[hikin_jim]

The titanium version of the JetBoil Sol might have a problem. A potentially serious problem. Please note that my concerns pertain to the titanium version of the JetBoil Sol only. Titanium JetBoil Sol – CAUTION

Please note that not all the facts are in and that this is a CAUTION only at this juncture. The potential consequences of a failure are serious enough that I think a “caution” is warranted even though all the facts are not in. HJ

[Ringangleclaw]

Off hand, I would say you are making some alarmist claims here. The molten aluminum shouldn't be hot enough to breach the steel fuel bottle. I would imagine that most of the molten metal will slough off to the ground. The internal pressure of the bottle will increase, but probably not result in any type of explosion. As an example, I have put fuel bottles in a fire and on other operating stoves. They rupture at the threaded connection assembly, or at one of two swages on the bottle. A flame of actually not alarming size results. A Hollywoodesque explosion worthy of Bruce Willis is impossible. The manufacturer should attend to this issue, but the dead won't pile up like cord-wood

[hikin_jim]

OK, good feedback. And maybe I am. (And I guess I'll find out through people like you that hold my feet to the fire a bit) Here's the post that prompted my "caution:"

[Allison]

Were you cooking something that was not liquid when this happened?

[hikin_jim]

Hi, Allison, It wasn't mine (see the blog post), but the individual who was doing the cooking was making soup that consisted of water and one bullion cube. That's why I mentioned in the blog post that there was NOT a reason to suspect user error. Had it been something fairly straightforward like someone boiling the pot dry, then I'd have not felt a caution were warranted. HJ

[JennieEl]

I would say molten metal and 3-foot flames are very definitely worth a caution, even if the risk of an explosion is pretty low. Having a big flare-up like that happen suddenly while you are stirring the pot could result in serious burns. At the very least, it wouldn't take much in the way of dry conditions to start a fire in grass or other high-fuel conditions, and on a windy day it wouldn't matter much if you had the stove isolated on a rock. And molten metal dripping onto the canister also sounds like a potential recipe for melting through and into the fuel. It might not matter to the person right next to it if the results technically qualified as an explosion.

[Ringangleclaw]

[HitTheTrail]

I have mentioned this in a post some time ago but..I went on one of my son's Boy Scout camping trips one time where they held a safety demo on putting explosive things in campfires. This included such things as, fuel cannisters, full cans of liquid and gas lighter fluid, spray deodorant, cans of beans, disposal cigarette lighters, etc. Most split along some sort of seam or lid connection with differing levels of explosion. However, all blew the campfire apart and became some sort of a missile. I am glad we were laying down behind boulders about 150' away.

[hikin_jim]

[Ringangleclaw]

[Yana]

While some of you are arguing about the degree of danger this presents, I'd like to point out that melting stove bits are not a particularly attractive stove feature from a practical standpoint.

[hikin_jim]

Well, we know that the stove in the original post (see the end of my blog post for link) generated a 3 foot flame and enough heat to melt aluminum. I think it's not so much an issue of the drops of aluminum heating the canister as it is the whole system taken together. Here's what I think is happening: In order to conduct heat, they attach an aluminum heat exchanger to the bottom of the titanium pot. Hmm. Two different metals. Two different rates of expansion. Every time the pot is heated, the two different metals will be pulling at one another. Now say a weld fails or somehow pulls apart. The aluminum heat exchanger, the one that's absorbing all that heat, is now separated from the pot. Where does all that heat go? Nowhere. In other words, all that heat has got nowhere to go and that thin aluminum heat exchanger is going to get hot, really hot. So you've got this very hot metal underneath the pot and surrounded by the bracket that connects the burner to the pot. That's a lot of heat confined to a fairly small space. Some of that heat is radiated back to the canister. As the canister heats, the pressure inside the canister increases, as the pressure increases, the flame increases. As the flame increases, the temperature under the pot increases, and yet more heat is funneled back to the canister of gas. What you've got (I think; admittedly this is somewhat speculative) is a runaway feedback loop. One would hope that the regulator valve would compensate some for the pressure increase, but judging by what has happened, the pressure becomes so great that the regulator valve does not impede the pressure and the runaway feedback loop continues. Things get really hot. Hot enough apparently to melt aluminum -- more than one thousand degrees Fahrenheit. HJ

[Malachai Constant]

If the Aluminum gets hot enough it will burn and that is not good at all (but pretty).

[hikin_jim]

I've reworded the original post that started this thread based on feedback I've received. I'm toning the languange down a bit. I will also reword my blog post. This verbiage was in my original post. I think it's appropriate, and I left it unchanged:

[DIYSteve]

Al welded to Ti? Huh? Brazed or soldered, maybe. But welded? Doubt it.