beginner multifuel stove advice

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monkey boy

Full Member
Jan 13, 2009
1,531
52
41
london
"How long is a piece of string", can't say. We did run a Coleman lantern on petrol as a test and got about 7 nights out of it before all the junk in the petrol clogged up the works, other people say it can take years. The biggest issue for me is the smell of petrol, it smells when you burn it more than naptha and any spill and the smell is there for ages. If I had to I'd run something like an Optimus 111b petrol stove on car fuel as its construction is really simple and easy to keep running. I'd never use it in lanterns or more complex modern stoves. Choice is yours at the end of the day. A fivers worth of Coleman is a lot cooking time really, cheaper than liquid gas.

I know the answer to that,
"how long is a piece of string?"

and the answer you are looking for is "twice the length from the middle to the end" hahahahaha......
 

salan

Nomad
Jun 3, 2007
320
1
Cheshire
They will burn paraffin, I've done it without problem although will light more easily using naptha but once lit on paraffin work fine. I do have concerns over the quality of the fuel line but none have failed on me yet so I may be worrying over nothing.
Yes I bought a spare just in case but have not needed it (yet!)
Alan
 
Jan 15, 2012
467
0
essex
I use paraffin. coleman fuel in the millets store near me, get ready for this i am not joking is £19.99 per litre yes 1lt. the places online i have seen it will not post it. the warnings on cleaning fluids i think are there because you can get hi on them. years ago i used petrol. paraffin is safe and fumes are too, been used in lamps for 100s of years. i would not use white spirt, put that on a barbe before and the black stuff what came off that lol and the smell, cant be good for you. i would give most thing a test just to see.
well mabe not 100s of years lol but a very long time.
 
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Jan 15, 2012
467
0
essex
lighter fuel the cheapest i have seen is is £1 a 125ml can, silver can with london something on it. ok for priming and filling your zippo up, £8 a lt i can get a gallon of paraffin for that.
 

rik_uk3

Banned
Jun 10, 2006
13,320
24
69
south wales
I use paraffin. coleman fuel in the millets store near me, get ready for this i am not joking is £19.99 per litre yes 1lt. the places online i have seen it will not post it. the warnings on cleaning fluids i think are there because you can get hi on them. years ago i used petrol. paraffin is safe and fumes are too, been used in lamps for 100s of years. i would not use white spirt, put that on a barbe before and the black stuff what came off that lol and the smell, cant be good for you. i would give most thing a test just to see.
well mabe not 100s of years lol but a very long time.

Plenty of places will post it, check the links earlier. 9 out of 10 of my stoves and lanterns use paraffin; I'm down to <100 litres so need to top up really.
 

Big Stu 12

Bushcrafter through and through
Jan 7, 2012
6,028
4
Ipswich
Just a thought, I've never had the problems with Petrol and Colemans, Spoken to a few people at work and they use petrol in their Coleman cookers and lamps with no trouble at all, they all use them for when they are out fishing, may be we are the lucky ones.
 
Jan 15, 2012
467
0
essex
thanks i will book mark it and if i ever fancy trying coleman fuel i will get some. happy using paraffin at the mo. cheap pretty safe and i use it in my anchor lamp.
 

rik_uk3

Banned
Jun 10, 2006
13,320
24
69
south wales
Just a thought, I've never had the problems with Petrol and Colemans, Spoken to a few people at work and they use petrol in their Coleman cookers and lamps with no trouble at all, they all use them for when they are out fishing, may be we are the lucky ones.


Indeed you must be, none of the stove collectors I know would use petrol, certainly not on a regular basis so I suppose they must be unlucky.
 

ged

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Jul 16, 2009
4,976
13
In the woods if possible.
oww.. where you getting ya paraffin from?! cheapest i get is gallon/£12

Try looking for "28 second burning oil", or heating oil, which is paraffin by another name. Prices are around 55p-65p per litre at the moment although they tend to want to deliver it by hose from their road tanker into your 600 litre tank...
 

Dave

Hill Dweller
Sep 17, 2003
6,019
9
Brigantia
With the Primus Omnifuel Is a bit of leakage normal? Everytime I uncouple the metal fuel line from the pump, by unscrewing it, I get aspen running down the side of the fuel bottle.
I assume this is why I should let the stove cool down before I uncouple it? Also, when I turn the red fuel bottle 180 degrees so that OFF is showing up, it takes a good 3-4 minutes to stop burning.
 
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ged

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Jul 16, 2009
4,976
13
In the woods if possible.
With the Primus Omnifuel Is a bit of leakage normal? Everytime I uncouple the metal fuel line from the pump, by unscrewing it, I get aspen running down the side of the fuel bottle.
I assume this is why I should let the stove cool down before I uncouple it? Also, when I turn the red fuel bottle 180 degrees so that OFF is showing up, it takes a good 3-4 minutes to stop burning.

I don't have any experience of the Primus, but my Optimus Nova uses what sounds like a very similar system. The main differences by the sound of it are the hose connector, which on the Nova is a Hansen type (latching connector, on the pump body) not a screw, and maybe the hose diameter (more later). The hose stays connected to the burner unless you unscrew it with a little spanner. There's a valve on the bottle side of the connector so that stays fuel tight when not connected to the hose, but not on the hose side -- so if there's any fuel left in the hose it will leak out if it gets a chance. After turning the bottle over to 'OFF' the stove runs for about 30 seconds at full output so it's fairly quick to empty the fuel line and pretty easy to judge just when to turn the bottle over as e.g. the water comes up to the boil so you don't waste too much fuel. The internal diameter of the fuel line on the Nova must be very small as there's so little fuel in it (no more than a couple of grammes) which means that the fuel will probably go uphill if it has to under the air pressure from the bottle as it empties. If the Omnifuel burns for so much longer to empty the line, maybe the hose has a larger diameter which might mean that air can bubble through the fuel and leave a bit near the bottle when the flame goes out. That could leak after disconnecting the hose. If my theory is right you could prevent it my making sure that the hose runs downhill from the bottle during the last few minutes of burning. But it is just a theory. A little bit of Aspen leaking is a lot less offensive than a little bit of paraffin or 95 Octane. Learning this stuff about your new stove is all part of the fun. :)

OakhillWanderer has just bought an Omnifuel and may have more experience to offer. I'm hoping to get to play with that stove later this month at our regular meet.
 
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Dave

Hill Dweller
Sep 17, 2003
6,019
9
Brigantia
Ah right, thanks Ged. If youre as accident prone as me its just healthy to be a little paranoid. ;)
 
Jan 15, 2012
467
0
essex
no problems with my Primus Omnifuel. as soon as i get little bubbles form on the bottom of my pan i flip the bottle over. get a rapid boil just before the fuel runs out, about 30secs or so. taking the hose of the bottle there is a tiny bit of wetness if you put your finger on it, the bottle end, no running or drips of fuel, paraffin.
 

rik_uk3

Banned
Jun 10, 2006
13,320
24
69
south wales
Let the air in the bottle run through the hose while there is still pressure, you should not get any liquid fuel come through.
 

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