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There are several main types based on the type of fuel used:
The simplest stove is a burner that contains the fuel, and which once lit burns until either it is snuffed or the fuel is exhausted. The rise in the popularity of extreme light-weight equipment for extended backpacking, and the increasing restrictions on the use of campfires in most wilderness areas, have made these small stoves extremely popular.
The two most popular of these are the solid-fuel stove, using special tablets, and the liquid-fueled stove using methylated spirits. Both types are available commercially. There are also many designs published for similar home-built stoves, like the Pepsi can stove. While solid-fueled stoves may be refueled while burning with care, with a liquid-fueled stove it would be suicidal to attempt this.
Both solid alcohol fuel and stoves for using it are produced by Esbit , and fuel is produced by several other makers. While most brands of firelighters can be used in such stoves, some types will produce a troublesome residue that may be impossible to remove from cookware, and will taint any food exposed to the flame or fumes.
One popular make of simple liquid-fueled stove is the Trangia , available in many different models from a single bare burner to an integrated expedition cooking system. Some of these come with a sealing cover, allowing the burner to be packed while containing fuel.
There is some controversy over the invention of the pressurised burner. Most have given the credit to F.W. Linqvist , who was granted a patent for a kerosene-fueled burner in the late 1880s and went on to develop the Primus brand name of stove into a market leader. Some have however suggested that he in fact bought the design.
The Primus stoves and their imitators were a significant advance over previous designs that had used a wick to supply liquid fuel to the burner by capillary action. Instead the Primus burner vaporised the fuel in a loop of pipe, and used this to both supply the fuel to the burner as a gas and to maintain pressure in the fuel tank.
Initial pressure was provided by a small hand-operated pump. It was also necessary to pre-heat the burner with methylated spirits.
This burner design was also successfully adapted to portable lamps and blowtorches.
Pressurised burner stoves are now available to burn almost any volatile, inflammable liquid, including alcohol, diesel or other motor fuels, kerosene, jet propellant, and many others. Work is proceeding on vegetable-oil burners. Some can burn multiple fuels or even mixtures. Some require special low-residue stove fuel, others are either designed to resist clogging or to be easily and regularly cleaned of the residue.
Most provide some control over the amount of heat produced. Some fuels permit preheating (or priming) with the fuel, others require use of a more volatile fuel, such as methylated spirit or alcohol priming paste, for preheating the burner. Most provide an integrated pump for initial pressurisation, others require the use of a separate pump, while a few need no pump but pressurise themselves when the burner is preheated.
Although heavier than the simpler designs and more complex to maintain and operate, these stoves can heat food more quickly, and as standard issue to many units in the second world war they enjoyed a large base of competent users in the years immediately following. Another advantage is that hydrocarbon fuels have a higher heat content weight for weight than alcohol fuels, so for extended expeditions the weight advantage of alcohol-fueled stoves is reduced or even reversed.
The greatest variety in designs is in this category. They include gas-cartridge stoves and refillable gas-bottle stoves. In most of these the gas is stored as a liquid under pressure, but vaporises immediately it leaves the storage bottle and so arrives at the burner as a gas.
Smaller, lighter designs tend to use non-refillable gas cartridges containing butane, propane or a mixture of hydrocarbons. There is little compatibility between different makers and systems, and cartridges for older stoves are often unobtainable. In addition, the single-use cartridges are considered objectionable by some on environmental grounds.
Refillable gas bottles are heavier and tend to be used on larger stoves intended for car-camping or expedition base camps. However a great variety of gas-fired stoves is available, some integrating the gas cylinder, some connecting it by a hose.
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