"Thermette Review
I started camping with the Boy scouts when I was 15-years old, I’m now 47. I do tent camping mostly in camp grounds. The area I do most of my camping is Ohio and Michigan’s U P.
My first stove was a Svea-123; I still have and use it. I love the Svea. I also have had a Whisperlite (junk), Coleman Apex II & numerous other Coleman stoves. Several alcohol stoves and a few homemade wood camp stoves.
The idea of a camp stove that has unlimited fuel availability is very appealing. All one has to do is pickup small twigs as you walk about.
Reason for buying the Thermette (Intended use)
I mostly wanted a way to heat water for my camp shower and cleaning dishes when camping and cooking.
I was originally interested in a Kelly Kettle (www.kellykettle.com) but the more I looked at it the more convinced I became that the quality and design were not as good as could be. The reviews all say it leaks water at the bottom ring, and the idea of having a bail-handle on something that has one foot high flames shooting out the top seems like a way to get burnt hands.
Doing research on alternatives for the Kelly Kettle, I ran across the Thermette (www.thermette.com) I decided I hade to have one, I actually bought two, one for a Christmas present to my brother, and one for myself. I sent them a money order and got the Thermettes in nine-days, four of those nine days were weekend days. I consider this a good turn around time.
First Impression
They were well protected with lots of bubble-wrap. Upon opening the first thing I noticed was the low quality handles on the Thermettes. My brother also mentioned this (without me bringing it up.) The handles are small pieces of wire that are very poorly attached to the Thermette. In fact the first time I filled it with water the handles bent and started coming loose when I picked it up. Also they are very small and after the Thermette heats up, you will burn your hands when picking it up.
The Thermette is made of Copper, the cook ring is Stainless Steel, and the fire base is Galvanized steel. All three pieces are well made. It seems very light for its size. I did not weight it, but their web site says its 3-pounds.
Using the Thermette
Inside Test
I first tested it on the kitchen gas range. I filled it up with water and turned the burner on high and set it on the burner. There were no leaks (like with the Kelly Kettle) It boiled the ½ gal. of water in 8-min.
Outside Test
I walked around the yard gathering a pile of small twigs, filled the Thermette from the garden hose and started a fire in the fire base. I then placed the copper Thermette on top of the base and started to gradually drop sticks through the top. In less then 1-min. flames started shooting out the top 12-inches high. It boiled the water in 5:22 min. It works so well that when the water boiled it started shooting out the top like a volcano. I quickly removed it from the fire base as I did not want to have the fire put out by the water. I burned my hands on it as the handles are very small & close to the Thermette.
I poured out the water and did two more boil test (with a little less water in it) and on these test water still came out the top but without being filled to the very top it was much less. Times for these test were within a few seconds of the first time. I was amazed by the fact that so little wood was needed to bring the water to a boil. I gathered what I thought was enough wood to boil the water one time was in fact enough to boil water three times. The reason it works so well is two reasons, the water gets heated all around the inside, not like a pan that only gets heat on the bottom. The second reason is the volcano effect. The flames really shoot up through the inside chimney. The Thermette actually works better in windy conditions, just make sure the air hole in the base faces into the wind and the flames really shoot up through the Thermette. The flames will shoot out over 1-foot above the top.
Wet Wood Test
I waited for an all day rain; the Thermette web site says it will burn wet wood. It had rained all night and all day. I did the test in the afternoon standing in the middle of the yard in the rain, normally, you would look for a spot out of the rain, but I wanted a good idea of how well it would work in a realistic “bad weather camping trip” where there may not be ideal conditions. I use homemade fire starters made out of wood chips and candle wax. These are 100% waterproof. But I did gather wet twigs from around the yard. While the twigs were soaking wet, they would snap when I broke them. I lit the fire starter and slowly added the wet wood; it took two to three min to get the wood to start burning. I noticed a lot more smoke and less flames shooting out the top. Instead of the 5-min boil times it too 10:04 to get the water boiling. I was impressed with how it worked with the wet wood, while the boil time was double; it still did a great job. I was soaked to the skin, but I had hot water.
