JUST GOT A COLEMAN 2 BURNER.  HOW MANY 1 LB PROPANE  CYLINDERS DO I NEED FOR 4 PEOPLE 9 DAYS

jimandme -

Figure on getting 1.5 - 2.0 hours of cooking time per green cylinder (assuming it's the 14-16 ounce variety frequently used with Coleman's).  If it was my group of 4, I'm figuring on 30 minutes of use per breakfast and 60 minutes per supper.  Over nine days, that's 8 breakfasts X 30 minutes = 240 minutes AND that's 8 suppers X 60 minutes = 480 minutes.  Grand total = 720 minutes or 12 hours of use.  So, that's 6 cylinders.

Of course, you may be cooking over a campfire for some meals.  For other meals you may only need to heat up a little water to pour into oatmeal or a bag of dehydrated food.  To the extent you do those things, your need for cylinders goes DOWN.  Frankly, I'd feel pretty safe with 5 cylinders (generally speaking) and possibly even 4.

On the other hand, your need for cylinders goes UP if you get one or two that develop "leaks".  I had two go bad on me on a single trip one year and found myself cooking over a campfire to compensate.  Fortunately, there was no fire ban going on.

Bottom line: it's something of a crap shoot.  You make your best guess re: actual cooking minutes, apply the burn time per cylinder, then hope you get lucky.

As for me, I've started using Kelly Kettles as my "back-up system."  For fixing coffee and simply heating water for eat-in-the-bag meals, you can't beat them.  You can cook on them, too, but not nearly as well as with gas. 

Jimbo   8-)

Jimbo,

Is that running just one burner or two at a time?  I run the backpacking stoves (MSR Windpro) and will take 6 of the 8 oz. isobutene/propane canisters for 4-6 people on a 10 day trip and usually come back with one full.  I do more than just boil water for freeze dried stuff (pancakes, red beans and rice, fish fry, fish chowder, eggs) and don't come near the cook times you are doing. 

So, J&M, like Jimbo says, depends on your cooking style, how much stove time you have and if you're running both burners.  I'd venture to say you'd probably do well with 4 - 1 pound bottles for 9 days if you use your fuel judiciously.  If you're perkin' a lot of coffee and making long cook foods, maybe toss in a 5th one.

pd

I think mostly it comes down to what you're cooking and how you're cooking it.

Those propane "burn time" figures I was using DID seem a little "conservative" to me but they came straight from the manufacturer of those cylinders.  Re: using single vs. two-burner stoves, well... the way I look at it, using two burners uses propane twice as fast BUT requires approximately half the burn time.  In other words, feeding four people gets done in half-an-hour vs. an hour but, ultimately, uses about the same amount of fuel.

But I'm no cook, so what do I know?  I'm just doing the math.  There could easily be other considerations I'm simply not thinking of regarding fuel consumption.

However, we arrived at the number, it seems like both PD and I are saying you'd do well to pack 4 cylinders... and maybe toss in a 5th if you want to be extra safe.

Jimbo   8-)

I'm late to the conversation but this is what I/we consume using a single burner Coleman.  For two of us we use approximately one, one lb. tank every three days.  This includes coffee, breakfast prep and a nightly fish fry along with the misc. apple cider, etc.  The fish fry consumes the vast majority of that usage.  I never did the actual burn time ( thanks Jimbo, I'll be using that).  One solo trips I use one half that amount or one lb. every six days.  As stated by others.....it all depends on what you're cooking.
Safe travels......Mike

Another thought:  I recently purchased two of the new, large Coleman brand Butane cylinders which are supposed to work with MSR small burners.  They did work the first time I screwed a MSR burner on them and did just fine.  However I left the burner screwed in because I would use it for the next meal and was in camp.  The second time I tried to light the burner it did not want to light...seemed no gas was coming out.  This happened to me with both cylinders and two different MSR burners.  Worked fine the first time, but with burner left on would not light/pump fuel a few hours later when I wanted to cook something else.  Has anyone else had this happen to them?
The cylinders say "self sealing" so I am wondering if they might seal below the aperture which allows the burner to access the fuel when it is screwed into the canister?  My trip was nearing the end so I unscrewed the burners and brought them and cylinders home.  I have not had a chance to re-try them now to see if unscrewing the burners made a difference.  :-? :-?

