Gas and liquid fuel stove that burns reliably on gasoline?

I often travel to places where gasoline or wood are the only available sources of fuel.

This is not the USA. There is no Coleman fuel \ white gas, etc. The locals are cooking on wood daily inside their homes, but gasoline is always available. Butane canisters are not.

At the same time, I also like to travel to other places where butane canisters are relatively easy to source, with gasoline still being the cheapest, but where white gas and kerosone are prohibitively expensive.

So I'm looking for a liquid and gas stove that can truly burn reliably on gasoline, meaning it is robust enough to not be affected too much by the buildups from the additives in gasoline, or it's designed in such a way as to easily clean out any buildups.

I'm coming from a Primus Omnilite Ti. It burned gasoline happily for a couple of months but now it's pretty unreliable. It's at the point where the vapor comes out very nicely and the flame is blue but then it gets clogged in the middle of burning. This happens every time no matter how often I remove the jet and clean the flame adjustment needle in the valve closest to the stove. So somewhere inside the stove is continually generating fine particulates that go up and plug up the jet.

There is no tool to clean the inside of the fuel line like on MSR stoves. The fuel line is also not user-serviceable and needs to be entirely replaced, a difficult thing to do in a country where Primus doesn't exist and where international shipping takes a month or so.

Any options out there?

 

You have already mentioned MSR. Any of the expedition stoves will reliably run on petrol, with cleaning.

The M1950 is cleanable and designed for petrol.

If you can locate enough spare generators, the Coleman 533 is good.

 

Whisperlite Universal

 

MSR XGK has a cleanable generator.

 

Yes, but the XG-K cannot run on the canister.

 

BRS 8A by APG

 

Yessir, the WLU would be most versatile, XGK is just another option. Seems like anywhere that butane is available, gasoline is as well.

I did read a couple reviews that had the WLU listed poorly, and the XGK not listed at all, but they highly rated the JetBoil, so that tells you all you need to know.

 

Yes sir. That's really funny.

 

At the same time, I also like to travel to other places where butane canisters are relatively easy to source, ...
@snwcmpr if above was brs 8 commentary...

 

Are there any downsides to the WhisperLite Universal?

I like the fact that the flame is wider and it's quiet. I don't believe there are other stoves that are as quiet? My Omnifuel and stoves with similar flame spreaders like the BRS 8 and XGK all seem to be super loud.

The curved generator bit seems like it would be tough to clean - Is it as simple as getting it soaked in carburetor cleaner and running the braided cable along the inside over and over and flushing it?

If using it purely on gasoline twice a day for like an hour total daily, would a weekly clean be ok?

The main issue I think would be getting that internal curved fuel line as clean as possible because even if I miss a tiny 1mm bit of soot, that can easily come loose from the internal wall of the line during operation and flow out and clog that tiny jet.

Would a stove without a curved generator like my Primus Omnifuel be less prone to blockages in the long run and be easier to clean because it's a straight fuel line?

 

no, it's as simple as pulling out the bradied cable, wiping it off, reinserting, and repeating a few times. the shakerjet cleans itself, you just need to shake it a little. clean as needed, when performance degrades.

 

Cleaning can be more thorough.
Remove cable after a series of insert/remove.
Remove jet.
Flush with fuel.

I reinsert cable in reverse each time to clean it.

 

@rabidsoggymoose

I’ve got one in the shed I could get going for you, if you want it.

Others will advise on its use with ULP as I only ever use Shellite.

Tony

 

Ok, I had missed the desire for The One Stove to Rule Them All.

Running on an automobile fuel and running on butane are opposite ends of a spectrum. The WLU is able to span them all, but there are some downsides.

My personal choice is to carry a butane-only stove. That way I don't have to worry about The One Stove and can instead have 2 for less money and less fuss.

The XGK family are built tougher, cope with more and are more easily stripped down. The noise is a part of the equation- they are built for tough not quiet. The WLU is heading up Cape York in a Subaru. The XGK is a Jeep Wrangler Rubicon. I own a 40 year old X-GK which does everything just as badly as it did when new. But it will reliably do what is needed: its design brief.

I read a great quote years ago- "Success in life is easy. All you need to do is decide what you want- and what you will give up to get it." I think this applies to stoves too - what will you give up? What do you really want?

 

For petrol/gasoline, rugged to use in both hot/cold climates - It’d go for the Former Soviet PT-2 stove. It burns automobile gasoline very fine and can be easily serviced in the field by the one original key which comes with it. It is rock solid build with a fairly large fount for a small stove.
For butane/propane and Canister use - I’d go for a reliable cheap and lightweight Butane/propane Stove. Some prefers the cannister connected via a tube/hose, while others prefer the stove mounted directly on the Canister - That is up to you as both has its pro’s and cons. (The hose version in combo with a stove which can handle Liquid butane/propane makes it possible to use in colder areas, as you can turn the Canister upside down, making it run on Liquid butane/propane.

A bit of info (search CCS for PT-2 Ogonek):
PT 2 Ogonek

 

I run gasoline on my MSR Dragonfly, has been running flawless for years without any issue. I just shake it to clean out the jet.

 

How exactly does having a noisier design equate to being tougher?

Or put another way, how does being quieter make the WhisperLite not as tough? What noise-reducing part of the design makes it fail more often and what noise-increasing part of the XGK design reduce failures, and what specific kind of failures does it reduce?

 

Quietude comes at a cost.

 

Noisier = more power. Applies to cars, trucks, chainsaws, guard dogs, etc.