Coleman Dual Fuel Camp Stoves

[TerryD]

Wal-mart has the Coleman Dual Fuel camp stove on sale right now and I've been wanting one for a while. I wanted to check and see what The Brotherhood thinks of them. I'm going to be using it for vehicle camping and wheeling trips along with an assortment of cast iron cook ware.

Things I like about it:
Don't need to carry extra fuels, just a little gas will do it.
Rebuildable
Pretty rugged and classic design with no plastic parts to snap off. Can be reworked with tools in my K5 if something does happen.
Don't have to carry pressurized propane cylinders

Things I'm iffy about:
Exploding fuel tank?
More succeptable to leaks than propane?
How difficult is it to get it shut down and packed up when you're done for a quick trail lunch?

 

[thearborbarber]

I have their dual fuel back pack stove. Basically a burner on top of a tank. It's super reliable. As far as leaks I just empty the tank back into my storage container. I've had it going on close to 20 years. Granted some years it got used more than others. Cool down is no longer or shorter than any other stove I've used.

We have some areas where open burning is prohibited so campfires can be out.

 

[jekquistk5]

Love my Coleman propane camp stove/ grill. Make just about everything on it while camping. My heater, and lantern both use propane so that's why I went with propane.

 

[bigjbear]

Growing up we had the old style one (white gas) and later I ended up with one of my grandparent's old ones. About 12 years ago I bought a propane one, and have used it since. In fact, I don't even remember where the the white gas one is.

 

[FAB454]

I have the dual fuel lantern. No problems using eater fuel(and I love the idea that I have a lantern that I can use in a SHTF situation). My old wht gas Coleman works prefect, if I was to buy a new stove I would go with the dual fuel.

 

[campfire]

Wal-mart has the Coleman Dual Fuel camp stove on sale right now and I've been wanting one for a while. I wanted to check and see what The Brotherhood thinks of them. I'm going to be using it for vehicle camping and wheeling trips along with an assortment of cast iron cook ware.

Things I like about it:
Don't need to carry extra fuels, just a little gas will do it.
Rebuildable
Pretty rugged and classic design with no plastic parts to snap off. Can be reworked with tools in my K5 if something does happen.
Don't have to carry pressurized propane cylinders

Things I'm iffy about:
Exploding fuel tank?
More succeptable to leaks than propane?
How difficult is it to get it shut down and packed up when you're done for a quick trail lunch?

We have several of these in my family. There's not a huge difference between gasoline/naphtha/propane stoves. But if I was getting a new one I would definitely choose gasoline. The convenience is really nice. They take a few extra seconds to warm up and shut down the flame (vs. propane). For summertime use, they are pretty much equivalent. I pulled mine out at Christmas time and fired it up at about 20*F. At that temperature the flame pulsed/flickered for about 20 seconds (vs. the more normal 5-10 seconds of warmup time). For shutdown, the hot case is the limiting factor on my stove, not the burner. So matching stoves would be identical in this regard.

As for the exploding fuel tank, I prefer the gasoline to propane. The tank is only pressurized when you choose to pressurize it (and can be depressurized if you're concerned about it), and the pressure is quite slight compared to the propane cylinders. So, for equivalent burn times the fuel tank is noticeably lighter. And far easier to refill than the propane cylinders.

Having seen valves fail on pressurized propane cylinders (at which point I was pretty much hosed), I really don't think the gasoline is any more leak-prone at all. Neither tank represents an huge explosion risk, unless you're trying out target practice (in which case I would yet again think the gasoline tank would be safer than the pressure vessel).

I don't think the differences are major, but (having both) I prefer the gasoline stove.

 

[TerryD]

Cool, thanks for the input guys! Now I've just got to convince myself that I'd actually use it so I'll spend the money.

 

[Smokinthehippies]

I voted propane only cuz that's what we have.

How bout a link to the dual fuel so I can see what you're looking at.

 

[campfire]

I voted propane only cuz that's what we have.

How bout a link to the dual fuel so I can see what you're looking at.

This is the model that we use. My parents have a larger version, but it is many years old (not sure what the model number would be).

If you already have propane, you won't gain all that much from buying a new stove (so ya may as well run watcha got).

But it's a great idea if you're in the market for something new.

Notes:

1.) I have run it for longer than the 2-hr run time they advertize (but I wasn't quite running full blast)
2.) I don't remember it costing nearly that much when we got ours a few years ago. Maybe things are different now

 

[Smokinthehippies]

Intriguing. There's probably no real justification it but I'd feel weird cooking with gasoline on stuff I'm gonna eat. It would seem like thered be some fumes to worry about although probably just paranoia

 

[campfire]

Intriguing. There's probably no real justification it but I'd feel weird cooking with gasoline on stuff I'm gonna eat. It would seem like thered be some fumes to worry about although probably just paranoia

As long as the burners aren't gunked up, the flame burns very cleanly. We have even used them indoors on several occasions. It burns clean and blue like a propane or natural gas stove does.

