The Coleman petrol stove thread

I tried to tag onto this thread but failed. Seems to be a few fans though so starting a new thread and copying my post from there…

So thanks largely to this thread, a Coleman double burner dual fuel stove from eBay turned up yesterday. Still with half a tank of fuel :-O

Just boiled the kettle for a coffee on it by way of a test. It lights fine with a nice blue flame:

But then I closed the lighting lever after a minute as instructed, and I get a big orange flame:

Is that normal? The instructions say “a persistent high yellow flame indicates a leak or flooding” but seems to imply that only applies during the lighting stage before you put the lever back down. What does the lighting lever actually do?

I just let it keep burning. Turning the valve right up didn’t change much. I couldn’t get any more pressure in with the pump as the instructions suggest.

Took about 6 minutes to boil 500ml of water. The kettle was pretty sooty – is that normal with petrol whatever, or should it be burning cleaner?

No idea but I’m following with interest to see how you find it.

No idea either but do you know how old the fuel is? I’ve had it last over a year when the can is left digger l somewhere cool, but leave it in a warm shed and it seems to go off within a few months.

Oooh I think I might be partly to blame?

Yeah that’s flooded. It won’t help if you turn it up full.

I can’t really remember the purpose of the little lever. I think it allows a little pressure out or something.

From memory you now have in vaporised fuel in the tube it does eventually clear.

But to be honest firs thing I’d do is throw that fuel int he car or something.

Get a bottle of Coleman fuel or any whitegas/naptha and run that through it. It’s alot more pleasant. Will search for a thread I found useful when it happened to me

Just for absolutely clarity it should be a nice clear roaring blue.

As above it’s probably old fuel, mine did it when I put some old fuel in. The Coleman fuel is good but expensive when compared to petrol at only £1.40 a litre. A tank lasts ages though so it’s easy for unleaded to go-off if you don’t use it often.

edit: a google suggests that maybe it’s also worth cleaning the generator (the brass bit and tube) with carb cleaner.

It could be a worn jet. Over time the nozzle enlarges letting too much fuel through. Then there isn’t sufficient air to fully burn the fuel. Should be cheap and easy to solve

Eliminate some of the above first though

Right I reminded myself

The lever up take the air and vapour mix from the top of the tank so it lights without priming. Then as the assembly heats up the fuel vapourises on its own and you no longer need the airmix so you flick the lever down.

If you flick it to soon you send liquid fuel through the system and you get the yellow flame of doom you also which cools everything down and makes it hard to vaporise and thus the cycle continues. More pumps after flicking the lever down is to replace pressure if you lighting phase burn through alot of the gas.

It might/probably does get worse with bad fuel and dirt and general gunge of a stove that might not have been lit in ages. It could be a worn injector but you should definitely give a bit of tlc before heading down that route.

I run mine exclusively on unleaded but so infrequently it’s still E10 if even that!

Coleman fuel is expensive but from investigations the Primus stuff is exactly the same and can be got from Tiso in bulk for not silly prices. Concensus is it burns a lot cleaner and better but I’ve not died yet so whatever.

Joshvegas response seems believable. Similar principles to the most stove I used to run.

I’d not burn petrol just from a h+s point of view. Probably not a big problem given the small amounts. Coleman fuel is safer. I used to burn de-aromatised white spirit in msr stove. Less cancerous chemicals and available at most DIY sheds. Or paint labs….

Thanks for the suggestions – no idea how old the fuel is, but quite possibly been in there years so will get some fresh and give that ago.

Good to know what the lever’s fun but, cheers. I presume the only disadvantage to leaving it up is limiting the power since it has to deliver the air through the same pipe?

I was researching other fuels and read about one that’s used in lawnmowers on a vintage lamp forum (yes, it exists!). There’s a garden tool servicing place just round the corner from me so might be able to get some easily. I’ll post the name when I remember it.

There are two fuels to use.

Petrol or naptha (white gas, Coleman fuel primus fuel etc all the same stuff)

I just don’t use petrol because it stinks the car out.

I run my old Coleman and a primus multi fuel on Aspen4. Same as Coleman fuel but cheaper and available from farm shops.

not sure what to run my old coleman stove on, was going to throw it out

maybe its worth keeping, if fuel is not too much to get hold of

Aspen4

That’s the stuff!

I’m running my Primus Omnilite on brake cleaner. It doesn’t appear to burn as hot as running on gas but I generally use it for cooking rather than just boiling so use lower power anyway. And it’s really cheap and I use it for other things in the workshop. It’s a very clean fuel (i.e. doesn’t leave gunk in the stove)

not sure what to run my old coleman stove on, was going to throw it out

They’re definitely worth passing on if nothing else, too good to throw away!

I have run a double burner coleman stove for the past 16 years as our family stove at least 3 weeks a year. I have always run ours on a good quality super unleaded and it runs fine. It is super hot cost’s pence to run. 2 week family camp for 4 with loads of cooking uses a 2 – 3litres of petrol so around £5. I also have a coleman apex single burner stove that is more like 25 years old and still runs perfectly like a slighlty heavier wisperlite. Again super dependable and cooks very fast, no problems with gas freezing when its cold. Coleman still sell spare parts and seals for all of there kit as far as I am aware.

Finally got round to taking the thing apart and giving it a good clean out. Bought a bottle of Primus liquid fuel as it was available in the local Cotswolds – assume it’s much the same as the Coleman stuff. At £8 for a litre with discount, I won’t be using this long term, but will get me started. Emptied as much of the old fuel out as possible – will use that for cleaning. Flushed it out with a bit of the new fuel – ditto.

Now burning nice and cleanly:

The gasket under the burner disintegrated when I took it apart, but it doesn’t seem to have affected it. If I get on with it, I might give it a more thorough refurb and try and find a replacement.

https://www.coleman.com/replacementparts.html

https://www.oldcolemanparts.com/parts/Stove-Parts/

https://www.ereplacementparts.com/coleman-stove-parts-c-161242_161816.html

Timely thread. I just went and bought two 1L bottles of aspen 4 from the local garden machinery place. £11.50

Gooutdoors wanted a tenner for coleman fuel with card, 15 quid without! 😬

Thanks fellas! 👍