Butane stove exploded

[gbaglo]

Daughter and husband are tent camping at Lake Louise. They were doing eggs over easy and about ready to turn them when the Storm Master butane stove exploded.
Parts melted the fly on the tent, the table cloth and became embedded in the cooler. Luckily, neither of them were hit by shrapnel.
On Googling, I came across this story on a ban on sales of these stoves.
Gas stove warnings renewed after family injured in explosion | Sunshine Coast Daily

[Donna D.]

That is SCARY!

I'm reading more and more about folks taking the propane out of their all-molded-towables because it scares them. AND then saying they've got a butane stove (like you referenced) that they can use inside if they decide to cook inside. Oh MY!

[gbaglo]

Immediate suspect was the butane canister, but from what I've found online, it is the stove that is faulty. Millions of these cheaply made stoves are sold worldwide.

[Ian G]

WOW thanks for the info and the warning, we have one that we have for emergency purposes, it will be disposed of and we will look into the updated version manufactured after July 2015
Thank you

[Iowa Dave]

Well that's pretty scary all right. Glad there were no serious injuries. I saw one of these stoves flame up at a charity event once years ago.
While I did no know why it flamed up, I did promise myself at that time that I'd never own one. Fire and cheap construction do not go together. The older I get, the more I respect fire,
And disrespect low quality.
Dave

[KarenH]

Originally Posted by Donna D.

I'm reading more and more about folks taking the propane out of their all-molded-towables because it scares them.

That seems a bit of an overkill to me. My cabin is off-grid so every appliance (wall heater, furnace, refrigerator, hot-water tank) runs on propane. Many, if not most, folks out of the range of natural gas lines use propane, too, without incident.

[gbaglo]

Donna's point was that people are switching to butane stoves and using them inside their trailer, because they are afraid of propane.
Leaping from the pan into the fire.

[Iowa Dave]

You are right about that Karen. I have
500 gallons setting about 100 feet
from the house, treat it with respect and have the tank and regulators
checked regularly and you will sleep well.
Dave

[Patandlinda]

Originally Posted by gbaglo

Donna's point was that people are switching to butane stoves and using them inside their trailer, because they are afraid of propane.
Leaping from the pan into the fire.

Glen glad your family are alright .Wow . Pat

[Donna D.]

Originally Posted by KarenH

That seems a bit of an overkill to me. My cabin is off-grid so every appliance (wall heater, furnace, refrigerator, hot-water tank) runs on propane. Many, if not most, folks out of the range of natural gas lines use propane, too, without incident.

Seems a bit much to me too, but there's a huge difference between a sticks 'n bricks that never moves versus a constantly moving earthquake on wheels. I see the issue as being not doing maintenance and lack of education.

[padlin]

I picked up this one last fall after the Coleman bit the bullet, supposed to be the one the chefs use for buffets and such. Saw other brands for $10-20. FWIW, they do tell you to only use their brand of butane. I
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00522F2R2..._t1_B006H42TVG

[gbaglo]

Son-in-law never got to go camping as a child, or even as an adult, until now.
They arrived at Lake Louise and set up a brand new tent that seemed to be missing pegs for the fly.
They attempted to light a fire ( texting me for advice on how to get wet wood to burn ). They had no axe.
A fellow camper gave them some lighter fluid.
And then it rained, heavily, all night.
It was day two ( this morning ) that the butane stove exploded while making breakfast, eggs over easy. They ate toast.
Pic is parts of the stove embedded in their cooler.
We'll see what the son-in-law is made of when camping is mentioned again.

[LarryandLiz]

Thanks for sharing this Glenn.

Let's hope your son-in-law doesn't sign-off from camping forever.

Rather, learn some good lessons. Such as we need to test our equipment ahead of camping..... Such as setting up a tent at home not just trusting that new means no issues.

[Brian B-P]

A possible safety advantage of these butane stoves over conventional propane installations in a trailer is that there is a limited amount of fuel available if there is a leak. The same logic would work for using a propane camp stove run by a one-pound cylinder, instead of having a propane line plumbed into the trailer's interior. I have more faith in a permanent installation than the seal on a portable cylinder. The stove could be defective in either case.

[Glennrose]

(Glad everyone was OK in this incident)

A guy jumps out of an airplane with a parachute on his back. As he's falling he realizes his chute is broken, now he doesn't know anything about parachutes really, but as the earth rapidly approaches he realizes his options are limited, he takes off the parachute and tries to fix it himself on the way down. The wind is ripping past his face, he's dropping like a rock, and at 5000 feet another guy goes shooting Up past him. In desperation, our man with the chute looks up and yells, "Hey do you know anything about parachutes?!?!?" The guy flying up looks down and yells, "NO, do you know anything about Coleman gas stoves

[Brian B-P]

The problem appears to be with the way fuel is housed in these stoves, and perhaps inherent with the use of butane. In Europe it is common to use butane instead of propane in RVs, in systems just like our propane systems; however, butane has much lower vapour pressure at the same temperature, so it does not work well at low temperatures - I'm sure it would be completely unsatisfactory much of the time here in Alberta. The portable stoves put the butane canister inside the housing and deliberately exposed to the stove's heat to keep the pressure up, but if that is not managed properly the canister can vent with dramatic results. A one-pound disposable propane cylinder outside of a portable stove makes more sense to me.

I am not at all sure that replacing an old butane stove of this type with one made more recently and sold in North America will make any difference at all. The article is from Australia, and the stoves come from various Asian countries. The stove you buy here today which was made a couple of months ago may be completely identical to the one you throw out; it might be one that Australia didn't allow in and was sold to us instead.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a report on butane stoves, and reported one recall for Sterno butane stoves in 2011. I didn't spend a lot of time searching, but I didn't find any recent recall, ban, or notice.

I don't see any reference to butane stoves (just butane containers) in the Health Canada website; Health Canada handles consumer product safety issues for the Canadian federal government.

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by gbaglo

We'll see what the son-in-law is made of when camping is mentioned again.

Originally Posted by LarryandLiz

Let's hope your son-in-law doesn't sign-off from camping forever.

baglo gets him polish to the Escape, and the son-in-law hasn't bailed yet. It seems to be that he can handle a little stove explosion.

[gbaglo]

I've spent the morning on Google researching these butane stoves. Haven't found anything after spring 2015 and the issues appear to have occurred in one Australian state. User error appears to be a factor and some changes have been made to prevent problems.
I will be replacing the one that exploded with one of recent manufacture, assuming I can determine that.
If this was a common problem, I'm sure the U.S.A. would have banned them.
I'd get the Iwatani for $74 on Amazon.com, but it's $136 plus $15 shipping on Amazon.ca

[gabeck]

Oh my ...we have two of these butane stoves , and have used them at the same time . Appreciate the warning - we'll have to look into making a change . Yipes ....

[gbaglo]

Originally Posted by gabeck

Oh my ...we have two of these butane stoves , and have used them at the same time . Appreciate the warning - we'll have to look into making a change . Yipes ....

I need to talk to son-in-law, but not by text, to get a better picture of what may have happened.
Sites warn against using too large a pan because it can reflect heat onto the butane canister. But, there are safety items built into the canister to allow it to vent.
Apparently those made after 2015 have additional safety precautions.