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Any Kelly Kettle fans?

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Aug 5, 2011
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Western NY between Buffalo and Rochester
The KK looks awesome on videos...I'm looking at the small one in stainless with the accessories.
Any first hand experience? I know Stripperguy is already a fan.
We mostly heat water, so it looks like a good opton.
Scott
 
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Yup, Scott, I am a convert. A few years ago, we paddled and carried into Newcomb Lake. My son had my old Peak 1, which leaked most of its fuel in his pack, and we (6 of us) had just 1 liter of extra fuel and my filled Xponent stove to rely on for 3 days of meals. That was when I started looking for a more reliable source of cooking heat.
The following Christmas my kids bought me a KK, I think it's a 1.5 liter, I know it's aluminum. It's very light in weight, and I have yet to run out of fuel for it!
Now, everyone we camp with is also a firm believer, after some initial doubts. Even in the cold, or on soggy days, the KK does a great job, and is faster than any fuel stove I have ever used or seen.
But it is bulky, and messy, the inside becoming coated with soot and ash after only a few uses. So, I just keep it in its sack and strap it to the outside of my pack, or relegate it to the food bag, if there is one.

I have a recently hired PhD here at work, his specialty is heat transfer...I'm going to have him do a quick analysis to estimate the BTU output of the KK, I'm fairly certain it will far exceed the fuel stoves.

I definitey recommend a KK for anyone that needs boiled water, for me, and my dehydrated meals, it's just about perfect!
 
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Yup. I have a smaller one and a mid size one. I like them a lot. Since I dehydrate all my own food, all I need is hot water for all my meals. Best use is for extended trips to eliminate any concern about bringing enough stove fuel. In the smaller KK I can boil 3.5 cups of water within 5 minutes of ignition. It only requires a small handful of thumb size twigs, or a pine cone or two. It is possible to make a pan holder contraption to capture heat going out the top, but I find that the water boils so quickly in the KK that there is not much time to cook anything on top. The downside is they are kind of bulky and take up a lot of space in your pack (compared to a mini-trangia), but still are very lightweight. It is possible to store items inside the burn chamber, if you protect from accumulated soot.
 
I have two. The smaller one and the larger one. I don't use either anymore. Nothing wrong with them, they just didn't fit my style.
 
DuctTape--So you didn't have a problem with the performance......A friend of mine said it was too bulky for lightweight backpacking and not a good stove for simmering and cooking on top. So it didn't fit his style either. I'm thinking my style is more like Stipperguy and yknpdlr.

I'm at the stage where I'm trying to thin out clutter and unecessary items out of the house so I think hard before bringing something in.

Anyone cook with them...on top or on the little grate?
Scott
 
Scott, exactly. I believe my style and your friends are probably similar as I have similar observations. Just boiling water it is great. But I need more. Backpacking it is too bulky for me. I try to keep my canoeing kit basically the same as my backpacking kit.
 
Scott, if you would like to borrow one of mine for a summer to play with I believe we are close enough that meeting halfway would not be time/cost prohibitive.
 
Anyone cook with them...on top or on the little grate?
Scott
It is tempting to want to make use of the hot roaring flame you see coming out of the top of the KK. The problem with trying to cook on top is the water boils so quickly in the kettle that there is not enough time to cook much on top with the grate (or with a custom rig I made with a soup can and tin snips).

Once the water starts boiling in the main body, you have to remove the kettle from the wood burner cup or the water will strongly spurt out of the spout. You don't want to have a fire in the KK without water in the body, the aluminum water jacket isn't built for that. In a sense the KK is self regulating, because if you forget about it, the spurting boiling water will extinguish the fire in the burner cup below.

My style of camping includes making complete dehydrated meals at home. I only need boiling water to make my dinner, so the KK or any other method of just heating water works for me. No mess to clean whatsoever. If not the KK, then I use either a compact Trangia or a small gas canister type of stove. If you really want to to "cook" meals when camping, then you need another type of cook gear.
 
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I'm a fan but agree with others on the issue of bulk. Mine is an aluminum model that holds about 22oz.

I removed the wire bail and manipulate the kettle with apair of pot pliers on the rim of the chimney. I feel this is safer and gives much better control; the second hand isfree to hold a receiving vessel. I have tried using a neoprene wrap around the belly of the kettle but my hand is too small to grasp the diameter.

I like my KK and the limitless supply of hot water it affords but because I'm typically solo, and a one pack, single trip portage guy I usually opt to carefully ration my canister fuel and save on precious packspace. If it is, cold and I anticipate a need for additional hot toddies the Kelly will find its way into my kit.
 
OK, I looked up which KK I actually have... I have the medium size aluminum, it holds 44 Fl oz or 1.3 liters...
For comparison purposes, my Xponent dual fuelpack stove is rated at 7,500 Btu/hr and Coleman says it boils a qt of water in 4 min 25 sec... a quick calculation reveals an efficiency of about 50% (if the water starts at 10 C).
Now, my KK boils 1.3 liters of water in about 90 seconds...if it were the same efficiency as the Xponent, the KK would be putting out nearly 40,000 Btu/hr, this is unlikely. More reasonable would be an efficiency of 90%, and a heat output of 20,000 Btu/hr...or some combination of output and efficiency between those two extremes. Your guess is as good as mine (or maybe not!)


But any way you figure it, the KK is about twice as fast as a fuel stove. I just like the idea of not lugging the weight of the fuel and the fact that it uses twigs and leaf litter that most folks walk on.
 
Can you use a KK during a fire ban?

Bob.

Bob, I was wondering the same thing.

Guys,

Most often the fire bans are issued in times of extreme dry weather, or extreme stupidity, in the case of the Eastern high peaks region of the Adirondacks. These bans are typically for open fires...I would imagine the KK would be considered a stove, not an open fire. The fact that it uses leaf litter and twigs rather than liquid or gaseous fuel should not matter.
Where's Bill I?? He'll know for sure.
 
The caretaker at JBL recently informed me that a ranger told one camper to not use his wood burning backpack stove in the Eastern High Peaks (where open fires are always banned), or be ticketed. I will confirm that on my next ranger visit. I rarely frequent the high peaks, in favor of more secluded areas of the Adirondacks instead.
 
Here's the answer I got from NFS ranger email:

"When there is a fire ban, it means no open fires of any kind in the area or at the time prescribed in the fire ban. So no you would not be able to use this product in a fire ban, it has flames. Hope this helps."

I described the KK, it's fuel source, and it's little fire pot.
Not sure they really understood the product in question.
It's always easier to say no.
 
We sometimes have fire restrictions and sometimes fire bans in our national forests. During restrictions, the KK would be usable so long is it's used in a way that fits requirements for containment (I think that varies). During a ban, even smoking is not allowed - so the KK can't be used.

I want to like the Kelly Kettle, but we have had too many bad fire years recently for me to rely on it.
 
I want to like the Kelly Kettle, but we have had too many bad fire years recently for me to rely on it.[/QUOTE]

I agree completely. That is why I like the little bug as it packs so small and out of the way, it is hardly noticable in my pack. I use it a lot, but if there is a ban, I can use my white gas stove and the little bug twig stove is not a problem. Even if I use the white gas stove and there is no fire ban, it still does a nice job of making a smudge under my tarp. This is why I feel the littel bug is more versitile thatn the KK. I do believe the KK is more efficient however.

Bob.
 
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