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Coleman White Gas/Unleaded Stoves- Cheap, cheap cooking
#1
This is for us minimalists. If you have a larger vehicle, Very unlikely you'd take a shine to these types of stoves.

However, if you have limited space (and $), keep reading; these are about as awesome as you get.
The single burner takes up next to no space, and a gallon of white gas will last forever.
In fact, you can (and I have) run it on gasoline from my vehicle's tank.

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I've had two White Gas Coleman stoves, a double burner and single burner.
Link to Coleman Single burner

Although Coleman wants $$, you can get one on craigslist for $10-15. These are the stoves you remember as a kid, where you'd pump up the pressure manually. There's tens of thousands out there, little used.

It does burn really hot- I nearly always run it on the 'Flood' setting, medium and high will boil water as fast as a microwave.

I usually set it on a 5 gallon bucket. If it's raining, windy or cold I'll set it in the van, although I'm absolutely sure it's streng verboten.

I went from the big, noisy two burner, to the tiny single burner, because, well, I have a caravan.
I haven't tipped anything over on the single burner, but you can see it's a bit precarious.
The single burner did have problems with flooding, it will 'flare up.' And that's not cool.
You also need to set it outside after you shut it off, a little raw vapor escapes from the mixer or something.

In short, if you have a small vehicle and a small budget, this is for you.
Even if you have a class A or a coach, it might be handy for cooking away from the vehicle-
It's small enough to put in a backpack, and you could do a week on just what's in the tank.
Best is; no more stupid propane canisters.
Sometimes dweller in 237k miles '07 Grand C-van w/ a solar powered fridge and not much else
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#2
I have the 2 burner dual fuel cook stove and both of my lanterns are the dual fuel as well. I like being able to use plain gasoline. That Coleman white gas is about double what you pay for gasoline but being able to use either fuel is pretty cool. My stove has cooked many meals and I'll probably use it in the new to me camper. Still deciding on that..... I do have an old Coleman 2 burner stove that one of the tenants left under a porch if anyone wants it. It runs on white gas and probably needs some replacement parts. It is solid although it could use a little sanding and paint and thought it a shame to just toss it in the junk pile. Model No. 413F
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#3
Does the stove allow a very low flame for simmering?

I have a MSR multifuel backpacking stove some 20 years old, and in South Africa and a few other locations had to use gasoline, leaded gas and while at full blast it was awesome and fast, it could not really do the low and slow thing, and as low and slow as it could, required low pressure and a fine touch on the throttle, and a half pump every so often to maintain that lower bottle pressure.

'White gas' while it burns so much cleaner, would still have seemingly weightless flakes of carbon float away form the stove after shutdown and could leave black streaks on anything they landed on and then touched. The other fuels were much worse in this regard, especially kerosene which was the easiest fuel to purchase retail back then in those countries.

In other countries asking for camping fuel or white gas yielded furrowed eyebrows and looks of befuddlement. I am pretty sure white gas is just Naptha, buut I did not know this back then.

I still use my MSR stove, when my propane runs out mid meal cooking, but the gasoline in the bottle is some 10+ years old. as I had no siphon and my tanks does not really allow siphonng, I disconnected the line at my external fuel filter, stuck it in the cannister and was turning the key on and off and the fuel pump was filling it, 3 seconds at a time.


Its not always simple to extract gasahol from ones fuel tank to fill one of these multifuel stoves. Do not think that a siple siphon will do it, as many/most have a check valve preventing it, mainly designed to prevent the tank from draining in the event of a rollover.

But propane is not cheap and the green bottles are now somethng like 9$ for 2 of them in my Home Despot, and getting 20Lb propane tank to refill them with is some 60$ initially then ~25 for each refill, and one needs a place to carry that large unwieldy tank.

At least coleman white gas comes in a rectangular container, though it is not really cheap either.

I hate the waste and expense of the green propane bottles, but I do not fear cooking inside or have to take many precautions. I use a single burner propane stove, one that rests on the green bottle itself and enjoy not havnig to prime it or deal with the floaty carbon flakes of the MSR stove on cooldown.
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#4
(06-12-2018, 11:13 AM)sternwake Wrote: Its not always simple to extract gasahol from ones fuel tank to fill one of these multifuel stoves.  Do not think that a siple siphon will do it, as many/most have a check valve preventing it, mainly designed to prevent the tank from draining in the event of a rollover.

