If you dedicated defilers can get past the source, here's an interesting article about making gasoline from cellulose (plants). You just have to hug a tree REAL hard: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/04/green-gasoline.php
I bought a 500ml can of Coleman recently for ?4.99 which is the equivalent of ?9.98 per litre. As a newcomer to stoves it will be my first and last can as I now have a 5L can of Aspen and I won't be going back to Coleman after the years the Aspen will last me. Unless Kermit's tests reveal something nasty lurking in it I can't see the public returning to petrol stoves, even in the highly unlikely event that Coleman became much cheaper. Aspen is much cheaper already but it won't generate a mass return to the petrol stove by the typical leisure stove user. The reason is the advantages of gas cartridges have little or nothing to do with fuel costs but everything to do with sheer convenience. For someone who just wants to use a stove to heat food with the least hassle when camping or hiking, which has to be the great majority of those who buy one, gas is superior in just about every way. I'm not referring to specialist uses like military or scientific expeditions to cold or remote regions but the ordinary fine weather camper or hiker. It's only anoraks like us who delight in the rituals associated with petrol or other liquid fuel stoves but we're so few as to hardly exist.
Aspen will need to increase the number of dealers who sell it a thousandfold for it to be taken up in any great quantity. Currently, I'd have to spend around ?10 on fuel to make a return journey to get some. Oh, and I'd be doing that in my nasty, polluting, petrol-engined car - which kind of defeats the point, doesn't it..? #-o
Petrol stoves have never been popular in the UK, nine times out of ten it was a paraffin stove you used. I agree that gas stove are convenient, especially in the summer months, but the multifuel stoves are getting more popular with specialist campers like the bushcraft and canoe lads when they can't have an open fire. PS, your 5 litre tin of fuel won't last as long as you think, now you have it, you'll be using the stove a lot more
I am interested in how many in the U.S. use the recently manufactured liquid fuel stoves and lanterns. When I go to the sporting goods stores the gassies are certainly there in prominence, but the "dual-fuel" lanterns and Coleman stoves are still right out there also. I still don't like gassies for the simple reason you never know how much fuel you really have left. I am far from being an expert, but I am guessing that stateside, the Coleman liquid fuel appliances or something like them will never die....even if we have to "hug the tree" really hard to get the fuel.....
I use whatever takes my fancy on a trip. Solo use (very rare these days) its a Trangia 25 or 27. With two or more of us its a Nova/Omnifuel and another, more often than not a 111 of some sort. If I take a three legger its pretty much always a 45. Lanterns vary from a gassie to a Coleman 229, Vapalux or candle lamp. All my torches/flashlamps are LED now.
Indeed David but obtaining and using Aspen wasn't my point, I just mentioned that in passing. My point was to respond to your suggestion that if Coleman was a lot cheaper in the UK then a lot more people would buy it. I disagreed with that. The fact is that the gas cartridge stove now rules in the UK and there isn't going to be any movement back to liquid fuel stoves, whether petrol or paraffin, even if they give it away because stove usage for the average camper/hiker/outdoor type like anglers etc. is not about the price of fuel but about the convenience of use. regards
Ironically, I think that if Aspen 4T proves to be the petrol stove users Saviour, it will be because it is NOT directly marketed to us stovies, but instead sold as a fuel for lawnmowers, chainsaws and other gardening tools. That market is much bigger than the liquid fueled stove one. As your average suburbanite becomes more aware of green issues and his carbon footprint ( ) then we must hope that he embraces this cleaner fuel for his gardening needs. This might just keep the price of Aspen to within reasonable and also ensure a more diffuse distribution. David, perhaps it's time to hug a tree hugger!
"Oh, and I'd be doing that in my nasty, polluting, petrol-engined car - which kind of defeats the point, doesn't it..? " Not me, I'd fire up the Sikorsky and burn $1000 of fuel (that's 13-million in the UK) to run to the hardware store. No, wait, I'd ride my bike or pick it up while I'm fetching all the other crap I have to fetch. It would be just plain silly to make a special trip in the helicopter for a gallon of fuel. How about this? I've been using gas (petrol) stoves and lanterns since I was a kid and there have been plenty of times when there was no Coleman fuel at hand so I used auto-fuel or av-gas with no discernible ill-effect. I've noted all the compelling reasons to not use auto-fuel, but what if one used 1 tank of Coleman (or Aspen) for every 2-3 tanks of auto-fuel? That would significantly reduce one's net stove fuel cost. Would the every-third tank of Coleman keep your bits tidy? I tried to phrase that for the former colonisers, we don't have tidy bits in the US and we do our colonizing with a "z. It doesn't matter much here in the US, where Coleman's still cheap (free in Pounds Sterling) but I'll certainly give it a try when Coleman fuel hits $75.00/gallon. My very first camp stove was a Gerry Mini Stove and we used a Bluet on a sailboat we had in Pensacola, both worked fine. We were young, the water was warm, the beaches were like sugar in the moonlight; who cares about stoves? My big practical objection to gas stoves and lanterns is the "disposable" canisters. I know that steel is probably the most recycled material on the planet, but it still bugs me to add to the waste stream. I have other, amply-expounded-upon, aesthetic objections that y'all already know. Best... Gary
The recent upturn in my fortune has been due to metal recycling. It's a dirty business in the literal sense, but I netted over 800.00 usd this week. (that is after a 50/50 split with my son, and after we both paid half the gasoline cost) The price of scrap is up due to chinese demand. At least that's what they have told us. I had a car for sale for 500.00 in my driveway for almost a year. No takers. It was the last thing we hauled to the scrapyard Saturday morning. We got 457.00 for it, just to see it crushed. (1979 Buick LeSabre limited edition, needed a tranny, but in pretty good shape otherwise, just not a project for me) The reason I tell you all this is because I know from going to the three big metal recyclers here that they don't want to take the propane cannisters. They are especially pissy about the bigger ones, like the ones that go on your gas grill. I don't think they are afraid of the little ones, but the companies all have a list of things they don't want you to bring them, and the cannisters are on it............one more reason to not like them. Best, Randy, who found brass this weekend! Brass must be lucky!!!!!
There's an odd parallel thread moment going for me just now. On another Forum that I occasionally visit, someone has just asked the question: "How do you know when your gas cylinder is empty?" I must admit, that in my smugness I laughed, I laughed aloud !!!! Just today I recycled the first 5 L. empty paraffin can, after almost 2 years. Just put the empty can in the recycling bin, simple. 2 years of occasional stove and lantern use and one empty 5 L. can. My smug conscience is clean, I'll rest easy tonight.
I use aspen 4t only. Kero smells to much indoors. It works great in regulated burners made for kero even without changing the jets. But heres the catch: You need a srv cap (preferably) and you have to install a cotton wick inside the riser tube to prevent backfire. I dont reccomend to use petrol/aspen in non regulated burners because of explosion risk. (because you have to use vent scew to shut it off, gases may catch fire and blow the tank up)
