That 3am fuel tank hiss taught me my stove was lying all along

My buddy's $60 butane camp stove hissed like a snake before the flame sputtered out near Flagstaff last weekend, and after taking it apart I found the regulator seal was cracked from day one, so has anyone else checked their stove's seals before trusting it on a cold night?

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laura_black3116d agoMost Upvoted

Whoa, that's a scary find! But here's something nobody thinks about, the cold itself makes those rubber seals shrink and get hard, so even a brand new stove can fail the first time you use it below freezing. I always warm my canister and stove in my jacket for 15 minutes before lighting now, and give the seal a tiny coat of silicone grease before a winter trip. That 3am hiss is basically your stove telling you it's too stiff to make a proper seal anymore.