I took the family and some in-laws camping this past weekend at Interstate State Park in Minnesota. We had a wonderful time in spite of the rain - very few blood sucking insects were out. Since I had such a large group (11) I did most of the cooking on my coleman 2 burner. Friday night it worked perfectly. Saturday and Sunday it did not run quite as well - the flame was more yellow than normal and the heat output was inconsistent. Anybody have any ideas? Could it be a bad batch of petrol? Should I burn some carbeurator cleaner through the tank?

On another note: It is always fun to people watch at state parks as the groups are generally quite varied. I looked up Saturday evening to see a man who was old enough to know better squirting lighter fluid on his camp fire. Luckily he did not kill or severly burn himself or anyone else. I have to admit I have done this in the past, but I might add I was a teenager and alcohol possibly influenced my decision making at the time.

I personally have never had any problems with a Coleman two-burner; I've long lost count of how many times I might have used one.
Have had some yellow flame in the second burner when used, but no problem. I've never been too concerned with flame color in and of itself. The per burner output of the Coleman of course falls when you are using both, and perhaps the air-fuel mix is impacted, too; I don't know. My only flame problems have come with a low tank. I always use Coleman fuel.
As for lighter fluid on a campfire, some people can't resist dangerous games. But I've started fires with fuel, especially beach fires in wind, and campfires in wet conditions where the available paper is damp. But that's a different story.
Speaking of which, now when I start barbeque charcoal, I spray a little alcohol on after application of the lighter fluid and before igniting. Works wonders!

UUm, you said you used petrol?

Sounds like the generator needs cleaning (or replaceing). Coleman normally run on Coleman fuel, and though chucking normal petrol in seems like a good idea, it does kill the generator. Take the generator out, get the cleaning needle rod out, and clean the crobon off it. That should fix it. If it doesn't, you could:
Remove the needle and jet, heat the generator to red hot, and poke it into water several times,

Or, get a new one. Much easier in you live in the US.

Check the manifold and mixing chamber for spiders. That's usually the cause, I've found.

The gas tip on that stove is cleaned by the valve wheel, rite? so that shouldn't be teh problem.

Yellow means rich, so somehow either there isn't enough pressure in the tank to draw the air into the mixing chamber, or the manifold/mixing chamber is blocked.

Or, you have bad fuel. Seems unlikely tho.

Good luck,

J

What's wrong with using lighter fluid to start fires?

it's only fuel!

As long as you have a nice open field, beach, or other large piece of land that doesn't belong to you, you can even use normal pump petrol. Just keep away others and yourself away from it, and pour all the fuel on BEFORE lighting it. Nothing can go wrong then.

In the back garden, however, stick to proper BBQ fluid, as the large petrol flame can upset ypur bneighbours.

I feel sorry for people who live next to me. Roarer stoves, flaring blowlamps, r/c aircraft and model rocket engines, and the occasional fruit being blown appart by air rifles. I'm surprised they don't hate me

The person in question was squirting the lighter fluid on the fire as the fire was burning, thereby potentially holding a bomb in his hands should the container ignight. Both my wife and my sister in law are nurses and would have had to save this idiot had he torched himself.