Question for the camp stove users

[Travtastik]

about how long can you work off a bottle of fuel? I found a butane stove for $25 and the tanks are $2 trying to figure out how long that will last or if I would be better off with the coleman stove and coleman fuel. I was using a hot plate, but after about a hour of work it burned out so I am looking to go a new route.

[Swamp Man]

I have no idea about the butane stove but you can't go wrong with a Coleman stove. I have a single burner Coleman stove,two Coleman lanterns,Coleman Procat heater they all burn 5 or more hours on a tank and I've never had any trouble out any of them. I also have an old Coleman Power House lantern that burns white gas I bought in the mid 80's it still works as good as it did on day one.

[Wayne Smith]

I hooked mine up to a 20 gal tank. I refill the tank about once a year.

[bear67]

You can buy an adapter hose from the 1 x 20 thread on the stove to the POL on a DOT Propane cylinder like the 20 pound cylinders on your gas grill. This does not require a regulator as the stove uses tank pressure. I seem to remember buying several for under $12 since we ran propane lanterns and stoves on camping, hunting, fishing trips for years--still do. That is 38.Most coleman burners are 12,500 btu and a gallon (approx 4#) will burn it 7.72 hours at 100% efficiency. . That is 38.64 hours of use wide open from a 5 gallon 20# cylinder. Even if you use the exchange cylinders now everywhere, this is cheap smelting or even casting. I cast with a dipper style ladle for 50 years over a LPG burner. I have also cast over a gasoline camp burner (one burner is my favorite for casting, not smelting), but you have to pause and pump up the pressure on the gasoline one periodically. I grew up in the LPG/propane, butane business as my Father was in that business for 60+ years and died at work at 88--I had much of this drilled into my thick skull as a boy along with lots of other good information and advice. Many is the day when I wish I could just call Dad and ask him a question.

[oldtoolsniper]

I would use the gasoline one outside. They tend to cause some problems if you decide to use them in an enclosed space.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

For smelting WW's in a Stainless steel soup pot,
I use a Coleman "White Gas" stove. I just burn non-oxygenated gasoline in it. I get about 2.5 to 3 hours on a tank (about a quart) of gas.

AND YES>>>OUTSIDE

[I'll Make Mine]

I'm using a tiny single burner gasoline stove (Coleman Feather 400), rather than propane. I get two smelts of around 9-10 pounds on a one pint fill (takes about ten minutes from a cold pot to melt that much lead, a couple minutes less if I refill as soon as the heel is solidified) with a little fuel remaining, which is comparable energy to a "fat boy" bottle of propane. For actual casting, I turn the flame down a little after the alloy melts, and estimate I can run this little stove for 30-40 minutes (long enough to cast a hundred or more bullets) on fifty cents worth of gas, even at today's prices.

[Jim Flinchbaugh]

Got a 20 pound propane bottle on mine, lasts forever, sometimes longer.
I can get the 20 pounder filled here on Tuesdays for 8.50. Dont get much cheaper than that.

[Green Frog]

OP asked about a "butane" stove, not propane. I haven't seen one of the former that was used for lead melting duties, and the ones I have seen seemed a little flimsy for that use. I'm not sure I would want to try any serious casting with any of the butane stoves I have seen since they mostly seem suited to backpacking or warming chafing dishes at "frou-frou" dining events.
Propane on the other hand is quite useful, especially with a bulk tank and adaptor as several have said before me. I've got a little single burner unit that closes up into a sort of miniature suitcase thing that would work well because it has side and back walls when working to keep the heat in on the pot. JMHO, JMMV.

Froggie

[bear67]

You have not bought butane for residential use in the USA for many years--butane goes into chemical process, especially plastics. In warmer climates like Texas Butane used to be used for residential heat and cooking, but had to be stored in an underground tank because with a lower vapor pressure, the line and regulator would freeze up in cold weather. For residential usage, in DOT cylinders like gas grills and smelting lead, and in 1 pound throw away bottles, Propane is used. The only difference is that Butane has about 4000 less BTUs per gallon (4#) than propane. Butane will burn in propane stoves and Propane would burn in any butane equipment still around. Camp stoves for camping using LPG are propane and are strong enough to handle 50 to 75 pounds of lead. I have a now deceases friend/neighbor who cast on an old coleman gasoline stove with the propane generator attachment for 50 years or so--25 with pump up pressure white gas and 25 or so with propane. He cast hundreds of thousands of "lead pills" with that old coleman--I have it in the barn now.

The OP asked about how long the one pound throw away cylinders would last and the answer depends on the BTUs of the burner. Coleman burners are about 12,500 BTU rated so 1 # would burn the stove 1.93 hours wide open atr100% efficiency. You never get 100%, but casting, not smelting, you never need the burner wide open. I still hold aTexas LPG (liquidified petroleum gas) Dealers license that I have held for 60 years--I never was in the business, but my Father was for 65 + years.

[Springfield0612]

I never do any batch over 10 lbs and I use an electric single burner hot plate that I picked up at goodwill for $5. I use a propane hand torch to accelerate temps and pre heat molds though.

[Travtastik]

Thanks for the info. I will be spending my weekend looking for upgrade options. I hound a few Coleman stoves on Craigslist but they want more then what a new one would cost me. Will get out after the 3gun match tomorrow and see what I can find.