FlipFuel: A gear review.

Recently, a friend and I went on a hunting trip in Arthurs Pass. We checked our respective camping storage bins and, after much rummaging and can-shaking, found a total of 7 partially-filled isobutane canisters.

With 5 nights ahead of us, we estimated our gas usage to be 2.5 canisters. Rather than haul a pack full of empty space, aluminium canisters and dregs of gas, it would be the perfect opportunity to test the Flip Fuel device.

We did our fuel combining as part of our pre-trip prep, but I would have no qualms about taking this compact piece of gold with me on a future foray into the backcountry. It’s tiny, efficient, and lightweight. 

Thanks to the FlipFuel device, we managed to combine our five partially-filled canisters into just two.

More space for chocolate, hooray!

Reading and following instructions isn’t my jam, but I love figuring out how things work.  I just had a basic idea of how the FlipFuel worked based on the packaging and winged it.

All I had to do was make sure the receiving canister was cooler than the sending canister. So I left the receiving canister - the lighter one - in a puddle of shallow water only covering the bottom of the can. Then I just popped the sending canister into some warm water and voila, sufficient temperature differential.

The clear labelling of the canisters (“IN” and “OUT”) made it super easy to figure out which can goes where, and the device was easy to thread on.

Once the valve was opened the gas flowed quickly and freely from one can to the other with an audible “hiss”. Once this noise subsided, the valves were closed and the canisters removed - the receiving canister (now happily satiated) was removed first. The empty can was happily removed and recycled. No more semi-filled cans floating around in my camping storage box, thank you very much.

Far out I'm so stoked to come across Flip Fuel. All this time playing roulette with partially-filled canisters and no way to transfer and combine them, I don’t know how I did it. 

The FlipFuel is now an essential piece of kit, and I look forward to using it for upcoming trips in the future, just like fellow team members did for a recent trip to Patagonia.