UKC

I am of to Shetland and Orkney soon on a solo trip, usually I travel with my Wife and take a Trangia, and we can spread weight around a little, however this time this is not an option, also I am taking a heavier Hilleberg Akto as opposed to my Vaude Ultralite tent, which dadda is Ultralite, as I suspect the Islands may be windy, and the Hilleberg is more stable.

So to get to the point I am taking a Primus Gas burner and pan set because its a bit lighter, and I have had it for yonks and not used it much as I love my Trangia so much, hey ho. 

Question is how long would you expect a 178ml gas bottle to last.

Brew in the morning.
Brew in the evening.
Bowl of pasta with some Pesto
Brew before bobos. 

I am guessing gas can be bought on Butane/ propane gas can be bought on Shetland and Orkney.

TIA

plenty fuel at a guess

 i;ve just got one of those valves where you can transfer gas from large to small canisters..

You can get gas in Orkney.  Trek and Travel and William Shearer (I think) in Kirkwall stock it.  Stromness not sure but possibly Wisharts or one of the diving shops.  Probably also Isbisters at Quoyloo too, they sell “everything”.

I’d be astonished if you can’t get it in Shetland.

Just use it for a day at home as you would on a trip. Weigh the canister at start and finish, compare to weight of a full and empty canister

A 240 canister should last me seven days-ish. A 100 three days. That's just me camping solo. I use a half litre pot, two pots full at breakfast three in the evening. Don't know how helpful that is to you, so many variables. 

About 8g of gas to boil 500ml.

It is prolonged boiling (e.g. pasta) that takes fuel. Go for something that doesn't need minutes of simmering, e.g. cous cous, that just needs boiling water adding, then leaving in a cosy/fleece for a few minutes to soften.

I'm with Cap'n Paranoia.  I budget 10g of gas for a cup of tea or coffee.  I've also shifted from pasta to cous-cous - it's pre-cooked, so just needs warming and rehydrating.  That's maybe 5g of gas, rather than 20 or 30 for pasta.

If you do make pasta, rather than throwing away the water, use it to make a cup-a-soup.  That should mask the pasta taste and gives you hot liquid as well.

Dave

16g per litre is what I work with.

Thanks for all the replies, super helpful.

The other thing to remember is not to whack the stove up to 11; if you do, you will waste a huge amount of gas pissing heat uselessly up the side of the pan. Use a moderate flame, and most of the energy will end up in the pan. It will take a little bit longer to boil, but you will save a lot of gas.

Ideally, you should be able to hold your hand close to the top of the pan without getting burnt. If you can't, turn the stove down.

This would seem about right for me too. I can stretch a 100g cannister to four days but that's suboptimal (ie. coffee warm but not boiling). 

Some really helpful stuff here. I find that by far the biggest variable affecting gas used is how well you keep the wind off the burner/pot base. I have an Alpkit wind shield that works well, but when going really light I use a piece of folded foil wrapping up just the windward side of the bottle up to the pan. 

Yes, a windshield is essential. So much so, I had taken that as read. But then I had another look at the pictures in Dan's recent dehydrated meals review...