Yes, that's correct, and it's not panel wipe, either! Formerly used widely as an industrial solvent, trichloroethane is being phased out (to zero by 2010) by the Montreal Protocol. For many reasons, it's just about the last thing I'd be burning in a stove and I'm surprised it's still even available... Alan, just find a local Motor Factor for Panel Wipe - as an example, THIS is the one near to where I work. There's bound to be one near you - just google 'motor factor' and the name of your nearest town. Prices will vary widely, though, from about ?7.50 for 5 litres up to about ?16 for the same amount, so shop around. Hope that helps...
Richard wrote: I've read often here about panel wipe as a substitute for Coleman but personally I'd like to see some analysis of what's in it before I use it. It's not enough to know that it burns adequately, not for me anyway. I think we need to know if there is anything nasty in it as well because it is not designed for burning as far as I know, in contrast to Coleman or alkylate which are. So I'd like to know whether panel wipe gives off particularly dangerous fumes, ie. worse than Coleman or alkylate, either from the liquid itself or from its combustion, similarly whether it may be especially harmful to the skin and so on. Be very good if the proposed tests would include panel wipe for comparison.
I am very pleased that Kermit will do these analyses. I find myself using, and discussing so many different kinds of petroleum distillates and aside from what "everybody knows" it's hard to know much of anything about them. Besides gumming up our stoves, it would be good to know how they gum-up our bodies and environment. That may be beyond Kermit's mandate. I'm probably not the only person here who has had a mouthful of gasoline from sucking on a siphon hose. I don't do that anymore, often. Gary
Hey, Primus Us, I own that T-shirt, too..... Tried to siphon some gas from one friend's Chevy, to another's, and got a nice mouthful of gasoline for my troubles!!! YUCK!!! I don't recommend it........ Take care, and God Bless! Every Good Wish, Doc
Last year a local Wilkinson store reduced its 1lt bottle of BBQ fluid to about 25p (50c) so I took a bottle home to try, worked hot and clean in kerosene stoves, so I went back and cleared the shelves I've tried a couple of other brands which have proved a real failure, so I suppose its down to brand
Where are you getting Coleman fuel that is dyed? The stuff I get (and I just bought a gallon yesterday) is water clear. ....Arch
It' s always had a greenish tinge to it in my experiace, you don't notice it when pouring, but shine a light down the can and peek, it should look faintly green.
Arch, I believe it to be true, Coleman fuel does have a green dye added. The following came from the http://members.iinet.net.au/~mbuckler/fuel/index.shtml] International Fuel Names link[/url] Scroll down the page a bit to find this quote: Enjoy the Flame
This won't be of any interest to our American friends who instead of paying for Coleman fuel actually get paid for buying it, but for us here in the UK where Coleman costs both arms and legs I have some findings. After reading about it on this forum, I decided to buy a ?13 5L can of Aspen 4T alkylate petrol to try in my 123R. Not always easy to find for us city dwellers and could require a lengthy journey. However from their website I found a stockist based near Gatwick airport and because I recently had to drop someone off there, it presented an opportunity to buy the stuff without travelling much out my way. I should add that I'm a complete novice with stoves and know very little about them other than what I've gleaned from this great forum. The truth is I bought the 123R a couple months ago just because I love the look of it and I enjoy the mechanical aspects of running a liquid stove instead of a much simpler to operate and maintain gas cartridge. All that filling, lighting and general fiddling about ritual, great! You'll all understand what I mean I'm sure. So far I've used it only for my day walks in the country for when I stop and heat up a can of soup, beans or ready rice meals etc. Being semi retired I have plenty time available and love going for cross country day trip walks of a few miles to get of town for a while. It's never been run until now on anything other than Coleman. Anyway, long story short, this morning I ran the stove on Aspen and then Coleman, draining out any unused fuel each time before filling with the other. In both cases I waited a few minutes as you need to for the SVEA to get up to full blast. We all know that Coleman works fine but I found that Aspen works well. If anything it is somewhat better. The flame with Aspen is a little higher on the same setting which, though I'm not sure, could be considered an advantage but, even better, the pulsing effect was much reduced compared with Coleman. With the latter it continues for several minutes but on Aspen, it was hardly present at all and what little there was disappeared not long after lighting, unlike with Coleman. Furthermore, the stove ignited after priming easier with Aspen too, lighting straight off the priming flame whilst on Coleman it didn't and I had to ignite it separately with a match, something I've always had to do in the limited time I've had the stove. In both cases I primed with meths. in the usual manner, filling the depression to the limit. I'm no scientist, my results are just anecdotal and it could be that the differences I found may be due to other factors of which I'm unaware. I tried to ensure the conditions were the same in both cases, indoors, same room, same ambient temperature, same fill level. The Aspen was first, followed by Coleman a little later after the stove had cooled. However if the conditions were not the reason for the differences, I guess that Aspen is more volatile and thus turns to vapour easier than Coleman. Given that Aspen cost me the equivalent of ?1.30 per 500ml. compared with the ?5.00 Coleman price, and the fact that Aspen appears superior, I'll never buy Coleman again if I can help it once I've consumed the can I have.