Cooking with the Thermette
The Thermette comes with a Stainless Steel cooking ring to use it like a normal cook stove; you start a fire and place the cooking ring on top of the base. The fire base has a large air hole in the side that you can easily feed wood into without having to take the pan off the top. I found this very easy to do. Cooking with it is like any wood camp stove, you will get soot on the bottom of the pans (easily cleaned off with oven cleaner to make the pan look new.) The cook ring is large (6 inches across) and any cook pot smaller then 6 ½ inches or so is too small and will fall through the ring. Unfortunately many solo backpacking cook sets are smaller then this. Home cooking pots & pans work well as they are big enough, as are the larger multi-person camping cook sets. I put a wire mesh over the cook ring to allow me to use my solo backpacking cook set.
Small Campfire
The fire base can also be used for a small contained camp fire for comfort and to do smores with the kids It’s a source of light & warmth.
Reliability
It’s such a simple design; there is nothing to go wrong. As long as you can start a fire and pickup twigs from the ground you have a way to cook, heat water and have a camp fire.
Stability
The Thermette is very stable, even with the cook ring and a pan on top of it I never felt it was going to fall over. It’s even more stable when used as a cooking stove.
Fuel Consumption
It uses much less fuel to boil water then I expected. In 10-min of picking up twigs I had enough fuel for a weekends worth of cooking.
Mess
There is the normal soot on the bottom of the pan when cooking with fire. As far as soot when heating water, it’s all contained inside the copper Thermette. While the inside will become full of soot, the base, cook ring and the Thermette remains fairly clean. Only a little white ash is on the fire base.
As the fire base is open on the bottom it leaves a seven inch burn ring on the ground, if you are a no-trace camper you will need to find something to put under it.
Weather
Rain doesn’t stop you from being able to cook, It would be a good idea to pickup some dry wood ahead of time to make it easier to get a fire going, but it will work with only wet wood. Once the fire is going it does a great job of drying out and burning the wood.
Durability
The Thermette has been around since 1929, it has proven itself in WWII. I like that it’s made out of copper rather then aluminum. The only real durability problem is the low quality handles they are putting on the present made Thermette’s I easily fixed this by making new ones.
Packability
While it’s too large for backpacking (7-inches round and 15-inches tall.) it is well suited for canoeing, car camping and disaster kits.
Pros
Seems to be well made (other then the handles.)
Made of copper, not aluminum
No need to carry fuel.
Will burn just about anything, even wet wood.
Uses very little wood to bring the water to a boil.
Will also work with any gas-flame camp stove.
The cook ring is included with the Thermette so you also have a wood camp stove along with the water boiling ability.
Can be used for a small contained camp fire.
You can cook while it’s heating the water or just use the fire base and cook ring.
Heats water fast, it will boil ½ gal of water in 5-min.
Well suited for canoe and car camping.
Good for a disaster kit.
It’s fun to use.
Cons
Cost $107.00 with shipping, while I did not feel this was a problem, some people may feel it’s expensive.
Too large for Backpacking.
Handles are poor quality, the first time I filled the Thermette with water and picked it up the handles bent, almost to the point of coming loose. They are nothing more then soft bent wire a little larger then the diameter of a coat hanger. Also the handle opening is small and when you pick up the hot Thermette you will get burnt hands.
I can’t understand why the company would put such low quality handles on an otherwise well made product? If you look on the web site at the WWII era Thermette that is still in use, it has a much better handle. Why change the design? I guess they also have bean-counters in New Zealand The box says “Made in China” I copied the older handle design and attached to my two Thermette’s. It resulted in a much better product.
The cook ring is large (6 inches across) and any cook pot smaller then 6 ½ inches or so is too small and will fall through the ring. Easily fixed with a wire mesh put over the cook ring.
I would not let either of these problems stop me from recommending the Thermette. But if you buy one it’s a good idea to fabricate a new handle or know someone that can do it for you.
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