Coleman Liquid Fuel

[Shran]

I guess I got bit by the Coleman bug too - I bought four lanterns last weekend for a total of $13. I got two 220H's, a 220F, and an Ash Flash single mantle.

Got both the 220H's working well, the F just does not run like it should and I suspect that it was filled with unleaded at some point and the gas knob assembly is full of crud. I got it to burn but it's very dim and seems like it doesn't have enough pressure in the tank - my parts swapping has not made it work yet so maybe it'll just be a wall hanger.

 

[Bird76Mojo]

The old Coleman lantern I have, I bought it just because it was meant to burn either white fuel OR unleaded. I've used it with unleaded multiple times. Works great.

 

[Shran]

I think you can use unleaded with most or all of them... it just goes bad and gums up everything. White gas doesn't seem to ever go bad.

White gas sure does have "that smell". I left one burning for a couple hours in the shop on Sunday and it brought back a lot of memories of my parents using them in the house.

 

[Bird76Mojo]

It depends on the model of lantern. My buddy has a couple Coleman lanterns and they say on them specifically "DO NOT USE GASOLINE"

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

I guess I got bit by the Coleman bug too - I bought four lanterns last weekend for a total of $13. I got two 220H's, a 220F, and an Ash Flash single mantle.

Got both the 220H's working well, the F just does not run like it should and I suspect that it was filled with unleaded at some point and the gas knob assembly is full of crud. I got it to burn but it's very dim and seems like it doesn't have enough pressure in the tank - my parts swapping has not made it work yet so maybe it'll just be a wall hanger.

Cool, any pics?

My "new" one, the F been giving me fits. I got it working really good the first time, it was brighter than my H but is hard to get going. I have to heat the generator and sometimes it still won't go. Even with a new generator it has fuel supply problems. I have it tore down to the part you have to grind and bend a wrench, I think the fuel/air tube is gummed up. The tank was dry and I guess when white gas evaporates it can gum stuff up. I got busy working outside and haven't got back to it.

The old Coleman lantern I have, I bought it just because it was meant to burn either white fuel OR unleaded. I've used it with unleaded multiple times. Works great.

They make a dual fuel version, I think it is all you can get now. It is harder on the generator but lasts longer than a white gas model running pump gas.

I think you can use unleaded with most or all of them... it just goes bad and gums up everything. White gas doesn't seem to ever go bad.

White gas sure does have "that smell". I left one burning for a couple hours in the shop on Sunday and it brought back a lot of memories of my parents using them in the house.

Not really supposed to unless it is a dual fuel, the additives mess up the generator.

When they originally came out white gas was gas, what model T's and that ran on. Then they went to leaded which was a no-no in a lantern and then to unleaded with a ton of additives which is a lot less than ideal but better than leaded.

 

[Shran]

Interesting, good to know. I use them so infrequently that I will probably never use unleaded anyway... I'm still using the gallon of Coleman fuel I bought quite a few years ago.

I meant to take some pics last night but got distracted.

Not sure what to do about my F. I've got the burner assembly and generator removed but I cannot get the cleaner assembly thing off of the valve below it. I want to tear the whole thing down and give it a good cleaning but it's seized together well enough that I'm afraid I'm going to destroy it if I go any further.

 

[Shran]

Here's my little family... the H's are from the 70's and the F is a 63 IIRC.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

I found this stuff in my garage that goes with my first lantern, the H.

 

[O No 3.0!]

Love the old coleman stuff. I have an old red one that id like to fix. I grew up night fishing with Coleman lanterns, nothing like the smell of coleman fuel on lake & bugs cooking on the glass.
I looked on ebay at older Coleman stuff, & man is that stuff getting expensive! Esp anything old. But, i did find one guy selling some gallons of camp fuel for $10 each. But it's local pick up only, in Nj.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Ebay stuff is pretty bad, supposedly you can still get it pretty cheap in thrift shops and whatnot but I haven't had much luck so far.

200A's (the red ones) are kind of the gold standard for Coleman lanterns, I would like to get one. They made the things forever, any idea how old yours is?

I got a special wrench the other day to tear down my 220F, I am pretty sure it has a partially blocked fuel tube. I can get decent fuel flow for awhile but it fizzles out. I think the lantern draws fuel faster than the fue can get thru the blockage so it goes out, then as it sits more fuel can get back in the fuel tube.

EDIT: Dad found his from when were kids, it is a J, the next model after my newest one. A little worse for wear but has the snap on plastic storage container on the bottom. Overall it doesn't look like it is in too terrible shape but not as nice as my two (cosmetically anyway)

 

[Shran]

I've scored a bunch of cool Coleman gear this summer at thrift stores and such, this is my favorite so far! And it's HUGE!

Big enough to have a griddle going on two burners and a small pot simmering on the other. It's not real old, it's a model 426E made in 1980.

 

[JohnnyO]

My campstove and lantern are Colemans but I got the propane units. Vastly easier to use IMO.

 

[fastpakr]

My campstove and lantern are Colemans but I got the propane units. Vastly easier to use IMO.

I still own several liquid fuel stoves, but at this point they only come out for large groups or extreme cold weather. Otherwise it's a single burner canister stove for weight, ease of use and 100% reliability.

 

[Shran]

I usually use propane too and in fact there's a propane conversion part you can get for old Coleman liquid stoves that basically just replaces the tank with a propane orifice and a tube. I have one and it works good. But, I have taken my liquid fueled gear out a few times and I actually used my 2 burner stove for most of a summer two years ago when I remodeled my kitchen.

I think the main thing that I like is that it's stupid cheap to collect, functional, and just about anything that goes wrong with it is easily fixed. The very most I've ever paid for Coleman gear is $20... and that was for a VERY nice model 576 single burner stove. The rest of the stoves and lanterns have been well under $10.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Mine cooked breakfast twice and heated water for dishes at the roundup. It didn't miss a beat, I still have yet to add fuel it since this thread started.