JetBoil users beware

Hi All
Please be aware that the new Jetboil stoves do NOT fit all gas cylinders, and they are only guaranteed to work on Jetboil gas canisters.
This can be a real, perhaps even fatal problem if you have carried you spare cylinder into the wilderness and it does not work when you screw it in.

The story:
I brought a new Jetboil stove when the old (faithful) Jetboil could not be repaired. The diffuser mesh and fibre got brittle and broke and they could no longer supply spares. So, first trip out all OK second trip all Ok, then came time to change gas, and nothing. Tighten the gas bottle, nothing, a full gas canister and no flow. Not too bad this time as it was a lunch time stop on a day hike, and I just got laughed at. Went home tried another cylinder and it worked. So, I tried my whole array of new and half used canisters. Some work some do not. I do not have any Jet boil gas, so I can’t say if they would do the same. It then let us down in the berg, with yet another new canister unable to push its gas through. Lucky we were just ay Giants hut fitting the new windows so it was not a crisis, but it could have been.

It was still in the warranty period and the store, Drifters, sent it back to Cape Town. It comes back with a clean bill of health, but still does not work on exactly the same cylinders that it did not work on before. So, they pull out their trump card. "It was tested on Jetboil canisters and worked and we (Jetboil) cannot guarantee that it works on other makes of cylinder. Sorry for you.
(This was backed up in a reply from Jetboil international.


SO, JA, 2 things, 3 actually
1. If you own a Jetboil and do not use the Jetboil gas, then please please please, test all the canisters before you go on an important hike/ climb.
2. If you have had the same problem let me know
3. If you happily use any canister on you Jetboil without any problems, then also let me know please.

Any other suggestions on possible recourse would also be welcome.

Regards
George

Hi George
I had the same problem with my GO-System Cooker. I suspect that some of the gas canisters have the plunger set too low for the cooker pin to open the valve. I rectified the problem with the particular canister by temporarily removing the rubber washer from the stove. It worked fine then, with no indication of gas leak.
Try it.
Good luck.
Neil.

Good thing I'm stuck with my Gaz stove and can't use cartridges from other manufacturers :/

Thanks for the replies folks, but let’s not lose track of the situation. Theoretically, if you now buy a Jetboil you are locked into their gas which, as Chris mentioned comes at a premium. And if you want to buy other gas, you must take your stove along with you to make sure that the gas will flow once screwed in. As a shopkeeper, I would object to cylinders being opened and tested in my store, but that is what we are going to have to do to. Unless of course it's just my stove, which jams me in a doorway, because when the agent tested on Jetboil gas, it works. What really hurts is that old faithful worked on any gas canister and a lot of my friends and members of JHC brought their Jetboil on this strength and on my recommendations.

Again, I appreciate the recommendation and solutions, but I am not prepared to modify an almost new stove which cost more than 1 grand to just get it to work.

I'm still fighting and will keep you all posted.

Regards

This really troubles me. As I mentioned, I have a Gaz stove, which fits only Gaz cylinders, which are quite expensive (~R65 for CV270 which is around 250g gas). I have however found some cheap Gaz (probably old stock) here and there (I pop in to places like Micas to check their prices). I've considered in the past buying a Go System or Kovea stove, just because they all use the standard fitting, and therefore should be able to use any standard cylinder, including Cadac which I've often found to be much cheaper. If the 'standard' valves are no longer standard, what's the point of the standard?

Would there be any recourse in disputing their advertising their 'standard thread' claims?

Out of interest, the MSR Superfly has a fitting that they claim will fit "most self-sealing fuel canisters" (including Gaz). I wonder how truly universal it is.

Would there be any recourse in disputing their advertising their 'standard thread' claims?

Do Jetboil claim this??I would love to see this on paper, it would strengthen my case.


regards
G

.
From the Jetboil web site

Can I use Jetboil with other fuel canisters?

Jetboil is compatible with valves made to the EN417 specification, a standard adopted by manufacturers throughout the world. Please note that the product has not been tested with every different type of fuel canister, and we cannot claim safe operation with any canister other than our Jetpower brand of fuel.

Oh Boy, I'm just getting started, watch this space
Just had a look at my cylinder and guess what is printed in full view, just near the thread::: ta daa "EN417"

As I said, watch this space
G

Good luck Geordie.
And thanks again for the warning. Would hate to be tired and cold, and relying on melting snow for water, only to discover the stove doesn't work.

(Also one of the reasons I've been looking at alcohol stoves, no moving parts etc)

Hey George, this sounds really bad!! What make of jetboil did you buy? I have the "sol" and looking through all my half used gas, I found jetboil, msr, go system and providus gas canisters, and they all worked on my jetboil.