Coleman Liquid Fuel

[85_Ranger4x4]

Camping a few years ago it occured to me it is kinda a PITA to fight with a fire first thing in the morning for basic stuff like frying bacon or heating water... I remembered dad had a Coleman stove so I asked if I could borrow it. He said he is done camping and and would be happy to get it out of his garage so I could just have it. Well we are in a Blizzard warning (I have seen scarier looking blizzards at Dairy Queen so far) so I started tinkering with it. Last time I remember it being used was in Colorado around 1997.



Way older than I thought it would be, dad said he bought it around '80-81 and theorizes it must have sat on the shelf awhile since it was made in late '74. I thought he got it in the 90's.





So I cleaned it up, the fuel smelled flammable so I just have it a whirl, now we are cooking with white gas!



I just got the left burner going, I didn't open it up too far. I was starting to stink up the house so I shut it down before I got in trouble.

Well gee that was fun, I remember I have a lantern a customer gave me. He got it in a box of junk at a garage sale and doesn't camp. I reluctantly took it, I have an LED one and didn't really think I needed a gas one but it was in too good of shape to let him throw it away. Its been sitting under the workbench in my garage for 2 years. After the stove last night I was intrigued to see if I could get the lantern to work too.



By some weird chance it is almost the same age as the stove, a little over a year older.





This one wouldn't pump so I smeared a little 5W-20 on the leather piston cup. Builds great pressure. Grabbed some new mantles at Shopko for $4 and gave it a try.



So I am 2 for 2, I didn't even change the fuel and am into both of them $4 and a dab of oil.

Researching how to operate it online it sounds like a lot of people collect this stuff. Anybody else find this stuff amusing?

 

[Curious Hound]

Not sure how amusing it is. But it sure is good to have those things as backup. I have a stove like that that I need to test and recondition. I think my brother got dad's lantern. But I have invested in some good kerosene lanterns for emergency lighting and I have a single burner propane stove that is ready to use. If only I could find time to repair the diesel generator I inherited from Dad.

This message composed solely of recycled electrons. Go green!

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Camp-stove fuel = Naphtha

Naphtha doesn't go bad AFAIK. Lots of good memories with that and camping.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Not sure how amusing it is. But it sure is good to have those things as backup. I have a stove like that that I need to test and recondition. I think my brother got dad's lantern. But I have invested in some good kerosene lanterns for emergency lighting and I have a single burner propane stove that is ready to use. If only I could find time to repair the diesel generator I inherited from Dad.

This message composed solely of recycled electrons. Go green!

I have a kerosene lamp too, not much to fuss over there.

Backup is kind of iffy. I rapidly noticed they will gas you if you use either inside. I told my wife if we lose power we now have a backup stove and lantern... but we gotta go out to the barn to use them.

Camp-stove fuel = Naphtha

Naphtha doesn't go bad AFAIK. Lots of good memories with that and camping.

After the stove sitting for 20+ years with the stove I gotta agree.

 

[RonD]

Yes, you do need to be careful using fuel burning stoves or lanterns indoors

Carbon monoxide has no smell and is not visible, but your blood likes it better than oxygen, so as you breath any carbon monoxide is absorbed by your blood before any of the oxygen, so you will suffocate and don't even notice, just fall asleep..............forever

Carbon monoxide is only slightly lighter than air so mixes well with it
You need a fresh air supply, which in the winter months during power outages is often not "wanted"

Which is why quite a few people die each year using liquid fuel heaters indoors.


But you are still in danger from your home systems
These all have fresh air vents but..............not a bad idea to have a carbon monoxide detector or two where you sleep, that's when you are most vulnerable.

And as a "oh by the way", most haunted houses came about from carbon monoxide.
When we get enough carbon monoxide mixed in and are awake we will see and hear things that are simply not there.
So dirty furnace vent or chimney flue = haunted houses

Houses where you "get a bad feeling", a headache maybe, queasiness, hear odd things, corner of the eye movements with nothing there when you look.
Its not Freddie or Chucky, but it WILL KILL YOU, just like they would, if given half the chance

 

[Uncle Gump]

I dabble in antiques... and some of the early Coleman stuff brings pretty good money. I typically buy all of it when I garage sale. At one time I had a pretty good pile of lanterns and have electrified about 10 of them and they always sold rather quickly in my antique shop. I have two of the old single mantle red Coleman lanterns converted to 120v that hang in my man cave. I'm still looking for an early fuel can to add to my collection.

 

[tx_pwp5]

I've got one of those stoves from my dad and I still use it regularly. It started leaking last trip at the pump so it may be done now, but it's fed us dozens, if not hundreds of times over the years. Good stuff! You have to unscrew the adjustment valve on the left of the case on mine to get the left burner to really move. Almost all the way out of the hole, but hey, it fries up breakfast pretty nice!

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

I noticed before I got into this wally world has a whole new pump assembly for like $10.

Most Coleman stuff has the month and year stamped on the bottom of them (and the fuel tank tabs for the stove) which makes aging them easy.

I guess birthday lanterns (made in your month and year) are kind of a big thing so now I kinda want to track down one of those...

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Picked up a case to protect my rather delicate looking lantern.

 

[gw33gp]

I bought a Coleman stove back in the early 70s. I still use it today. I probably should buy a kit to rebuild parts of it but it still works fine. I also have a Colman lantern but stopped using it a long time ago. All the vibration off-road kept breaking the mantle and I got tired of replacing them all the time. I like my LED lantern much better.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Nice thing about LED is you can have it in the tent too, that is why it took me so long to get around to fiddling with mine.

Of course now I can't find the charger for my LED lantern...

 

[Shran]

Cool! I have two Coleman stoves, a really nice old one with a towel rack on the back and a newer one that's pretty beat up. Both work great. In fact I cooked on the nice one a lot last summer when I was remodeling my kitchen and I've had it out camping a few times. Usually I use my propane camp stove but sometimes I switch it up a bit. I don't have any gas lanterns but I do have a catalytic heater...and am scared to use it.

Side note, I didn't have electricity when I was a kid, and my parents lighted their house with Coleman lanterns and kerosene lamps. Adjusted right they don't have much smell. They cooked on a Coleman stove for quite a while too.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

I read today they give off less carbon monoxide and whatnot than an oil lamp.

I have ran my lantern inside since and it doesn't smell, I wonder if it was initially burning the mantles that smelled. Stove was probably on the cold side too.

 

[Shran]

Oh yeah, definitely the mantles. They smoke like crazy for a little bit when you first light em. Scared the crap out of me the first time I bought a new lantern and lit it - thought the dang thing was gonna explode.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Well I did a thing Saturday...



Made in April of 1965.



It had been sitting for awhile so I checked to make sure the air tube was clear. Also had to oil the leather cup.