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**cgrover60** · May 8, 2019, 07:39 PM

I can chime in somewhat on Camp Chef build quality fzxdoc . Our early '60s circa house came with a built in charcoal "grill" that was the ultimate tech at the time - flat charcoal pan you could hand crank up and down to the grates to control your cook! Not really an option with a Weber to cook on outside unless it was pouring rain so I ripped out the charcoal mechanism and dropped in a Camp Chef Weekender two burner suitcase style portable stove with two 30,000 btu burners about 10 years ago and it still burns flawlessly. So at least I will say the burner gas control mechanism seems bulletproof. Its also very versatile with all the Camp Chef add ons. We use the grill box for indoor inclement weather / winter time grilling, as a two burner outdoor kitchen stove with or without griddle but lately just leave it set up with the Camp Chef pizza oven that does a great job.

**fzxdoc** · May 9, 2019, 05:20 AM

Gosh, that's really good to know, cgrover60 . That's quite a testimonial for a Camp Chef product, still going strong after 10 years. I'm leaning more toward getting the Somerset IV because it seems to be the best fit for my needs, although I have a couple more options yet to check out. Waiting to hear back from a salesman on one of the options. Hope to get this purchase done soon!

Thanks so much for letting me know your experience with CC. I was beginning to think that 30,000 BTU burners might be overkill, since they're not found in home gas cooktops, but those BTUs don't all go to the pan, especially in an outdoor setting, I'm guessing. Seems like they work great for you. And for Guy Fieri*.

Kathryn

*see video from this post

**klflowers** · May 9, 2019, 02:19 PM

I have been eyeing the P90X for awhile for our RV; I may pull the trigger pretty soon. Thanks for posting the link to the Guy video - it pushed me further in that direction. By the way, Guy looks like one of my cousins, minus the spikey blond hair and the two toned goatee. The facial expressions are even similar.

CC has a Guy bundle that may be a pretty good deal.

https://www.campchef.com/camp-stoves...x-package.html

**Uncle Bob** · May 9, 2019, 05:22 PM

Originally posted by fzxdoc View Post

Thanks so much for letting me know your experience with CC. I was beginning to think that 30,000 BTU burners might be overkill, since they're not found in home gas cooktops, but those BTUs don't all go to the pan, especially in an outdoor setting, I'm guessing. Seems like they work great for you. And for Guy Fieri*.

Kathryn
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It may be a guy thing, (thus why Tim "the tool man" Taylor jokes work so well) but 30k burners are not a problem at all. More power, more power!!

I've got a two burner Cookamp portable with two 70k (each) burners that I use for deep frying in cast iron pans (outside for just the same reason as you). It's hard to keep the oil under 400 degrees...…….but the recovery time is outstanding! Frankly, if I'd known about this unit from Camp Chef I might have bought it instead though it's two and a half times the money. The added versatility would be worth it. One question for you. I've looked at this on multiple sites and find length and width/depth dimensions repeatedly, but no mention of height. Do you know what that is?

**Dan Deter** · May 10, 2019, 12:16 PM

I started looking at this and thought "well, hey, that 3 burner would be a better fit for the space I have", but it looks like they must have discontinued the Somerset 3 when the 4 came out.

**fzxdoc** · May 15, 2019, 09:31 AM

Yeah, Dan Deter I'd prefer a 3 burner Somerset III as well, for space considerations. But I decided I wouldn't have to have both shelves flipped up when I store it.

Kathryn

**Uncle Bob** · May 22, 2019, 03:36 PM

Okay Kathryn, this is all your fault……………..I’m a victim, wah wah………….

Since nobody else had any first hand experience to report to you I stepped up. As John Wayne might have said, "The pioneers take the arrows, pilgrim."

So, is this a good unit and is it worth it? Like most things in life there’s a yes answer and a no answer, all depends on one’s perspective and expectations. If a person is looking for an outdoor stove that will be pretty much a duplication of the indoor one they currently have, the answer leans more toward no. The high power of the 30k btu burners requires some adjusting of expectations and cooking style. More on that later. There are commercial/restaurant style burner units (as noted earlier) that might be more, let’s say, familiar operationally. But they won’t be at this price point of $300ish, at least not where I live. The used ones that are more economical are usually pretty beat or used up around here.

