How long will your gas canister last?
One canister too many is 200 g of dead weight in the pack; one too few means a cold meal on the last night. This tool works out your canister’s real life from stove consumption and your usage, cold included.
A gas stove consumes oxygen and produces carbon monoxide: never cook inside a closed tent or an unventilated shelter. This tool estimates endurance; it does not replace the manufacturer’s safety instructions.
Canister life
3.1days
- Total burn time
- 1.5h
A gas stove consumes oxygen and produces carbon monoxide: never cook inside a closed tent or an unventilated shelter. This tool estimates endurance; it does not replace the manufacturer’s safety instructions.
The method
A canister holds a known weight of gas, and a stove burns a roughly constant gas flow at full power: raw endurance is a simple division, in hours of flame.
That is then converted to days from your daily burn minutes — the real unknown, well estimated by the “4 to 5 minutes per litre boiled” rule.
Cold changes the picture in three ways at once: water starts colder, wind steals heat, and canister pressure drops (butane stops vaporising below 0 °C / 32 °F). The +40% allowance covers all three for normal mountain use.
In the formula: C is content (g), q the stove consumption (g/h), m the minutes per day, f = 1.4 in cold weather.
hours = C / (q × f) · days = hours × 60 / m
Good to know
- The manufacturer’s consumption figure is measured at full power: at half throttle a stove burns less per minute but heats longer — the total per litre boiled stays similar.
- To know what is left in a used canister, weigh it: total weight minus the empty weight (often printed, otherwise ~100 g for a 230).
- Below freezing, prefer winter blends (isobutane/propane) and keep the canister warm (bottom of the sleeping bag): a frozen canister may deliver nothing at all.
- A windscreen and a lid cut consumption by 20–30%: the biggest saving available, before even choosing the stove.
- Canisters cannot fly, neither checked nor cabin: plan to buy at destination.
FAQ
- How many litres will a 230 g canister boil?
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With a classic stove in mild weather, expect 10 to 12 g of gas per litre brought to the boil: a 230 g canister therefore boils 20 to 23 litres. In cold, windy conditions without protection, that figure can halve.
- How do I estimate my burn minutes per day?
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List your uses: morning coffee (0.3 L ≈ 2 min), a freeze-dried meal (0.5 L ≈ 3 min), soup and tea at night (0.7 L ≈ 4 min). A solo hiker who does not cook runs 20 to 30 minutes; real cooking (pasta, rice) quickly reaches 45 to 60 minutes.
- Why does my canister weaken near the end?
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The blend degrades: propane, more volatile, leaves first, and the remaining butane vaporises poorly in the cold. Near the end in cool weather the flame drops even though gas remains — the calculation assumes the whole canister is usable, which holds above roughly 5 °C / 41 °F.
- Screw-on, clip-on or pierceable: does consumption differ?
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No — consumption depends on the burner, not the connector. The connector changes compatibility (EN 417 screw-on is the hiking standard) and whether you can remove a partly used canister, not the gas burned per litre of water.
- Does a more powerful stove empty the canister faster?
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Per minute, yes; per litre boiled, not necessarily. A well-designed powerful burner heats faster and can lose less heat overall. What really wastes gas: full power under a small pot (flames licking the sides) and no lid.