Coleman lantern -- white gas?

[Rock2]

Soon I need to buy a container of white gas at Walmart. I haven't check price but in the past their price is crazy. Many moons ago I remember when i was a boy, Dad stopped by gas station to fill up white gas. Usually behind of station. Anyway now day you don't see that anymore. Is there any kind of gas which is same as white gas? What about denatured alcohol? Thank for your time!

[newk]

My pickup, hauling a tall cabover camper, ran out of gas on I80 in Iowa one summer about 20 years ago. We were heading into a 50 mph wind, and the last thing on my mind was needing fuel so early. I hadn't been paying any attention to the gauge. I think it's the only time in my life that I ran out of fuel.

I went back to the camper and dug out a 10-year-old can of Coleman Fuel and dumped it into the tank. Truck started right up and headed to the next service station, a couple miles up the road. 🙂 Works in an emergency.

I always buy Coleman Fuel for my old Coleman stove and lantern -- always as in every 5-10 years! 🙂 At most it might cost me 50 cents per camping weekend. I think it's closer to a quarter. I can afford either one.

[BubbaChris]

msb1766 wrote:
Nothing sounds better than the hiss of a Colman Lantern.

My wife insisted we keep our propane powered Coleman lantern, but I won't bring it camping exactly because of the noise. I suppose I'd be OK with it in the right setting (like grilling 30-feet from the TT), but I prefer our battery powered alternatives.

That said, it would be fun to keep my eye out for the classic white gas versions in the local thrift shops.

[JaxDad]

pitch wrote:
Neither my coleman lanterns or my Coleman stove was designed to run on Coleman Fuel. There was no such thing in 1959 and 1961. They were designed to run on gasoline. It was sold as White Gas. Nowadays it is sold as unleaded.
That said I run mine on the naptha fuel sold as Coleman Liquid fuel.
I have used pump gas when I have run out,but the Naptha does not stink as bad.

I think your dates and a few other facts are a little off.

I've got an old Coleman fuel can on display at our summer place, the label says 1946.

White gas and modern 'unleaded gas' are nowhere near the same thing. White gas was sold in a time when lead was the ONLY additive in gasoline. Today, ethanol, anti-knock and cleansing chemicals, and a host of other additives are normal in gasoline. They're not good for a Coleman lantern, they're even worse for your eyes and lungs if you use them in an enclosed space.

[Campfire_Time]

manualman wrote:


Fussing? With what? I fill twice per season with fuel. To light, you pump up the tank pressure, screw the pump shut, flip the lever, turn the gas on low, light up, wait 30 seconds, flip the lever down and go. If you want, you can turn night into day at full throttle.
I haven't had a mantle go bad in about 3 years. Love these old things!

No fuss? Hmm...

All I do is flip a switch. And why would I want to turn night into day and tick off all the neighboring campers? To each his own I guess.

[PA12DRVR]

I have Coleman dual fuel lanterns at the cabin. Use avgas unleaded Coleman or Wally World equivalent ....and have for about 20 years. No issues, lots of lumens and needed brightness and heat for an AK winter

Worth the price. IMO

[Bigdog]

Twenty years ago I bought two cans of Coleman fuel and still have about 1/2 a can left and it still works great. I have my parents Coleman two burner stove and their lantern from the mid 50's and my x fatherinlaws lantern from the early 60's and they all work like brand new. I also have his three burner stove that I bought one of those propane converters for and that thing heats like a blow torch.
Veebyes, I do know about those lantern torches as I unscrewed the filler cap one night instead of the pump while it was lit. :S The flame was about 6-10 feet and the smell of burning hair from my arm was bad.:o

[allygerry]

I still use my Coleman lantern and Coleman stove regularly and I burn recreational fuel 90% Octane non ethanol. Readily available here in Florida. Lights up just as well and cooks just as hot. Do not use that ethanol mix junk they call gasoline today. It will rust out your lantern. Enjoy the lantern and the stove when boondocking. No empty propane tanks to carry back.

[dcmac214]

White gas - that's a blast from the past. I haven't seen white gas in decades. I only know of one place in town that still sells kerosene (that's one out of maybe 100 stations). If the cost of a can of (napthalene?) is too much to handle you're pretty much limited to re-equipping yourself for some other energy source.

Nighttime we like to hang a couple of oil/kerosene lanterns. Their light is a nice soft yellow, not at all harsh like Colemans. Real quiet too.

[JAYHAWKERS]

The price of Coleman fuel has gone up considerable lately. We do all of our cooking outside on an old three burner Coleman stove, so we use quite a bit of fuel to cook and heat water to do dishes. We found our local Academy Sports store is selling it for $ 7.99 a gallon. Hope this information saves you some money. Happy camping.fuel

[sh410]

pitch wrote:
Neither my coleman lanterns or my Coleman stove was designed to run on Coleman Fuel. There was no such thing in 1959 and 1961. They were designed to run on gasoline. It was sold as White Gas. Nowadays it is sold as unleaded.
That said I run mine on the naptha fuel sold as Coleman Liquid fuel.
I have used pump gas when I have run out,but the Naptha does not stink as bad.

"white gas" sold by service stations of old was in fact naptha fuel. Unleaded gas is NOT naptha! Unleaded gas is called unleaded because it does not use (the now outlawed)lead as an anti-knock additive but it does have a number of other additives for ICEs.

Coleman Fuel

[seaeagle2]

When we were kids, we had a cabin "off the grid", my dad had 5 weeks of vacation every year and we'd spend at least 4 of them at the cabin. We cooked on a coleman stove and used colman lamps for lighting, Dad would go to the local fuel distributor and get "white gas" for the colemans', Purple gas(dyed no road tax) for chain saws and boat motors. Our coleman stuff ran just fine and it got used a lot....

[Me_Again]

I miss those days of a gal taking a lantern in a tent to get ready for bed! The snickers around the camp ground could go on for 30 minutes! Chris

[Veebyes]

Had one of those Coleman gas lanterns malfunction & shoot gas all over. It was hanging inside a tent. Some fast moving campers that night. Still have one in the house as a hurricane backup light but it is way down on which lantern gets used first.

In the CG for ambient light the old faithful kerosene/lamp oil lantern is the one of choice. Have used one of those since our boat camping days in a 21' cuddy cabin.

[Blue_Hill]

I keep ethanol free premium gas around for all of my small engines and usually take some camping to run the generator. I'm going to try it in my Colemans. I'm kind of old school and for me, the old style Coleman and the sound it makes is part of the whole experience.

[vic46]

manualman wrote:

Campfire Time wrote:
Boy, this thread brings back some fond, and not so fond memories of fooling around with these lanterns and white gas.

We went to a battery operated florescent lamp tube almost 30 years ago. Never missed that white gas, never missed screwing around with those mantels.

As said above, LED is the way to go now:

Fine for camping. Not so great for Zombie Apocalypse / EMP attack survival! 🙂 You'd need about 300 batteries to last as long as my 2 gallons of naptha. Stuff lasts forever in the lanterns.

Fussing? With what? I fill twice per season with fuel. To light, you pump up the tank pressure, screw the pump shut, flip the lever, turn the gas on low, light up, wait 30 seconds, flip the lever down and go. If you want, you can turn night into day at full throttle.
I haven't had a mantle go bad in about 3 years. Love these old things!

And,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

HEAR! HEAR! pun intended