UKC

Liquid stove fuels - coleman or unleaded?

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 ballsac 26 Jan 2012
morning.

i'm resurecting my MSR Whisperlite, in which i used to burn unleaded petrol due to the cost of coleman fuel. however, now i have a diesel car i no longer have unleaded floating arount the shed, and i wondered if the assembled brains trust can tell me whether its worth using coleman fuel, sticking with unleaded, or indeed whether its possible to use diesel in the stove?

cost isn't the issue it was as a student, so now i'm more interested on relative performance and convenience.

its use would be winter in the UK and expedition use (hopefully, praise god!) in Central Asia.

cheers.
 thommi 26 Jan 2012
Paul F 26 Jan 2012
In reply to ballsac:

Use 'Panel wipe' from car spares shops/Halfords or Aspen 4 chainsaw fuel from garden centres as a cheaper substitute petrol. As far as I'm aware the whisperlite will not run on Diesel.
 dazwan 26 Jan 2012
In reply to ballsac: I use Aspen 4t after seeing it recommended on here and camping sites. Clean burning, cheaper than coleman, more expensive than unleaded, difficult to get hold of (I got mine from a lawnmower shop in Huddersfield).
 rallymania 26 Jan 2012
In reply to ballsac:

will it run on parafin?

OP ballsac 26 Jan 2012
In reply to rallymania:

i'm not sure - MSR says it burns white gas (coleman fuel) and unleaded petrol on the 'G' valve, and kerosene and diesel on the 'K' valve. kerosene is called 'parafina' in spain, but i'm sure its the same stuff...

a local mower shops sells Aspen 4 alkylate petrol but i'm not sure for how much, and go-outdoors sells 1 litre of Coleman fuel for £5.40.
ice.solo 26 Jan 2012
In reply to rallymania:
> (In reply to ballsac)
>
> will it run on parafin?

also called kerosene i believe - no problems.
then if it runs on kerosene, it ought to run on diesel as well.

they definitely run on regular.
ice.solo 26 Jan 2012
In reply to ballsac:

but hang on, youre talkin the whisperlite, sans internationale?

in which case i have no idea. apologies.
OP ballsac 26 Jan 2012
In reply to ice.solo:

sorry, yes - the international. i wasn't actually aware you could get the plain old whisperlite, and certainly wasn't aware of there being a difference.
 L.A. 26 Jan 2012
In reply to ballsac: The Whisperlite hasnt been sold in the UK for 15 years or so. Its a US product for White gas/unleaded only. The W/L 600 International will burn Petrol (unleaded is apparently better) White Gas (Coleman Fuel etc) along with Paraffin (kerosine) with the K jet fitted. Dont use Diesel in a Whisperlite as the fuel line and jet will clog and block regularly with the additives in Diesel.
Paul F 26 Jan 2012
In reply to ballsac:
> (In reply to rallymania)
>
>
> a local mower shops sells Aspen 4 alkylate petrol but i'm not sure for how much, and go-outdoors sells 1 litre of Coleman fuel for £5.40.

Broadfield mowers? Aspen 4 (they dropped the 't') is around £17 for 5 litres
OP ballsac 26 Jan 2012
In reply to Paul F:

cheers folks.

will i notice any difference in fuel economy, heat produced etc by burning Coleman fuel, Aspen 4 or unleaded?

i know unleaded makes a bit of a mess - though not the point where i've had to clean it to get it to work properly - so i wondered if the difference in 'burn experience' was anything other than cosmetic...
 marsbar 26 Jan 2012
In reply to rallymania: I think my brother used to use parafin, I can't remember if it needed priming with something else though?
Paul F 26 Jan 2012
In reply to ballsac:

Aspen 4 burns well and doesn't have a petrol smell, it is quite pleasant in use in comparison to unleaded with lower fumes and no difference in performance. I've been using it for years and never had clogged jets.

http://www.aaoil.co.uk/environment-Aspen-4T-alkylate-petrol
In reply to ballsac:

> will i notice any difference in fuel economy, heat produced etc by burning Coleman fuel, Aspen 4 or unleaded?

There's very little difference in energy/weight for the liquid petroleum fuels, so no, I don't think you'd notice a difference. Essentially, the three fuels are 'petrol', in various degrees of 'cleanliness' (blend (especially considering the aromatics), additives, etc): Coleman cleanest, then Aspen, then unleaded would be my guess.
In reply to Paul F:

Well, looking at that spec, the Aspen may be cleaner than Coleman...

"The result is a petrol that is totally free from sulphur, benzene and aromatics (solvents)"

On the other hand, that description worries me a bit; 'aromatics' is understood within the chemical and petrochemical world to mean a family of cyclic carbon molecules (e.g. benzene)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aromatic_hydrocarbon

Many aromatics have associated health risks, which is one of the reasons why there are limits on the level of aromatic content in petrol, and benzene and the like are now much more strictly controlled than they used to be.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benzene#Health_effects

To conflate these aromatics with 'solvents' is rather dubious: plenty of solvents aren't aromatics; water is a solvent, if something will dissolve in it... This sort of error always makes me doubt the reliability of the information source...
 wilkie14c 27 Jan 2012
In reply to captain paranoia:
Hey up captain, thought you'd be jumping on a stove thread!
OP I've a coleman 533 stove and a coleman powerhouse twin mantle lantern that I have always ran on petrol. Had the stove 20 years and the lantern 15 and apart from mantles and a glass globe I have never had to get spare parts. The stove got a bit spitty once and I stripped it and put the vapouriser tube and other small bits in carbareter cleaner overnight and its been fine ever since. The stove gets used for car camping and melting lead for casting sea fishing weights, the lantern is for fishing off the beach at night. I see it that petrol can be got from anywhere in the world and the saving made over these 15-20 years I've used it would buy me a new stove and lamp if they suddenly broke now.
They live in the shed next to my camping gaz blue thing, camping gaz camp kitchen, pocket rocket, jetboil, triangia, coke can stoves, folding BBQ....
Wouldn't mind but I usually end up eating in the pub!!

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