I have learned (the hard way) that letting the gas generator sit full of E10 gasohol over a couple of years gunks up the generator (but that seems pretty normal for anything with Ethanol in it ). So don't let that stuff sit unless you want to clean it up the next year. Naphtha doesn't have that problem, so you may find it easier to use. It is 4x the price, though.

So we'll use (E10) gasoline through the camping season and then switch to Coleman fuel before we shut it down for the winter. Saves from the hassle of cleaning it up in the spring.

 

[runamok151]

I have the propane stove and a lantern to match. I like that they use the same tanks and I can fit 3 tanks in the side pocket of my camping bag, which is plenty for a long weekend of camping. I've used the lantern a few times when the power has gone out. No chance of a spill w/ the propane and Horror Freight makes an adaptor to refill the little green tanks from the 20 lb tank on the grill, so very economical.

 

[TerryD]

Right now we don't have anything. We did have a little charcoal grill we carried but it was messy, dirty, took forever to cook down if there wasn't a bonfire going already and finally rusted away to nothing. We cook on coals here at the house too, no propane other than a backup heater.

 

[onetonbb74]

I have a few of the white gas stoves from the 70's and 60's in 2 burner and an old 3 burner, great stoves and my 1964 stove runs on propane, gasoline, and white gas. I usually bring a lantern to match the fuel i plan to use and go!

The 3 burner is my favorite...rebuilt the plunger and added oil were good to go. The only way it does propane is if you get the 15 dollar attachment Which also works on the 2 burner stoves as well.

The white gas lantern works on 87 octane as well...

White gas and gasoline take 3 minutes to completely shut off which isn't bad considering that the stove is still hot anyways.

I'd love to try a new one but I buy any old Coleman stuff I can find...and it's usually cheap at garage sales and such.

 

[TerryD]

Are the older gas stoves that much better than the new ones? There are a few on c-list but they are not listed as dual fuel and that was my primary reason to want one.

There is an older three burner but I'm not sure I need that much of a stove.

 

[jekquistk5]

This is the one I have.

I also have the griddle top for it. When I camp I make breakfast and dinner on it. Any way you go I bet you will be happy. Having a camping stove/grill is better than not having one.

 

[onetonbb74]

I think a new one would be cool. I just like tinkering with the older ones. One of the main reasons I like the white gas is it burns hot, even in cold temps. The only time I run gas is if white gas is unavailable where im camping and/or I forgot to grab it from home. I dont believe the older models were designed for the regular gasoline, but it works.

 

[jekquistk5]

Either way you go buy the travel case. Makes keeping fuel bottles, and accessories from bouncing around, and everything organized.

 

[onetonbb74]

The one jequist has is badass. If I were to get a new one, it would be that one. My wheeling buddy brings that one with him and it grills great for camping. The bag sounds even better...

The old white gas stoves are a travel case.. The 2 burner one fits a waterbottle full of gas, propane accessory, matchbox, funnel, and the stock coleman tank. The three burner one fits a small frying pan, 1 gal of white gas, the coleman tank, propane accessory, small propane cylinder, salt and pepper, silverware, matchbox, funnel, etc.. all in the body of the stove.

 

[owenst7]

I can't stand the space/time ratio of the green propane canisters, and I could never find them when we were packing, so I always had to make an extra stop on the way out of town. I also had a lot of issues getting propane to work reliably in the winter in Alaska.

I switched to white gas to simplify things. I have a small Primus 71 that I use for the ATV/backpacking along with a couple Svea 123s.

For truck camping, I have a couple Coleman 220 lanterns and a 425 stove. The lanterns are from the late '70s, and the stove is from the early '80s I believe.

The white gas stoves seem like they put out way more heat than the propane ones. I make a point to keep them topped off with Coleman fuel before we leave, but I have run a lot of gasoline through them too. The gas burns a little more sooty while heating up, but cleaning isn't that hard (maybe once every couple years). I prefer to use Coleman fuel because it doesn't have ethanol and doesn't varnish.

I have 6 stoves I can think of and two lanterns, all are over 30 years old, none of them leak. The seals on the fuel tanks do eventually break down, but they are very easy to replace.

The white gas units aren't really any different than the propane units as far as shutdown goes. They do tend to burn lightly for a few seconds after you shut them off, but it's not really an issue. Setup and takedown speed is pretty much splitting hairs between the two once you figure out how to prime and light the white gas stoves correctly. They can be a little finicky compared to propane, but they work very well once you understand how they work.

As far as explosions, I'd be way more concerned about the 20+ gallons of gasoline in a vehicle. Gasoline is not really explosive, and as was already mentioned, the white gas fuel tanks do not have to be pressurized unless you are actively using them (and they are at much lower pressure anyway).