But propane is not cheap and the green bottles are now somethng like 9$ for 2 of them in my Home Despot, and getting  20Lb propane tank to refill them with is some 60$ initially then ~25 for each refill, and one needs a place to carry that large unwieldy tank.
Seeing as my rig will be diesel powered I plan to use propane on everything possible. But that's only because I have the space underneath on the frame of the bus to mount my 30 gallon propane tank that I am taking off another truck I own. Both vehicles are ford 90's model frames so the switch "shouldn't" be that hard. 
I do have an old coleman 2 burner stove and a couple lanterns. they all run on unleaded gas.  White gas is basically unleaded. I just keep running into scarcity of finding the mantels for the lanterns. The mantels do not travel well once used. 
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#5
(06-12-2018, 11:13 AM)sternwake Wrote: Does the stove allow a very low flame for simmering?

No. About the same as you describe


Its not always simple to extract gasahol from ones fuel tank to fill one of these multifuel stoves. 

Just popped fuel line off fuel rail. Wasn't diff on my particular vehicle.

it is not really cheap either.

Relative propane, even Coleman branded, is, super cheap.
It's so efficient, a gallon will last well over a month of everyday cooking

I hate the waste and expense of the green propane bottles, but I do not fear cooking inside or have to take many precautions. 

I hear you. Whomever the Coleman VP was who got people to switch over to bottles is probably sitting in the south of France woth printer cartridge and K-Cup guy!


floaty carbon flakes of the MSR stove on cooldown.

That it doesn't do.

    .
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#6
In use
   
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  • American Nomad Patriot (06-14-2018)
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#7
I’ve recently switched from the Coleman style knock-off 2 burner stove (Texsport) to the GasOne brand GS1000 butane stove. There’s several others you can choose from, all look about the same and are below $20 USD. I know it’s butane with the cold weather and/or altitude issues but I don’t stay in 20 degree temps and I don’t camp above 10,000 feet. So far in more normal circumstances it’s been fine.
If you winter camp then yes, butane is a lesser choice, it doesn't flow as well below 32 degrees (F). Butane is supposed to have 12% more BTU energy than propane.

The 2 burner propane stove, while it worked fine, was just too big for the Prius and using the green 1lb bottles (usually 2 for $6), while they lasted a long time, was more bulk than I wanted. I tried to keep 4 available as opposed to the common 20# bottle, again, space considerations.

I purchased the 12 pack of butane bottles off Amazon for $24, they can be squirreled away in all sorts of places. I did have one border crossing issue with them but after explaining what they were to the obviously non-camper woman, I got through unscathed and with my bottles intact. Some Transport Canada regulation on bottled fuel cylinders was researched... sigh.

I don't care for the somewhat taller single burner multi-fuels as they are tipsy, smelly and when I used a Svea123 (Sweden) stove many years ago, I not only spilled fuel but knocked off the pot/pan too many times. Ahh the setup, priming and roar of the little Svea... memories.

I hear the stoves are, you guessed it, made in China now (Svea 123R). $83 on Amazon!
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#8
That is compact, and more stable. Wish there were something like it in dual fuel.
Cutting the coleman two burner in half would come closer.
Fuels are more diff to combust when cold- Certainly white gas/gasoline.
If you have a vehicle that runs on alcohol you find it takes a lot of fuel to start and lots to warm up.



How long, do you say, the cans last?
And cans are like a aerosol can?
Better than the propane bottles, I'm sure
Sometimes dweller in 237k miles '07 Grand C-van w/ a solar powered fridge and not much else
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#9
A better explanation of the temp thing and the fuels is here: (2005-backpackinglight.com)

Butane is easy to contain because it has a boiling point of 31 °F (-1 °C), but it doesn’t vaporize well when the temperature drops below freezing. Thus, pure butane has major limitations for cool-weather backpacking.

The solution is to use a blended fuel consisting of propane, n-butane, and iso-butane. The thinner canisters can handle up to about 30% propane, with the remainder being n-butane and/or iso-butane (boiling point 12 °F/-11 °C). The propane/ iso-butane mix vaporizes well at lower temperatures and provides enough vapor pressure for adequate stove performance at colder temperatures. Basically the propane in blended fuels drives the system. With its low boiling point, it provides plenty of vapor pressure at normal ambient temperatures; the other gases are carried along and burned with the propane. There is evidence to indicate that the propane burns off first, causing performance to drop (lower gas pressure and heat output) for the last third of a canister”. End of quote

As for burn time, I’ve found that the size I got (8 ounce) from Amazon, on full blast, about 2 hours, when cut back to half, 5-6 hours appx.

Yes they are like a smaller hairspray or WD40 can.

I will say that if I had the room, like a full size cargo or Sprinter style, I wouldn’t bother with butane, I’d stick with propane bottles, but not always the 20#, maybe more like the small one lb type, however they cost about $75 by themself and only hold the equivalent of 4 of the green bottles. They are refillable though.
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#10
my problem with white gas and kerosene and such is the smell,i dont even use fuel when starting charcoal because of the smell
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