I have a few old Coleman 425(B,C,D,E, and F) suitcases. I also found a dual fuel tank with valve and generator assembly - no suitcase for $20 brand new (see picture). As long as the generator reaches the manifold properly and the tank hangs on the case properly, this should work, shouldn't it? Even with unleaded fuel? With or without danger? Ok, I'm asking more out of paranoia for my safety and wanting my house to stay standing after I light this up. I don't usually like to mix and match stove parts, but hey, nothing ventured, nothing gained, right? sam
If it is a proper fit, I don't see a problem. I am just guessing, but I bet the only changes for the dual fuel was the coating of the tank and, perhaps, a larger diameter generator, but what else could be changed? Still, I'd take it outside, away from the house, to fire it up.
looks like it should work - but i'd never use unleaded in any of the Coleman dual-fuel stoves except unless in dire need (too sooty fer me)...
Hi Sam, I had a dual fuel that had been through a tornado and I experimented with e85 in it. IIRC- The generator TIP is slightly different to the older normal generators. I really wouldn't pay 20.usd for the tank and gen tube when you can probably find a whole dual fuel stove in good shape for 10. somewhere! Best, Randy
I agree, it's dire need for me too. I have few stoves for that very reason and no unleaded goes in them - but if I really had to, I could. You never know what will really happen in 2012 or if the aliens come on July 4th, or if people started pushing the nuke buttons, or whatever. I guess if that were the case, now that I think of it, I could fish all I want with no limits! That was a tangent. OK, well, I guess I'll just get out there in the snow and fire this thing up. Boil up something. See what happens. As for the price - $20 - I can't seem to find even the green suitcases, red-tank, around here anymore for less than $15, so it was a good price for me. My only other alternative for good stovie stuff is online, which always includes shipping. On another note (tangent), when I was in San Antone last week, they had Coleman 533s for $29, which are $45 here in snowy Idaho at the same store - WalMart. It's snowing now. sam
So I took some cough medicine and went and braved the snow and cold cruel world to try out the modern tank on the old hardware. The setting is out behind my house in temperature 27F, wind 10 - 15 mph, and snowing. The stoves are Coleman 425B and 425F. I set up my stove stand out in the back with the first test case Coleman 425B, which is quite beat up and awaiting my attention. I'll get to that in a few years. Starting up the burn test, the flame burned yellow for a good 10 minutes. I was a bit worried that this setup would not work. As a matter of fact, the manifold filled with fuel and created a fantastic fireball and then settled back down to yellow... It finally did what it was supposed to do and burned clean blue flames. Like I wrote above, it took about 10 minutes to get to this point. After a while, and letting things cool down, I then tried the modern tank on my 425F, which has a bit different manifold than the 425B. I was surprised by the rapid achievement of nice blue flame, which took, what I thought reasonable, about 2 minutes. What I noticed was the flame burns at a larger volume than with the original red-tank and generator. I then put on the kettle and boiled a liter of water in about 3 1/2 minutes. Here it is boiling quite nicely... And finally, I lit the other burner and it behaved as expected. I left it burning this way for another half hour and was pleased with the result. I didn't have to pull out the extinguisher, nor did anything explode. What amazes me is that parts could be interchanged within these stoves over a large span of time and manufacture. I suppose most brassies are built that way too, but for an American product, that is quite amazing with so many businesses nowadays wanting their customers and consumers to keep buying their products as their usefulness becomes obsolete with newer models. As least this is true for the liquid 2-burner stoves that Coleman still makes.
It would be my understanding that the generator had not cooled down between stoves thus the quicker shift from preheat to blue flames. Or it might be the difference in cleaning out the gunk the previous owner left in the tank and generator. either way you are correct Coleman is one of the "old world style of doing things companies. build it to last then make sure the parts will fit from now until doomsday. I like them for that reason. lance
Sam, Good stuff to know. Now if I see a new tank/valve/gen for 20 bucks, I would get it for exactly the same reasons you did.
Sam, It's also really nice to be able to replace the funky pump gasket with a leather one. I picked up one of these stoves free(it didn't work) from a Craigslist ad; the pump wouldn't pressurize the tank. After a swap out to a pump leather, the stove ran hot and strong. I sold it(along with 17 other 2 burner and 5 of the 3 burner suitcases) for $10 ($15 for the 3 burner).
Hi idaho, Great flame you have and I love the stove stand you have there. I'll have to keep my eyes peeled for one like that as they look like they would be pretty handy. abman, you got a seroius suitcase collecting bug , or should I say had a suitcase bug. How does somebody come across 22 or 23 coleman suitcases? If I had that many, my wife would think I had issues . Well,my wife thinks that anyhow and I don't have 23 colemans, wish I did! Take care, Dan
good job! thanks for the pics and glad to see you've got a working stove... i like the thicker grate on the older stoves... my 425 finds have been really reasonable, but considering i now have three of 'em, i think i have enough interchangeable parts to put together at least one working model... p.s. also found a 'new in shrink wrap' generator for my 425s at a local Sports Authority for US$6 - but as i now know, it's generally a never-needs-to-be-replaced part!
Dan, I picked that stand up at a local army surplus for $8 with canvas bag. It's actually a water basin stand. What kind of water basin, I don't know, but a 5-gallon bucket is too small for the ring. Here is a link to the same place I bought it from for $18, which is quite a bit more than I paid: Water Basin Stand My bet is that you can probably find it for cheaper somewhere else. The thing I like about it is that it can hold the weight. abman, uh, what Dan said. But then, I have around 15 of those green monsters taking up space in my garage. Bought 'em when they were between $5 and $10. Haven't bought one since my 426B back in August. linux_author, there's a sports authority where I live. Hadn't thought of that, I'll have to check.
In Santa Cruz we have the "Goodwill Bargain Barn" which sells the stuff that isn't clean enough or otherwise nice enough(for some unknown criteria) to be sold in the Good Will Store. Through the years I have kept quite a few coleman stoves from going into the landfill. I was lucky enough to find a Peak 1 400 stove and 222 lantern in their padded bags for $1.00 for the pair. The stove needed a pump gasket which I changed to a leather, and the lantern needed a mantle.
This tank/pump/valve/gen setup was brand new so it won't need the leather quite yet. But when it does start to wear, I'll keep that in mind to replace with leather instead of replacing the whole pump, of which, I have replacement kits for, but why waste a kit on that? Thanks for the advice. That would be nice to find a 222 lantern, at all. Have a nice holiday! sam
