Trangia Spirit Burner vs Gas Burner: Which is best?

Is the Trangia Gas Buner better than the Trangia Spirit Burner?

The Trangia Gas Burner is the perfect accessory for a faster cooking time, allows for more heat control when cooking, and creates no soot like the spirit burner. It fits the Trangia 25 and Trangia 27 and is a significant improvement over the Trangia spirit stove.

As a professional chef and experienced camper, I believe the Trangia Gas Burner will beat the Trangia spirit burner hands down any day of the week. 

As a chef, controlling the heat is extremely important for me when cooking food. The Trangia Gas Burner allows me to turn down the heat to simmer with the twist of a nozzle or to pump up the heat to get a high flame.

Some might say that you can put the Trangia Spirit  Burner on simmer too, but it’s a bit of a hassle, and you still don’t get the same level of control as a Trangia Gas stove.

Trangia gas stove
Trangia gas burner

Trangia Gas Burner vs Trangia Spirit Burner

When out camping or hiking, the Trangia Gas Burner will give you more options with less fuss and saves you time compared to the Trangia spirit burner. 

Using a Trangia Gas stove, you will cook your food a little bit quicker, have less chance of burning yourself when trying to light the burner, and get a cleaner flame.

When changing the heat on a Trangia Gas Stove from a high flame to simmer, all you need to do is twist the knob on the gas connection to the canister to raise or lower the flame.

If you wanted to change the flame on the Trangia Spirit Burner, you would have to remove your pot or pan from the heat and place the simmering ring down onto the high flame while trying not to burn yourself. 

It is often easier to hold the spirit burner simmer ring with a grips while putting it on, but you still have a problem when the Trangia simmer ring slips or doesn’t go on properly.

Once the Trangia simmer ring is on, put your pot back on and cook.

This can be annoying if you remove this Trangia Simmer Ring multiple times.

Why The Trangia Gas Burner is Better Than the Trangia Spirit Burner

A Trangia Gas stove allows quicker cooking times than the Trangia Spirit Burner.

For example, using a Trangia Gas stove to boil 1L or approximately 24oz of water will take 3.5 minutes under normal conditions. Using a Trangia Spirit Burner will take 10 minutes to boil the same amount of water.

The Trangia Gas burner is also cleaner than the Trangia Spirit burner.

Trangia spirit burner
Trangia spirit burner

Using a Trangia Spirit Burner, the fuel can often leave black soot under the bottom of the pots and pans when cooking. This is easily cleaned off after use, but by using the Trangia Gas Stove, you don’t have to worry about creating any soot.

The Trangia Gas Stove is much cleaner and less hassle to clean up after cooking.

Trangia Fuel

Using a gas canister with a Trangia Gas burner over a Trangia Spirit Burner allows you to make the most of your fuel.

When using a Trangia gas burner, when you are set up, you turn on your gas, light the flame, and start to cook.  There’s no waiting around for the burner to heat up like the Trangia Spirit Burner.

When you are finished cooking, you turn off the gas on the Trangia Gas Burner, and you are done with no fuel waste.

Unlike the Trangia Gas Burner, the Trangia Spirit burner needs to come up to temperature when first light before you can start to cook.  This wastes fuel and also time. 

Once you are finished cooking, you have to snuff the flame out with the simmer ring and wait for the Trangia Spirit Burner to cool down before deciding what to do with the leftover fuel.

Trangia cooking system
Trangia Cooking System

Some people tend to leave the Trangia Spirit Burner to burn off the remaining fuel, while others will allow it to cool down and empty the contents into a sealable container.

One thing you should never do is to empty the fuel onto the ground or into a water source; terrible move, and you don’t want to be that person.

The Trangia Gas Burner is a better option than the Trangia Spirit burner because it makes the most of the fuel you carry and saves time cooking time.

What Gas to use for a Trangia Stove

For a Trangia Stove with a Trangia Gas burner, you can use a gas canister with a Propane/butane mixture.  The Trangia Gas Burner valve is treaded and is an international standard EN417 threaded valve.

Gas canisters come in various sizes, and it’s up to you which size you are willing to carry with you.

I find the 230g gas canister size is perfect for all my needs. Its size is ideal for storing, and I know I will have more than enough to do for my hiking or camping needs.

Under normal working conditions, a 230g gas cartridge with a Trangia Gas Burner will burn for 1.5hrs on full flame.  This is enough time to cook what you need and will allow you to cook multiple meals without worry.

Trangia Gas Burner Specs Vs Trangia Spirit Burner Specs

Trangia Gas BurnerTrangia Spirit Burner
Weight180g / 6.3ounce110g / 3.8ounce
Boil Time3.5min per 1ltr of water10min per 1ltr of water
Output2100w / 6700btu1000w / 3500btu

 Summary

The Trangia Gas Burner wins hands down for me when choosing my heat source with my Trangia cookset.

Controlling the heat level with ease and the fast cooking time suits my needs and allows me to cook a more comprehensive range of food without any trouble.

I’m a chef by trade, and I take comfort in having a heat source that I can turn up and down to suit my cooking needs.  The spirit burner is excellent if you want to boil water and have plenty of time to wait, which while camping you usually do. 

I love to cook more than boil-in-the-bag meals, so this is my primary reason for choosing the Trangia Gas burner over the Trangia Spirit Burner.

It’s a personal preference at the end of the day. Both will get the job done, and depending on your needs, a spirit burner may suit you better.

I’ll stick with my Trangia Gas burner.

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