I have never liked bottled gas stoves - not powerful enough to my liking - and have always used a one pint Primus. However, a couple of years ago I bought a neat little Optimus self-priming petrol stove which I use in the open air mostly without shielding. It gave no problem until this summer when, to keep the wind off it, I put it in a saucepan. It was a great success, the little stove roared away like Concorde so much so that I had to turn down the valve a bit. A minute or so later there was a big bang though it didn't stop us finishing the cooking.

When I took the stove out of the saucepan I found that the once concave bottom had blown itself convex. Obviously, despite having a safety valve, pressure had built up. I returned the stove to Camping Gaz - Optimus Division, who replaced it and sent some cautionary instructions. The problem is the fuel. The stove will burn 2 star or Coleman fuel with no trouble but it is not so happy with unleaded petrol which expands more than the other fuels and more than the safety valve can cope with. As long as you work on full flame the stove can cope but if the valve is partly closed pressure builds up and there's the risk of a big bang or worse if the stove should spring a leak. In fact I often used to turn the valve down because the full flame is very hot so it is clearly also a question of how hot the stove body gets and in the saucepan it had got very hot. I have also been in the habit of overfilling it which doesn't help - two-thirds full is the recommended level.

I am writing this now because the instructions with my first stove were not as clear as they could have been and maybe I can save someone losing their eyebrows. I suppose gas stoves are safer but all fuel has to be treated with respect and a petrol stove is so much more powerful that I'll continue using it now I know its limitations.