Sunday, June 2, 2019

Coleman Stoves: the product that refuses to die.


In an outdoorsy-camping era full of propane camp stoves and lightweight butane backpacking stoves, it may seem that white-gas stoves have fallen out of style.

(In this article, we will not mention Mountain Safety Research. MSR stoves deserve a lot of recognition and a great deal of respect — and their own article on this blog. Later.)

However, there is one old white-gas workhorse that just keeps pulling along. The classic green two-or-three-burner Coleman stove, with the red fuel tank hanging on the front, was introduced as the Model 425 in 1948. It went through several minor revisions over the years, but it always looked like this.



The original design burned kerosene. Later designs burned white gas or Coleman fuel, a petroleum blend made especially for camp stoves and lanterns. White gas burns fast, hot, and clean. It doesn't produce smoke or foul-smelling byproducts.

(Note that, like any burnable fuel, it does produce poisonous carbon monoxide, and therefore it should never be burned indoors or in an enclosed space. Carbon monoxide is clear, colorless, and odorless, so you cannot detect it with your human senses. Always use white gas appliances outdoors, or with adequate ventilation.)

When propane stoves became a Big Thing, demand for white-gas stoves died down, but it didn't die away. The Model 425 is still sold today, although you may find it marketed as the Guide Series ($119 in 2019, direct from Coleman) or the Classic ($131 in 2019, from Amazon).



Why does it keep selling?

Well, for one thing, it just works. It's designed and constructed to be sturdy. It disassembles and packs into a compact (ish) and self-contained unit, for transport and storage.The three-sided windscreen makes it easy to light, and to keep lit, even in a strong wind.

For another thing, the patented Band-a-Blu™ burners are almost trouble-free: they light easily, they burn hot (7500 Btu on the right, 6500 BTU on the left) and reliably, and they are easily regulated. The Band-a-Blu™ burner has been in every stove Coleman has ever designed, even before 1948.

Finally, it's designed for ease of maintenance and repair. Every component can be disassembled and reassembled with simple hand tools. All parts can be cleaned in soapy water or a solvent like alcohol. Replacement parts are widely available and easy to obtain — even Wal-Mart carries them. But most maintenance can be reduced to occasionally cleaning the outer surfaces with a soapy cloth and putting a few drops of lubricating oil in the "OIL" port on the pump.

(Nobody ever oils the pump. Eventually the pump seal wears out and stops pressurizing the tank. Fortunately, the pump is easy to repair or replace.)

Several years ago, Coleman added to their product line by introducing a dual-fuel version of the Model 425. The dual-fuel stoves have silver-grey fuel tanks, while the white gas stoves have red fuel tanks. Other than that, the dual-fuel stove is nearly identical to the Model 425, and in fact, both versions can burn either unleaded gasoline or white gas. I recommend that you stick to white gas, however. It always burns clean, so you may never have to disassemble and de-gunk the valve or generator.

Coleman also used the Model 425's design as the basis for their 2-and-3-burner propane stoves.
The propane version should have killed off the Model 425, but it didn't. For some reason, the white gas design simply has staying power. But if you want the trusty old Model 425 and the convenience of propane, you can now buy a simple adapter, made by Stansport, to convert the Model 425 from white gas to propane. No permanent, irreversible modifications are needed, and the stove can be easily switched back and forth between propane and white gas.

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