Camping gas light question

[Jim Ford]

Originally Posted by diapasonbill

Well I have always been a fan of the petrol lantern! (and stove as well) - you don't need to pre-heat, just pump it up and light it.

My experience is that you do need to preheat a petrol stove or it'll flare (maybe not the Coleman - I haven't fired mine up for a while). I own an Optimus 111, a Primus 70, a couple of Russian military R1s (a nice copy of the Optimus R8), two German Enders (1 military) and a Primus multifuel. These are besides my paraffin stoves!

BTW, ordinary petrol is not advised for stoves or lamps, as it has additives. Coleman White Fuel is a ridiculous price over here - £7 for 500ml IIRC. A good fuel, without additives and which burns cleanly is petroleum naptha (in fact Coleman fuel _is_ petroleum naptha). A cheap source of petroleum naptha is 'Panel Wipe', which is used in the motor industry for cleaning body panels prior to spray painting. This _has_ to be clean and leave no residue to do its job. I paid about £10 for 5 Litres the last time I bought some.

Jim

[diapasonbill]

Hi Jim,

Yes thanks for your comments, Coleman is the make I always used, and YES THEY DO FLARE when first lit, but the generator tube soon heats & gets a nice blue burn going. I hope I have not misled anyone. That is why I put in the comment about lighting it always in the open air. I didn't realise that Coleman Fuel had got that expensive though, I used to pay far less than that for 1 litre tins of the stuff!, so I wonder how the running costs compare now to a gas lantern.

Cheers

Bill.

[Jim Ford]

Like I said, Panel Wipe is the way to go. It's a fraction of the cost of Coleman fuel and at least as pure. In fact it's probably purer, as there can't afford to be any residue left on a car panel before spraying, as it won't 'take' properly.

Jim

[foxy mars]

I have Colemans Gas Lamp and have only used twice when me and the ex went camping many moons ago. However it's still works and maybe take it on my C2C Walk in April, which maybe a good idea for warming up the tent or is it. I love the popping sound when you light it and the lovely glowing light from it.

I have also seen the micro lamp version.

[captaincarot]

used a coleman stove once while on a fishing trip.
the result was me running round the bank flapping a lighted hand sqwaking like a bird with it's wing on fire. till i put it out by falling in to the lake.
fortunately there were no long term effects once the hairs grew back

as for mantles is it just me then that get's the little tinkle of a broken mantle everytime i get some where,

i tend to stick to gas stoves and electric lighting now i'm safer with em.

[Mike Jackson]

I love my Coleman stove and lamp. The light output from the lamp is incredible when you really pump it up easily outshines a 100w bulb.

[Jim Ford]

Originally Posted by Jim Ford

Like I said, Panel Wipe is the way to go. It's a fraction of the cost of Coleman fuel and at least as pure. In fact it's probably purer, as there can't afford to be any residue left on a car panel before spraying, as it won't 'take' properly.

Another alternative to 'Coleman White Gas' is 'Aspen 4T', which is a pure, clean petroleum spirit. Like 'Panel Wipe' it's around 1/5th the cost of Coleman. Nobody 'in the know' uses Coleman nowadays!

Jim