I purchased mine on ebay for a couple reasons, one of which was to avoid sales tax. Also, I ordered from a seller that had the obo option so I offered a bit less than the Amazon price. Saved enough to buy some food to cook, but with a caveat. The tracking showed it shipped from SLC, so probably a drop ship from CC. The packaging on this beauty sucks, and the boys with the brown trucks aren’t any more gentle than the gorillas in the old suitcase ads. The box was a sight, but not bad enough to reject, though I did have the driver enter the damage codes in his device just in case. BTW, to my surprise, the packing list showed Home Depot as the seller, though nothing in the ebay ad indicated that. Once unpacked, happily all the parts were there. The stubs to mount the rear legs were bent in about 3/8 inch, and the stainless front panels had very small tweaks in one corner. Since I possess basic body repair skills it wasn’t difficult to massage the offending damage to good as new. I suspect there are a fair number of consumers who might not be able to figure that out not having sufficient experience. The solution for anyone worried about a similar fate would be to buy one locally where you could inspect before taking delivery. It might cost a bit more dollar wise, but the disappointment cost would be less. All in all the assembly process is comparatively easy, the instructions well worded and easy to understand.

From a quality standpoint I’d rate this as pretty good for what it is and what it cost, maybe even better but I’m a grudging judge. The firebox frame and the legs are 12 ga., the attached sheet metal 14. When bolted together it makes a reasonably stout structure. That said, I wouldn’t recommend frequent dragging across rough terrain without modifying the wheels. The grate appears to be chrome plated steel and will discolor as soon as heated, not unusual. The stainless steel front pieces will hold a magnet so likely are the typical 430 grade. Not a huge negative considering the price, but those without sufficient storage protection might see some corrosion over time. The control panel components have a good middle of the road feel, not super el cheapo, but not Wolf range either. The piezo igniters are very sensitive to adjustment, and CC even hangs a card on the burners advising proper adjustment. Turns out one of the four on mine was damaged but with some tweaking still worked. I did however call CC and a replacement is on the way. While the assembly instructions were pretty good the operating instructions were pretty minimal………about 3 sentences. There were about 57000 pages of legalese in three languages though, mostly about how using propane will kill you and all those you love if you look at it wrong (okay, only a slight exaggeration). My first operation in preparation for some performance testing and familiarity work was to test the ignition and adjust the air intake for that nice blue flame pattern. Two of the burners just wouldn’t stay lit beyond a slight flicker, the other two did okay. I could get the two offending burners to light fine with a butane lighting stick, but not the igniters. When I talked to CC they advised I cut the air intake valve much more than I had. Tah-dah…. All four lit fine. Once lit I played with the air valves a bit more to find that point where I had ignition and as much blue flame as that would allow. A tad more yellow flame than I would normally opt for, but not offensively so. One other unusual to me thing that CC emphasized was to open the propane tank valve very slowly as they equip the attachment hose with a regulator intended to sense leakage. If you open the tank valve at anything above a snails pace it apparently confuses the regulator into thinking there’s a leak and it cuts way back on the fuel flow. Again, one of those things that might fall outside some folks tolerance zone. Ah, the safety overlords must feel quite happy though. Thankfully it’s not one of those extremely annoying ones that has a shutoff timer on it.

So how does it perform? Time and more frequent operation may change some of what I say here as today was the first day I’ve done anything with this. I did three operations that I expect to be representative of what I’ll most be doing with this device in the future. I set about boiling a gallon of water in a stainless, clad bottom, 10â€ pot; heating one gallon of peanut oil in a 12â€ enameled ci pot; and heated four tablespoons of oil in a carbon steel wok. All three were done uncovered. The attached pics will give you an idea of actual utensil spacing. Environmentally it was around 80 degrees, with a fair bit of wind, 15-20 mph with some gusts I’d guess up to 30. Those gusts did modify the sound of the burner so may have affected the outcome. My patio is enclosed on three sides, but the wind still swirls in to a degree. The water came to a rolling boil in 9 min. 3 sec. The oil got to 375 in 13 min. 6 sec. Both of those I did with the burner on high. That, of course caused a little problem for the oil because of the inertia of the ci holding heat. I turned the burner down from high to low as soon as it hit 375 but it kept going to 405-410, not awful, but it was slow to come back down. My objective in this test is different than in an actual cook. When doing oil I’ll creep up on the target temp and try to modulate so that it stays closer to that temp, keeping in mind the need for recovery when food is added. Given the available btu’s that shouldn’t be much of an issue. The wok was a different matter. Because it is comparatively thin metal I started at medium and in 50 sec. it was smoking hot. The IR gun showed almost 500 degrees…………………..whoooooeeeeee! Almost like those vids of the cooks in an Asian restaurant woking over what sounds like a military jet afterburner and flailing their arms and tools like mad men. Anyway, stirfry could be fun on this puppy. Turning the knob all the way to low got the temp back down to 400ish in about 5 minutes, so not too bad. Again, likely will sneak up on it in the future. I've also got a griddle top that will need to be tried.

