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I have only seen butane used for ultra-light back packing stoves. So my guess is that it has a higher heat capacity, hence less fuel required and less weight to carry in your pack, and higher price is NOT a concern.
True, as far as it goes. But at high altitudes and lower temperatures, butane won't burn.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MI-Roger
Propane bottles are big and heavy. Liquid fuel (Coleman Fuel) requires multiple refillable fuel bottles to be carried in your pack, plus requires filling and draining the cook stove at each camp site.
True, the regular 20-gallon propane bottles are big and heavy. But they are far from the only choice. Non-refillable propane cylinders weigh a pound. You can get refillable propane one-pound cylinders too. The smallest regular propane bottle holds one gallon, which can last quite a while, depending on how/what you cook - I have a propane range in my apartment, and a five-gallon bottle lasts me about 6 months. If you intend to use propane for heating, you will of course go through a lot more than that. I think most vanners use propane. It's relatively safe, and you can buy it just about anywhere. Some prefer butane, because it does not release as much water vapor into your van as it burns, but then you run into the issue with lower temps, and it is nowhere as easy to find in the boonies as propane.
I used to backpack with Coleman fuel. Carried extra fuel in a small canister. But even Coleman is moving away from Coleman fuel.
Seems like a lot of backpackers are turning once again to alcohol as stove fuel. It's reliable, easier to carry, and cleaner than butane, propane, and Coleman fuel (white gas). If I were still backpacking, alcohol is what I'd use.
Quite a few van dwellers use alcohol backpacking stoves, and some, like me, are thinking seriously about using the alcohol stoves that sailboaters use. They're spendy, but I think they're the best portable stoves out there. Alcohol doesn't burn as hot as propane or butane, but it's not a huge difference.
Quite a few vanners carry more than one stove, and many carry multi-fuel stoves and the fuels to run them. Vans are nice that way.
Where do you buy Butane? I don't recall ever seeing it.
Most camping/sporting goods/outdoor stores carry butane cylinders. Some report that asian groceries frequently carry them, because supposedly it's a common fuel in asia. And that's all I know about that.
Does Coleman Fuel burn dirty and leave carbon on your pan bottom?
In over 50 years of camping with Coleman stoves using Coleman liquid fuel, I've never had a pan get dirty on the bottom from this fuel.
It's much cleaner burning fuel than gasoline, it's mostly naptha. Hence it stores much longer and cleaner in the Coleman fuel tanks.
I've bought numerous old Coleman liquid fueled items (stoves and lanterns, and one time a big Coleman 4-burner and oven kitchen stove) that were neglected for decades, sitting on a garage shelf or stored, unused ... that would fire up and work properly after fixing the integral air pump. At that, I've had old Coleman table lamps that used the external pump light up on fuel that had been in them for decades.
Same in a cabin we used in the Colorado mountains a few years ago. On a friend's property, she had just inherited an old line shack and ranch above Lyons. Her family had not used the line shack in years. We went there with hopes of using the old Coleman appliances. The shack had a Coleman Hot water heater, Coleman Kitchen stove, and several old table lamps and hanging lamps. With a bit of fiddling around, cleaning up the pumps, and tightening up old fuel fittings ... the hot water heater and stove worked fine. It was a real luxury having hot water for showers instead of using our solar water bags. The lanterns there worked fine, too.
Using unleaded gasoline in the newer "dual fuel" liquid stoves seems to not work as well or burn as clean as the Coleman fuel even though the generators are supposed to be tolerant of gasoline. I'll use gasoline in the stoves for convenience on a camping trip if need be, but prefer to use the cleaner burning/easier lighting coleman fuel.
Like others on this forum, I've used alcohol marine stoves for over 50 years. Safer in boats because you can put out alcohol fires with water. I have a pile of Kenyon alcohol stoves, some of them marine stoves, that I have collected through the years. Most work very well but have the inconvenience when camping of having to preheat them with some alcohol, which can be a flare-up situation for our friends that don't know how to start one very well.
For ultimate convenience, the canister fuel fired butane stoves are by far and away the easiest to use. Lots of restaurants use these burners for tableside cooking, and they are a "click of the dial" ignition with instant lighting. I've used these at 9,000' elevation without any difficulty, and one on a boat on Dillon Reservoir, high in the Colorado mountains.
PS: on those folk that report dirty results with Coleman liquid fueled stoves, my bet is that the fuel they were using was old/dirty and/or the generator in the stove was plugged up or worn out. I've seen many a Coleman stove discarded because it didn't light easily or work well simply because it needed a new generator. The stoves won't quit working when the generators are plugging up, so many people think the stove is "working OK" ... when it's not functioning properly.
Did anybody mention that butane can produce
"A small amount of nitrogen dioxide, a toxic gas, results from burning butane gas,
along with any combustion in the earth's atmosphere,
and represents a human health hazard from home heaters and stoves"?
OTOH, propane is denser than air and will settle in pockets creating a hazard of explosion.
Option three is Pellet Stove, if talking about a fireplace or home heating. Much more efficient than either of the two gasses.
the OP's concern was: "I'm wanting to add a gas cooking stove to my van for camping purposes"
Pellet Stove in a van? you're not serious, are you?
at that ... I doubt any pellet stove can approach the 95-98% efficiency ratings of recent gas-fired hydronic house heating systems.
Most pellet stoves are in the 75-83% efficiency range. The highest I've seen advertised was an 87% efficient pellet stove. All of them required a 120v power source to run the fuel auger and the blower.
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