Hi Novice, Sounds like the Aspen is good stuff, but I have to ask you , as one of the americans who has struggled most of his life to keep his head above water, how did you get that ANYONE is paying us to buy Coleman fuel?!?!?!?! I only pay $6.67 usd per u.s. gallon, but for now, I am lucky if I make 10 usd per hour. How would you get the idea we get "paid" to use Coleman? Best, Randy "edit" A little more information on the situation in Denver, Colorado, USA: Coleman has managed to get discount stores and sporting good stores in this area to sign "exclusive" contracts so that Coleman is virtually the only white gas or naptha fuel product available, but we aren't benefited by the situation. Walmart used to have their own store brand of stove fuel and I am sure that in some parts of the country they still do. Just not here. It would have been about 1 usd cheaper than the Coleman and of course, I would have purchased that instead! Please tell me how you would come to think that we are getting "paid" to buy Coleman?
Randy, I looked for the Ozark Trail stuff @ Wal-Mart here in SC and couldn't find it. They might have been out, but I didn't see a slot for it on the shelf either.
Hello Randy It's just a joke mate, put it down to the Brit sense of irony which, as we often hear, doesn't always work well in the States. All I meant of course is that Coleman is incredibly cheap in the US (in our terms) and incredibly expensive in the UK. To illustrate this, using your above price of $6.67 per USG and with the ?1 worth about $1.97, this converts to a price in sterling of around ?0.89 per litre. We have to pay ?10.00 per litre. In other words our cost is 11 times higher than yours. And using your wage comparison, whilst our wages are probably a little higher in general, they are nothing like 11 times higher. Therefore Coleman is not only dirt cheap in absolute terms over there compared with over here, it is dirt cheap on a wage comparison too. So you can see why we here are so desperate to locate alternative fuels. regards
Novice's joke was easy enough to get, and I hasten to say that the Brit irony can work well indeed here; although web text alone isn't too good with irony. Coleman fuel here has always, at least til lately, been so cheap that I have often supposed that it is subsidized by Coleman. At least, this is what I used to think when it was found most places at around $3.99, in a nice gallon tin, no less. The last year or two it has gone up with the great rise in gasoline prices here in general, but at under 7 dollars per gallon, it is still very cheap. A gallon of Coleman fuel lasts me a long time, and I camp several times per year. The price differential between Coleman fuel here and in Britain has always been shockingly large. I'm glad these other sources of fuel for petrol stoves have been found by our Brit brethren. The questions of wage rates and buying power is an interesting one. It can't be confused with the exchange rate situation. My general take when last in England, a year ago, was that everyday prices of things were roughly in pounds sterling as they were here in dollars; ie, the price of bread, a candy bar, beer, a fish-and-chips pub lunch, etc., perhaps just a little less. Thus they were twice as expensive as here for the Yank tourist, but my guess is that they bore roughly the same proportion to local wages as things here do.
