Review of the Kovea Power Nano Stove

Review of the miniature camping burner Kovea Nano Stove designed for threaded gas cylinders. It weighs just under 100 grams and, according to our measurements, is capable of boiling a liter of water in 5.5 minutes using 20 grams of gas.

The delivery set includes the burner itself, a protective plastic case and brief instructions in English. The weight of the burner is 97 grams, the case weighs another 20 grams.

The cover of the case fits tightly, accidental opening is excluded. In order to remove the burner from the case, you may need to shake it lightly, because... The gas valve of the burner slightly clings to the sides of the cover. For the same reason, stuffing into a case also does not always go smoothly.

For some reason, a large hole was made at the bottom of the case. And if you accidentally put the case with the burner in the dirt (in the sand, in a puddle, in a neighbor’s plate), then the garbage will freely fall into the holy of holies, that is, onto the thread. Strange decision...

The folding legs that support the dishes are made of rather thin and flimsy-looking steel plates. However, in practice the structure turned out to be quite rigid and stable. The final span of the supports is 12 centimeters. I think if you act carefully, you can even put a bucket of water there if you want. Which, however, would not make practical sense, since heating dishes with a volume of more than a few liters on such a burner is an extremely wasteful and ineffective activity.

Since the unfolding trajectory of the adjacent “legs” of the Power Nano Stove burner intersects, it will take two full “circles” to bring them into the working position. Those. You will have to hold on to each leg at least twice:) First, we lift them vertically one by one, then lower them in the opposite direction (counterclockwise) until the latch rests against the base.

The gas valve handle did not cause any complaints. The wire frame provides sufficient rigidity to securely tighten the valve even when holding the very tip of the handle.

A little about the obvious... As you may have guessed, the burner is screwed directly onto the gas cylinder. Well, the cylinder must be threaded. This burner does not have piezo ignition, which in my opinion is not a disadvantage.

The nozzles are located very compactly and in the same plane. In fact, they do not disperse the flame, but focus it into one jet stream. Of course, when you place a pot on top, the fire willy-nilly “spreads” along its bottom. However, the likelihood of thick food burning in the center of thin-walled cookware is certainly higher here than with burners with a wider flame.

As part of testing, we decided to find out how much time and fuel this burner will need to bring 1 liter of water to a boil. The measurements (there were several) were carried out indoors, at room temperature. The water was completely spring water, i.e. cold - about 10 degrees Celsius. For water, we took a small pot with a bottom diameter only 1 centimeter larger than the width of the burner supports. Its capacity is just 1 liter. To control fuel consumption, the gas cylinder was weighed before and after each experiment.

At high speeds (with the valve fully open), the device makes a very loud and annoying noise (louder than my gasoline burner). Therefore, it is not surprising that in the first experiment, boiling took a full 9 minutes. Apparently, based on the noise level, I simply did not open the valve all the way. Such prolonged boiling in “greenhouse” room conditions seemed strange to me, and during the next measurements I already turned the tap all the way. The best boiling time for one liter of water that was achieved during testing was five and a half minutes. In this case, 20 grams of gas were consumed.

If we roughly (i.e., without taking into account changes in temperature and gas pressure) extrapolate these figures, then in an hour of operation at full speed, the Kovea Power Nano Stove burner will consume 218 grams of gas, i.e. almost the entire “average” cylinder.

By the way, if you don’t chase the boiling speed and limit yourself to the middle position of the valve, then gas consumption will be reduced by at least 25%. In one of our experiments, water boiled in 8 minutes and 17 seconds, for which only 15 grams of gas were consumed. I think if you experiment, you can choose even more economical boiling “programs”.

Video review of the Kovea Power Nano Stove burner

The burner and gas cylinder for this review were provided by the Captain online store. You can view its assortment here: Captain / Gas burners / Kovea