Portable stoves - wood or gas?

[k0wtz]

I have ran my little coleman single burner stove running car gas only and have never cleaned it. I do know how but it just keeps burning it has the best generator in it I have ever seen.

pump it up turn it on light it the generator almost immediately takes effect and stove burns great!

what a lifesaver for camping out in Europe all they have is some sort of gas I have never seen before no coleman fuel so car gas it is!

bob

[Al and Cindy K]

Originally Posted by BarbinBC

................. But I still have a Coleman white gas lantern that I love the sound of as long as it's turned down low. They both bring back many good memories from camping of all sorts since I was a kid. There's just not the same history and cachet with the propane............???

Coleman and a few other companies produced white gas lanterns for our military for a number of years and those puppies are even louder than their civilian counterparts because they must be run wide open. I carry one of these and a Coleman North Star but the Army version seldom gets used unless we're boondocking alone. Like you, the sound of either brings back a lot of memories for me.

[jbenkovich]

Speaking of a Coleman stove... I'm about to take my first camping trip with my 72 TrailMite... The Coleman stove works inside, both burners burn blue but a very low level. It would take 15 minutes to boil water! Does anyone have any advice on how to fix this problem?
Thanks,
Julie

[Kai in Seattle]

Mike Magee,

Paul and I were just talking about his getting another blow torch to clean out the weeds in the roadside strip... and here one is, on sale. Natch, we'd use the HF discount coupon, as you say, ubiquitous.

It was the reference to "beatles" in RogerDat's post above yours that let me get the Stones reference--it was a good one!




We watched the video--yeah, Paul loves it. It scares me some.

[Glenn Baglo]

Originally Posted by jbenkovich

Speaking of a Coleman stove... I'm about to take my first camping trip with my 72 TrailMite... The Coleman stove works inside, both burners burn blue but a very low level. It would take 15 minutes to boil water! Does anyone have any advice on how to fix this problem?
Thanks,
Julie

I got a single burner butane stove ( many brands, cheap, almost anywhere ) and set it on top the the propane burners in my tent trailer.
Boiling water in less than half the time.

[RogerDat]

I do almost all food prep that involves cooking outside. I don't want to pack and haul more than I need but do want to preserve my ability to go boondock camping as well as take advantage of electrical hookup (hydro for our friends to the north).

I can fit a 2 burner coleman stove under a seat, which is under a cushion, which is under our bedding OR slip a smaller stove out from the clothes closet I converted to a pantry and storage closet with shelves.

I like a backup for a critical item so I'm ok with a second small "I can make coffee" stove. Because while I like to do some nice camp cooking I have also been known to eat the lunchmeat and cheese right from the package with crackers right from the box.

Just like backpacking you want to make sure you have what you need to be comfortable and enjoy yourself but don't want to haul a bunch of unused debris along. I used to take two folding chairs plus a zero gravity chair plus a couple of folding side tables. Now I can walk back to the camper, go inside and lay down on the bed without moving a bunch of stuff :-)


Simplify! Which does not mean don't pack toilet paper.

[Kai in Seattle]

RogerDat

Simplify! Simplify!

Absolutely!

Kai

[RogerDat]

Originally Posted by Glenn Baglo

I got a single burner butane stove ( many brands, cheap, almost anywhere ) and set it on top the the propane burners in my tent trailer.
Boiling water in less than half the time.

I have one of those. As does my niece out in Colorado. We used them when we met to camp for a weekend during a burn ban. Worked well but not super sturdy. Tended to get dents and such from banging around. I think some are more solid than others.

[Glenn Baglo]

Originally Posted by RogerDat

I think some are more solid than others.

Well, this is the one I bought recently to replace a cheapo unit that blew up. This one cost 4 or 5 times as much as the cheap ones. Used in the restaurant industry.

[Casita Greg]

Originally Posted by Glenn Baglo

Well, this is the one I bought recently to replace a cheapo unit that blew up. This one cost 4 or 5 times as much as the cheap ones. Used in the restaurant industry.

Funny, I have that same Iwatani stove myself. Still use it, and have used it for cooking events that I've done in the past. Good little unit. Yes, a bit more expensive than the cheapo models, but it's built very solid. You get what you pay for.

[Al and Cindy K]

Originally Posted by jbenkovich

Speaking of a Coleman stove... I'm about to take my first camping trip with my 72 TrailMite... The Coleman stove works inside, both burners burn blue but a very low level. It would take 15 minutes to boil water! Does anyone have any advice on how to fix this problem?
Thanks,
Julie

Hi Julie, your 'works inside' caveat along with my lack of knowledge about TrailMite campers causes me to ask if you have a white gas Coleman stove mounted inside your camper or are you referring to the more commonly installed propane stoves manufactured by Suburban, Atwood, Dometic etc?

I can't envision a white gas stove being used as an inside appliance but from my experience with these, a weak blue flame can be attributed to a lack of pressure. Problems with the fuel/air mix are usually accompanied with yellow or orange flames. The leather washer used in older Colemans dries out with age making it difficult to build pressure when pumping. These can often be revived by applying a liberal amount of a lightweight machine oil available at most home or auto supply stores. If the cup washer is worn beyond recovery, neoprene replacements are fairly common in camping supply stores.

If you actually have a propane stove, I'd also suspect a pressure problem. Quality manometers to properly diagnose this are fairly expensive so I'd suggest taking it to your favorite RV shop for a checkout. Propane regulators are easy and relatively inexpensive to replace.

Air/fuel problems (yellow/orange flames) can sometimes be corrected by applying high pressure air in and around all orifices in the appliance. Each Spring my hot water heater suffers from spider habitation over the Winter and requires such a treatment.

Good luck and let us know how this turns out. Hope you enjoy that first trip.


Al

[Rzrbrn]

As I mentioned previously I have a number of stoves. But the best I ever had was an Optimus 3 burner propane stove, yellow and green. Built like a Swiss watch. Lost it somehow, back in time...

I do like and use propane as well as gas.

Had a Safari stove. Worked well for about a good long season, then self destructed, no replacement parts available.

Had Stansport 2 burner. Did not like it, a burner was at an angle which created a hot spot.

Have Volcano stove, which uses propane or wood. Very heavy.

Now have a Blackstone propane grill, which I will be using with the Coleman 2 burner.

One problem with the larger single burner Coleman is the frying pan and water pot keeps sliding off. Same with a number of other single burner stoves, so use carefully.

Have made a coke can alcohol stove. Also have a Trangia. One works as well as the other.

Make fire starters by dipping large pine cones into paraffin with a cotton wick. Fun times. Then use a metal grate over a campfire. Also use pie irons.

I have always wanted to try a Kelly Kettle it but does not seem practical for burning food... er...cooking food.

Wife refuses to drink my cowboy coffee, so she uses a Mr. Coffee drip coffee maker for which I fire up the generator, or she uses a single cup dripper with water made to boil from any stove I so choose....

All fun!

[camptheworld]

Thanks so much guys for all your input. All of them are very informative and really helpful. I've been watching the thread and I'm really glad that my topic also help the other people who also have questions about stove.

I ended up buying the jetboil cause it's quite fancy and I'm quite impressed by its good work. When I'm out during the day for a hike or chill somewhere far from campground I could take it with me.

[jbenkovich]

HI,
The old Coleman is doing great after I bought a new propane tank! Love my coffee inside in the morning! I'm also sold on not crawling out of the tent in the morning after my first camping with the TrailMite. Needs more work but right now the basics work just fine!