IC - is this what you're referring to for butane canisters -   (You need to Login or Register And can you be more specific about what MRS stove you have?  I have experience with several models, but never had the situation you describe occur.  My first thought is did you possibly leave the valve slightly open and all of the gas escaped or maybe did not have the stove connection fully seated? If there is still gas in the canister (sloshes when you shake it) then that is not likely the issue. If not, you could possibly (but unlikely) have two defective stoves?  Self sealing means when you unscrew the stove connection/stove head/burner, the canister will seal the valve - much like a bike tire valve.  Some older style canister stoves would use a puncture method, so once you connected it, you would have to leave it that way until you ran the fuel out.  If staying in the same camp, I will occasionally leave the stove connected and not had any issue with subsequent uses.  I definitely do NOT recommend leaving any stove burner connected to a fuel canister while traveling.  The chances of either stove damage or fuel leakage by the valve getting bumped open are too great.

pd

PD, Thanks for some response.  No, the gas was still in the cylinders, in fact quite a lot of it.  Do not know the model of my stove; it is small and has a red triangular plastic tube case for travel.  Both stoves worked fine all summer with MSR or Optimus cylinders for fuel and worked fine for first run on the Coleman cylinders too.
Since I last tried using the stoves I have packed them away, and off the cylinders.  I just returned from the trip I was on and the stove/fuel are still packed away.  I will try them again when I get a chance and see if they want to work.   

IC.

I did a little searching online about your problem and could find nothing about it.

I did find some posts about people having issues with Coleman propane cylinders because more than one vendo makes them.

Issues had to do with some of them having threading issues that caused low pressure/ no fuel at all. The threads should be coarse and deep on the bottles. The bad ones were fine/shallow and didn't hold the seal.

Since your stove worked fine with those other fuel canisters but not the Coleman, I'm thinking it might be a threading issue?  Maybe they worked the first time but the seal failed after sitting awhile.

One post talked about after having low pressure they removed and reattached stove every use which fixed their particular problem.

My own personal opinion is that all of the Butane/ Propane cylinders are manufactured in South Korea by the same company who private labels them as needed to the world.  The thread forms and seals are too uniform to be made by multiple vendors.  My guess would be you got a couple from the same bad lot.

MB

I thought that too until I read this:   (You need to Login or Register

  I found some other posts about the subject too.
It talked about how you didn't have to use the MSR fuel cylinders only because, other stove brands fuel bottles would work as well.

The wild card seemed to be the Coleman Brand cylinders which are the cheapest and probably the ones they make the most of.

  Maybe they make so many in more than one plant, they have QC issues?
  Having worked in QC for a while, I know how things can vary from batch to batch or with multiple vendors.

ST,  That all makes sense and I tend to agree it has to do with that seal....I had other issues too, like too low gas output, yellow flames coming out lower than top of burner, no gas flow, etc.  Which sounds like what you described.  I did get both cylinders at the same WalMart and off the shelf next to each other.  When I get a chance to try the burners/cylinders again I'll let you know what happens.  ;)

IC,
If it turns out to be a thread problem on the Coleman cylinders with the MSR stove threading and you want to keep using Coleman because of price/availability, you might want to check out Coleman's version of burner?

  The 2nd stove is more expensive but I that like it takes different type cylinders, so you can always have a back-up if you need it?
 
The 2nd one also has the option to use with a larger BULK tank, like a 5lb-11lb or even 20lb propane tank if you were camping in one spot for a while. Just need a different length hose you can get at ANY propane dealer.



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More  fuel details.   Looks like Coleman may be the only odd man out, even if the quality is sketchy?

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MB

The French  ::)

For sale USED French military rifle.
Never FIRED dropped ONCE  ;) ;D ;D

Excellent research ST!  I agree totally with your assertion.  I have not had problems with Coleman canisters because I don't buy them - something just looks/feels really low quality about them - seems for good reason.  I have used MSR, Primus, and a few others without issue.   

IC, your stoves are the MSR Pocket Rocket -   (You need to Login or Register; I have a couple of these.

pd

Thank you ST and PD!  Interesting information and yes, I went for the new Coleman canisters precisely because I have to travel to Ely or Crane Lake to get the others, when and if they have them.  Anderson's and LaTourell's both had the brand specific canisters this summer when I needed them.  Piragis also had them.  Prices were all about the same and all had canisters mid-summer when the paddling season was "on".  I noticed in my shopping at WalMart that they also have a smaller version burner, more like the PocketRocket.   8-)

Update on Walmart Propane/Butane cylinders:  I finally dug one of them out of storage from last winter and took it on a two week trip down the Basswood River and into Thursday Bay on Crooked Lake.  I also had along an Optimus and an MSR cylinders.  After a rest for several months the Walmart cyl did work properly but not always reliably.  Sometimes it would not produce a vigorous flame, kind of fading out to a slow burn even when turned full throttle, and still with plenty of fuel left in the cyl.   :o :o