Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Coleman equipment and standard pump fuel????

I have used and been extremely happy with my Coleman stove and lanterns for 30+ years. To date I've always used the red can Coleman fuel. Living in the sticks though, we sometimes are heavily gouged on items. The local hardware store wants $15 for a gallon of fuel. Sounds like a little too much profit margin for me. I have heard it rumored that it's no OK to use standard car fuel in that equipment today, due to the substantially reduced levels of additives.

The question: Has anyone switched to standard gas, for how long, and had any issues? I do not want to learn the hard way when I'm 15 miles from the trailhead and the only source of cooking and light for our camp. I appreciate your help,

From what I understand if it's not the models that are made for unleaded fuel don't do it.

Way back in the day people used to get what they called white gas at the American station to use in those types of applications. All other gas had lead in it. I don't know enough about the gas of today to know any more. miles

Yeah, $15 is high for sure. That's about what Gander Mountain charges and they love profit margin there. It might be a bit more understandable for a mom and pop hardware store in the sticks though. They have to account for how much inventory moves and the like. I.E., I'd hesitate to call it gouging without seeing the books, but $15 is a high price regardless. The last I recall, it was about $9 to $10 at Walmart, and maybe a $1 more on that price at Academy Sports. But sounds like you don't have either of these stores close by. I sometimes buy the Crown brand of white gas too for my Coleman. I agree with SEdge and would not use regular gas in the stoves made for white gas. They do have duel fuel models that can use unleaded gas too.

Go to your local paint store and buy some naptha. Its aboutt he same thing as Coleman fuel.

It will run on regular gas, but damn... I would only do it in a desperate sittuation because today's gas is junk.

It's going to [bleep] up your lanterns and stoves, even in the dual fuel units, today's fuel left in there for any length of time is going to wreck that coleman equipment.

If you use stuff from the pump expect to replace the "generators" fairly quickly due to becoming clogged with soot.

Also, the Coleman fuel will not become bad if left in the tank like white gas.

+1
I used my three coleman stoves(dual fuel)to cook meals 1-2x/day every day and within roughly 3-4 months of running them on nothing but the locally available ethanol-laced pump gas, they all clogged up to the point of uslessness. finally, I gave up and switched to LP.
I figure that I was able to cook maybe 30-40 meals on pump gas before each of my stoves failed.

Now that I have three stoves with clogged generators, Can anyone tell me if it is practical to clean them out and if so, how?

Thanks guys. I'll stick with the proper product. I'll be passing through a larger town in a day or two on a fishing trip. Good luck this fall.

Anyone ever try SeaFoam in the gas to clear out Coleman Lantern generators?

If this is for a coleman stove, the fuel is about $11 a gallon. Don't use regular pump station gas as problems mentioned above.

But here's a suggestion: Get a propane adapter for the 1# bottles and either use a hose from a bulk tank or get in the habit of refilling the 1#'ers. I figure I can fill a 1# tank for around $1 compared to store bought bottles @ around $3 to $4 ea.

Once you are set up properly, you are basically using bulk LP at around $4 a gallon +/- so it's a lot cheaper than white gas/coleman, and lots cleaner than pump gas. Oversimplified formula = ~$20 to fill 20 LP tank will fill 20- 16oz bottles @ $1 ea. 16oz x 4 = 1 gallon so approximately $4 per gallon very roughly but close enough for hand grenades...
So using propane is only slightly more expensive than unleaded but without ANY of the hassles.

How do you go about refilling the 1 lb. propane bottles from a propane tank?

They sell an adapter for that. I've got one, but never used it, so that's all I can tell you.

Places like Harbor Freight, Northern Tool, and many others carry these adaptors.
Warning!!! - do NOT overfill a bottle as they can be very dangerous in the heat. I once had one bulge like an overfilled balloon. It didn't blow up but it was close.

Being a poor fellow growing up, we always used pump gas in our Coleman equipment and it did OK. If a generator stopped up occasionally, you could buy another generator just about anywhere.

But the guys are right about this ethanol based crap that we are being forced to live with. It tears up your equipment quickly.

The $15/gallon sure sounds high, but I would bet most of that cost is in hazmat fees for transportation. Another place our dear goverment has really screwed us over.

Coleman fuel is under $10 at Wally's. Don't get it online or the hazmat shipping fees will kill you.

Here's the model you need. I have one and it works perfectly. If you don't have this model, use only Coleman fuel.

http://www.amazon.com/Coleman-30000...1&keywords=coleman+duel+fuel+lantern

The reason ammo is generally cheaper at Wally World is because they have their own transportation system and don't have to pay as much in the way of hazmat fees. I know one gunshop that buys most of the ammo they sale at Walmart for that reason.

I grab the generic "camp fuel" when I can find it to save a few bucks.



You really need to take them all apart to clean them correctly and it's a PITA.

These are some pretty fussy and fairly precise little pieces of equipment. Best to feed them good clean fuel that is stabil. Gas from the pump is none of those things these days.

Here's an interesting read on substitute fuels.

http://forums.homestead.org/forum_posts.asp?TID=16917&title=white-gas-or-unleaded-premium