So there you have it. I don’t regret the purchase but am mindful that there is/will be a learning curve to handling this much power. No way to know if this thing will remain reliable until dues are paid, there’s just not enough good evaluation on the web to define it one way or the other. CC has a good rep for customer care, and this is the second generation of this particular unit (one of the above referenced You Tube vids that shows the one without the stainless front panels is from 2011) and my interface with CC on the phone today went pleasantly and effectively. There aren’t a lot of choices out there for equivalents that offer decent looks, at this height, and with this combination of burner power. That probably also speaks to how low demand is for something that might be for the slightly demented.

Attached Files

**treesmacker** · May 22, 2019, 08:57 PM

I saw this at Costco back on April 13th. I thought it was pretty nice.

**fzxdoc** · May 23, 2019, 06:22 AM

Thanks, treesmacker. I followed your link and this is a grill/griddle combo, not a patio cookstove with gas hobs like the Somerset IV is. It's a nice looking grill/griddle unit though.

**fzxdoc** · May 23, 2019, 06:37 AM

Originally posted by Uncle Bob View Post

Okay Kathryn, this is all your fault……………..I’m a victim, wah wah………….

Since nobody else had any first hand experience to report to you I stepped up. As John Wayne might have said, "The pioneers take the arrows, pilgrim."

So, is this a good unit and is it worth it? Like most things in life there’s a yes answer and a no answer, all depends on one’s perspective and expectations...

From a quality standpoint I’d rate this as pretty good for what it is and what it cost, maybe even better but I’m a grudging judge....

So there you have it. I don’t regret the purchase but am mindful that there is/will be a learning curve to handling this much power. No way to know if this thing will remain reliable until dues are paid, there’s just not enough good evaluation on the web to define it one way or the other. CC has a good rep for customer care, and this is the second generation of this particular unit (one of the above referenced You Tube vids that shows the one without the stainless front panels is from 2011) and my interface with CC on the phone today went pleasantly and effectively. There aren’t a lot of choices out there for equivalents that offer decent looks, at this height, and with this combination of burner power. That probably also speaks to how low demand is for something that might be for the slightly demented.

Kathryn's note: I condensed this quote--read the full post--it's has so much good info!

Your post is exactly why I love this site, Uncle Bob . You went over and above, taking the arrows, as you say. Thank you so much!

I ordered the Somerset IV from Home Depot last week. I figured if I had any problems, it would be easier to return to the store in the town an hour from me. Should be delivered by next week.

Based on your performance tests, I have to say I'm eager to try them myself when I get it set up. Your findings are pretty much what I expected--a learning curve is in order.

Your tips about the gas line and adjusting the air intake are invaluable. Thank you for that as well. Since our home is heated with propane, I plan on having the gas guy come out and T the line leading to my gasser so it can feed the Somerset IV as well. At least that's the working idea now.

About assembly--is it pretty easy? My husband, for all of his brilliant attributes, is not as adept at assembling things. For example, assembling an Ikea storage/file cabinet combo together nearly wrecked our marriage.

So I'd prefer to do the assembly myself. My only concern is lifting and positioning the burner unit. Is it light enough for a 5' 2" 120ish pound woman to hoist? Also, I'm assuming that no special tools are required for assembly. True?

I am leery about 30K BTUs from each burner since household burners have less than half that. Excited too. I want to turn them on and say "Vroom, vroom!"

Hope they don't melt my mascara.

Let me know any updates you have as you inch your way up the learning curve with the Somerset IV. I'd be deeply grateful; I'm grateful now for all the information you've provided. You're amazing.

Kathryn

**Uncle Bob** · May 23, 2019, 08:27 AM

I need to have you talk to my bride about that "amazing" thing...……...she doesn't believe me when I say it.

Glad all that was helpful. I too have propane plumbed to the whole house and that gasser and a separate sear burner on the counter/cabinet setup in the background of my pictures is hard lined to the house system. As you are probably aware, the whole house is controlled by a largeish pressure regulator usually at the entry point to the house. My gas stove in the inside kitchen as well as the Summerset gasser for the outside kitchen both work fine on the house regulator. The Somerset IV might work fine too, but it might be worth a call to CC tech support to verify (that would delete the concern I cautioned for the supplied regulator). Likely the first helper at CC won't have the answer because it's rarely if ever asked, so you'll probably have to urge to check with someone higher up/more experienced.

