Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Coleman Lantern Dual vs White Gas

The dual fuel will run on unleaded, but its hard on the pump and seals. White gas is far preferable. You can also use naptha, like they sell in paint stores. Unleaded pretty much ruined my dual-fuel over time.

We have used unleaded high test gasoline in our regular Coleman lanterns and stove a few times when we ran out of naphtha on long hunting trips.

Just stole some from the outboard motor tank with no problems at all.

Ted

Go propane and refillable bottles.

Propane lantern

Refillable

Refill kit

I got my bottles from my local propane dealer full.
Kind of expensive to start but fuel will be cheap in the long run

NorthStar.

Currently unavailable.
We don't know when or if this item will be back in stock.

Cheaper in the long run.

You can get a refill adapter from Harbor Freight or Walmart much cheaper. Tractor Supply probably has them as well. I THINK they are about $10.00. You don't need a hose and tank stand to do this. Just screw the adapter onto your 5 gallon propane tank, turn your tank upside down and set it on the edge of a table or other flat stable surface, screw your 1 lb. empty bottle onto it, and open the valve. It works best if you get the 1 lb. bottle colder than the tank. You can put it in the freezer to do this if you are in a warm climate. When you unscrew the bottle, make sure the stem valve on it properly closes. Put a little water on it and check for bubbles. Beware of refilling rusted bottles. These disposable bottles are not as strong as "refillable" tanks.

I have several Coleman lanterns, both fuel type and propane, and at one time had a hobby of rebuilding them. Both type work fine to produce light. Propane admittedly is easier to work with, but I like the nostalgia of fuel lanterns. I do not recommend using unleaded gasoline in them unless you have to as opposed to Coleman or equivalent brand fuel, such as Crown. Naptha or mineral spirits works fine also. Unleaded gasoline is very hard on the lantern's generator.

I used white gas in my dual fuel lanterns at camp. I used it pretty much two nights week from November to April for better than 15 years. I never had to replace a part on any of the three except for mantles. White gas was alot cheaper then and so were those dual fuel lanterns.
All that said if I had to pay $16 for it I would think about using unleaded gas. If you only buy a gallon a year no big deal but if your buying a gallon
every couple weeks then maybe keeping a few parts around or just living with shorter life span of your lanterns might be cheaper in the long run.
At saving $13 or more a gallon it wouldn't take too many seasons to pay for new lanterns.

If i had to start from scratch I would likely look for an alternative to the lanterns for my camp lighting. Im not one of those guys that appreciated the hissing. I was buying gas for ATVs , white gas, ,propane charcoal and charging batteries for the inverter systems we had for cabin lights. I always said we had a hodgpodge of fuels to run the camp.

Isn't #1 Kerosene the same deal as white gas? I run #1 in my torpedo heaters.

LED lights have changed the game-

#1-I'd go LED battery lantern. Rechargeable batteries if you're concerned about the environment.

#2-propane lantern, can refill 1# bottles with adapter off a 20# tank

#3-keep buying white gas

We used to have a deer camp with no electricity we tried unleaded and the lanterns quit working pretty quick and have to be repaired.the white gas works better and is brighter.

No on is kero the other is a gasoline product.

I haven't used a gas lantern in 20+years, before they started using ethanol thing may
be different now.

But, we always used Amoco premium unleaded.
Nothing else.
It was as clear as water, no tint, much cleaner burning than anything else.
Never had much trouble with the lanterns, and our fuel was $1/gal not $8.

And it wasn't a brand thing, The Amoco owners were not nice people and they never
had a low price. We went where we didn't want to go, to get the product.

I have run the stove on Shell premium, it seems to work fine.
Even with ethanol in it. Not a lot though, just a few hours a year, then dump
the fuel if I remember. I really should stock up on generators for the stoves, or get
the propane adapters.

Early 80's when I first started working hunting camps we used strictly liquid fuel. There was a bit more maintenance on the lanterns back then as they went through some abuse packing in to some of the more remote camps. Packing fuel that far was also a bit risky when one did not get the pack string they wished for. Several years later we switched to propane . Our spike camps got by with one propane tank from Aug to November usually! Much less hassle all the way around. Ran long hoses to the main lantern and cook stove.....

White gas?

Are you another one of those 90 year old dudes??


Get battery one, even a rechargeable one like my toddlers had before your shaky old hands pour gas all over your dungarees and risk setting yourself on fire.

I picked up some off brand camp fuel from Walmart that was about 2/3rds the cost of Coleman..I use mostly propane now. I tried the dual fuel ,but it seems to foul up the generators a lot quicker. Can' t beat the gas lanterns for heat though , propane just gives off more moisture . We have an adapter that fits on a 20 pound propane tank. and the lantern fits on that.We fit it up when we get up to feed the stock and have good light to saddle up with. When we are ready to leave, we turn it off and that few extra minutes of burning gives us time to mount up and get the pack string moving