passes though the spark?

In reply to David Hooper:

Second that.

In reply to RWH:
Thanks for the answers everybody.

Tried holding upside down but after a big blowback decided I'd have a cold dinner instead!

In reply to Boff: I always carry wither a lighter or a firesteel thing when I take mine out. I think if you wrap a little insulating tape wround the cracked plastic then you can stop the premature spark. All auto igniters can suffer from this but the way it protrudes on a jetboil can make it more likely. Carrying a spare ignitor whatever stove you're using seems like a sensible idea to me.

In reply to Wibble Wibble: I'd agree with that.

In reply to Boff:
why not just carry a spare lighter with you? the little ignighter thing on the jetboil is a piece of tat as far as i'm concerned (I do own one aswell) and i only ever seems to work in perfect conditions, just be prepared for when it breaks in future

In reply to Boff: I found the jetboil useless unless in a dry warm sheltered space, pretty much useless on my first damp cold trip away with it, wouldn't work at all in Feb last year in the lakes.
Wouldn't ignite even in moderate conditions (still only works 3/10 times in summer conditions), in the wind (apparently a strong point with the Jetboil) it kept blowing up the sides trying to set the insulating outer alight. Could have been so much more compact if they had thought for another 3mins before sending it off to production.
Piece of shite in my experience unless on a campsite or a nice summer exped.
Doesn't live up to it's claims and no where near my expectations.
Now retired under the bed until I find some new motivation to modify it in some way.

In reply to Muhammad-the-randy-teddy: That's been the complete opposite of my experience, only once had even a small issue getting it to light and that was in incredibly damp quite cold conditions and high wind, even there once lit with the fire steel it stayed lit perfectly well. Never seen the wind blow the flame up the side either.

Perhaps yours is a faulty one?

In reply to Boff:

I am after one if anyone has one for sale.

Guy

In reply to Guy Wilson:

My friend is coming back from Germany in the nexy couple of weeks and he will have one for sale, brand new double pressie I think, keep an eye out!

F

In reply to Fauvé:

Reliability is more important to me. I now have trouble getting hold of parafin or I would still be using my 25yo optimus

As it is I now use a Primus multifuel stove - never let me down yet, whatever fuel I use.

Steve D

In reply to Lemony:

I thought so until I went away with a friend in summer bivvi for a few days, both had jetboils, both reacted the same to the damp and wind (although his didn't try to burn up the sides some of the explotions were great). It was pretty windy and not falling rain, just early morning, but the claims of what it is capable of don't seem to be as realistic as I'd hoped. I had thought it would make the ultimate bigwall cooking clobber, but no.
I have been told many are happy with it, maybe I expected a bit much from it.
All of my other stoves work better, some can boil just as quick as well, I think I got carried away with the jetboil as a gadget, not a functioning piece of kit.
Have you timed the boiling time difference in the house, then time it outside in a wind (normal outdoors no?), you'll be quite amazed at the difference, I was. Obviously expect a difference but not twice or 3 times as long.

In reply to Muhammad-the-randy-teddy: I can see it as well!!

In reply to Boff:

Amazing really, 40 years of technical progress just to produce stoves that aren't reliable (according to this and other threads)... petrol Primus, unleaded fuel straight from the pump, no problem in wind or rain bought in 1970 and still working fine.

I watched a mate, who is old enough to know better, struggling to assemble his flimsy and unstable modern wonder in a bivy not long ago - not to mention the fuss looking for the special white petrol needed previously... Why do they do this?

Mutter, mutter....

In reply to Bruce Hooker:

Well said Bruce! Think I might just dig out the old Trangia and some meths!

In reply to Boff: The Piezo ignitor breaking is a common well known fault. You can either get it replaced (often) or carry a lighter. In fact you should always carry a lighter anyway in case it breaks so therefore save yourself the few quid every time you have to replace it.

Or get a different stove - Primus Micron with a titanium mug works well, and it's lighter and more compact. C-:

In reply to Bruce Hooker:

Well, it's light, and doesn't take up much space in your pack. I wouldn't take a Jetboil on a long trip, but for alpine bivies mine's been great so far.

In reply to Boff:

Has anyone tried the MSR reactor?

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=34EMehx1XHQ

Looks a bit similar to a jetboil

In reply to Swig:


yes, its brilliant, and makes up for the few areas where the jetboil is poor.
please dont ask why (just trust me!) or i'll just reveal/make myself look like the gear freak i really am explaining the minutae why i think it will be the best thing for certain if not most types of climbers since sliced Halva.

just a bit annoyed that they didn't 'copy' the burner-attached-to-mug/pot idea or design completely, and that they didn't make the fact they hadn't more obvious.

will now be spending many hours, no doubt, pondering and tinkering with the best invention to do so.

have only had mine for a couple of months(basic ground based cooking and tinkering only) and had to agonise over leaving it behind in preference for the Jetboil on a climbing skiiing trip to Cham that i've just got home from at the weekend, because i was intending(in vain...grrr) to need to be able to produce water in siuations extremis, whilst hanging off ice/snow(i.e. easy water source) climbs etc.

but i'm confident that when i get a satisfactory system rigged for hanging (plus hopefuly a sneaky something extra possibly, involvng canistor heating) it will win over even my Primus Omnifuel(quite a task since i rate it as the dogs of true multifuels to date) never mind the JetBoil by a big margin for most if not all fast & light situations in future.

In reply to:

oh, and like other have mentioned, i have never gone away without an old striker in the JetBoil that i've used for all stoves for years, even before i came across Piezo problems.
Relying on anything more complex and fool proof than you have to (including a flimsy cigarette lighter) is just asking for trouble and a fire striker just makes common sense.
Plus even though you could use anything including an ice pick to make one work, it also encourages you to always carry at least a small pocket knife or (lightweight!) multi-tool of some discription which is rarely a bad thing.

In reply to Boff:

The piezo igniter on the Jet Boil does seem a rather poor design. I've had the thing apart a few times, and conclude that it makes poor electrical contact between the piezo element and the body of the stove.

Poor contact = poor electrical circuit = no spark, or sparks in the wrong places.

You can frig with the thing to jam the piezo element into its housing a bit better, and then the sparks return, but I think the sharp snap action when used makes the thing jump out of place again pretty quickly.

I'd never go on a trip without a spare lighter.