I've also considered extending the hardline under my outdoor island, and may end up doing it regardless. Given the experience I had yesterday testing with winds blowing I might stay on the bottle so I'll have the ability to move around the patio to seek shelter so to speak. Or, I may fabricate a dam wall around the burner box to see if that helps.

Ease of assembly is good from my point of view. The instruction booklet really is well done. No special tools, you should only need three, an allen wrench, phillips screwdriver, and a crescent (adjustable) wrench. They supply an allen wrench but for the benefit of my arthritic wrists/hands I use a T handle type (metric). They also supply a thin, stamped steel open end wrench but it only fits the fuel line fitting. The crescent wrench is handy for the wheel nuts and maybe (though unlikely) the leg levelers. As for the lifting, the unit weighs about 80 pounds, so isn't terrible, but by the time you've done enough of the assembly to warrant standing it up it will be somewhat awkward to handle. Prudent to have help for that maneuver. What works well for me on jobs like this is to cut open a portion of the packaging when getting ready to unpack and get a view of the orientation of the contents. I then carefully use a utility knife to open the box in such a way to allow the hardware to lie on the cardboard for assembly. The firebox portion of the stove will need to be upside down for the first phase of assembly.

Controlling the fire power will be an experience, hopefully when you start using yours we can learn from each other. I've learned that the control knobs work both ways once the burner is lit...….this will make more sense once you use it as I may not have the skill to describe it here. The igniter is activated in a typical fashion, turn the knob until it clicks the igniter. Then the knob shows Hi, Med, and Low, and responds accordingly. However, once lit you can also twist in the opposite direction (toward Off) and that will also modulate from hi to low, though in a shorter arc. Like I say, it will make more sense when you're using it.

Two more things I've ordered since posting yesterday are a cover and a diffuser. In some of the online reviews comments about the specified accessory cover mentioned that it was a tight fit and some owners had problems with ripping the corners because of that fitment. I opted to wait so I could measure the real sizing and then look for a better choice in both sizing and material. In the "universal fit" world I didn't have much luck finding a good measurement fit; mediums were too small, large were too big. However, in the CC catalog there is a cover for the FTG 900, six burner flat top, that has a measurement profile that better suits the Somerset. It's a tad tall, but I like to put a ball or bucket under this kind of arrangement for tenting to allow any water that might blow in on it to run rather than pool, so I'm good with a little extra height. The diffuser is a CC part that is 10" round in diameter metal plate. My hope is that it will help spread and perhaps moderate the flame intensity when needed, but only experimentation will verify. I mention these two together because that was the best pricing combo I could get. If you buy the cover from CC it will be around $70 with shipping. The best price online I found was on Opticsplanet.com, $45, but they don't cover shipping cost on orders less than $49 so had to add something to avoid the near $14 shipping fee. The diffuser was $11 so it was an easy choice. I got the cover and diffuser, delivered, for almost $15 less than just the cover from CC.

Looking forward to your impressions and experiences. Enjoy.

**Richard Chrz** · May 23, 2019, 12:05 PM

I think I have to likely wait a year, but, this Summerset V looks to accomplish exactly what I would like, I think, if I find one, I may try to have a sturdier table built, or maybe cut out an area in a stainless prep table on wheels or something. It'll likely take me a year to convince myself, and my wife, that I need one of these. I think this would be great, out on patio cooking your beef and chicken stocks from bones, canning tomatoes, etc... Great thread. I have been looking into single and dual burners with no excitement.

**surfdog** · May 23, 2019, 05:46 PM

Must.
Step.
Away.
From.
The.
Wallet.
LOL

Uncle Bob Thanks for the info!
Now to ponder the obvious... Do I NEED it? Pffft, of course I do! LOL
Just gotta figure out where to put it... O_o

**Dan Deter** · May 24, 2019, 06:11 AM

So if you're NOT plumbing it in, I wonder how long running 3 or all 4 of those powerful burners would take to empty a tank of propane?

**fzxdoc** · May 24, 2019, 07:18 AM

Good question, Dan Deter . I guess we'll find out.

I may have it plumbed in, but only after I use it for a while so I know how long the flexible portion of the tubing has to be. It's good that Uncle Bob and I have that option.

Kathryn

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