Good Morning All !

I was given a two burner Coleman camp stove a while back. I've never had to use it other than to light it up to see how it works. I really don't have a feel for how much fuel it uses over how long. I'm trying to decide how much fuel that I want to keep on hand in the garage. Would one can last two weeks? (Assume that I run the stove both burners on, 15 - 30 minutes a day.)


Thanks,


LW

You should be able to go at least two weeks on one gallon of fuel based on your stated usage assumption.

Coleman fuel is cheap..get a few then you will have hot water for washing or whatever....i have at least four cans at any one time.but a gallon should last two weeks. the pre-heat where you run raw gas into the burner will use alot so just lighting the stove when really needed would stretch out that fuel.

I used to use coleman fuel stoves, and I didn't use the fuel enough to keep it from going bad in the can. I have some hazy recollection that water condenses in the container, contaminating the fuel - I assume that's the same problem for all gasolines, not just coleman.

I'd suggest asking around about how long you can keep a can and have it still work when you really, really need it. An unopened sealed can might have a longer shelf life.

There was a thread somewhere on these forums on that exact question (shelf life of opened and sealed cans of Coleman fuel) and the general consensus was that the general life is LOOOONG.


As anecdotal evidence, I can say this: My mother recently asked me to come clean my old boyscout stuff out of her garage. Included in the old boxes was an ancient MSR backpacking stove and 2 MSR aluminum fuel bottles. One was full, the other about 1/3 full. They had been stored thus since my last backpacking outing as a scout, probably around 1991 or so. (So 17 years, as this story dates from 2008.)

The gaskets on the bottles were aged but still holding, as far as I could tell. I replaced the gaskets, then decanted the fuel into a single container. Then I added a little *new* fuel to the bottles and agitated them, to dissolve any varnish that might have formed from evaporation of the old white gas, (just in case) then topped the bottles back up with the *old* fuel, leaving a little headspace, and then burned up about half of each bottle on the old MSR stove. The fuel burned as clean as normal, with no unusual sooting or flame color.

Then I went through and did a full maintenance on my stove, and I found that aside from a few dried gaskets, it looked exactly as it had nearly two decades earlier. In particular, there was no unusual clogging or gunking around the fuel jet or anywhere else that I could see.

I've since used that stove on a snow camp (I usually backpack with an alcohol stove now, except in extreme cold) and finished burning up the rest of the old fuel, and I still haven't noticed that it burned any differently than new fuel.

Now granted, the MSR aluminum bottles are a superior storage vessel to the steel cans from the store, but I still think this speaks volumes to the stability of the fuel. Rust through of the steel can (outside to inside) is probably a bigger concern for long-term storage, but I wouldn't worry too much about fuel contamination, even with some airspace above the fuel, as long as you can keep the container sealed.

I've used that 2-burner Coleman stove quite a bit for tailgating at football games... I seem to think that one bottle of that fuel would probably not last 2 weeks, if you're running it up to 30 minutes every day.
But, my observation if far from scientific; it just seems that a bottle never lasted me that long. And, maybe I used more fuel outdoors in a windy parking lot... perhaps, you would use less fuel in a more sheltered location.

Our local Sam's Club store has 4-packs of the fuel bottles for $9.95 ... that's the best price I have seen.

Does anybody recycle those fuel bottles? That may be "forbidden" on the label (Ka-BOOM!), I have not looked lately.
It just seems that those metal bottles are too nice to just end up in a landfill somewhere.

The OP is talking about the white gas stoves, not the propane stove. Hence the "gallon" containers and the "MSR bottles" The propane are nice, but if it drops below freezing you lose pressure fast and like you just stated, they do not last nearly as long when used. However they store for just as long as well. I have about 40 of the little coleman propane bottles and 8 gallons of WG. I have stoves that use both and a few primus ONMIfuel stoves that use the little 4 and 8 oz camp porpane bottles AND liquid fuel of many sorts. Also have lanterns that use both WG and propane, flexability is the key.

As for refilling. They do have kits that state to place the bottle in the freezer then invert it and use the adapter hose assy thing to refill them. However it may not be safe and I could have sworn when I read my friends documentation on his refill kit it had several disclaimers, go figure. I tried to recycle them, but no sites around me will even touch them. I found I could take them to work and the OSHA chronie had a place that would take them, but did not know if they were recyled or hazardous land filled?

Ah, I see ... I've had no experience at all with the White Gas coleman stove; (as you guessed) I was speaking about the Propane Stove that uses those "little" green cans of fuel.
That's the great thing about ETS... I learn something new with every visit!

A few months ago, I bought one of the Coleman one burner propane stoves and got to try it out during the ice storm a few weeks back. One of the 1 lb canisters lasted the full 4 days or so we were without power...of course, we just used it to "preheat" and then transferred the pan to the kerosene heater to finish up cooking.

I've also got several of the "white gas" colemans...love 'em when camping. On the "get list" is the widget that will let me convert them to propane.

RE cost of Coleman fuel...usually it has been pretty reasonable. However, I dropped by our local Rural King and they had an endcap full of 1 gal cans...$12.99 each! Yikes. Local Wally World had 'em for $8.49. Don't know if this is just the after effects of trucking stuff in during the storm or what.

--Steve