Coleman stove helped us during the winter power outage

[sparkyv]

I nave a 45 year old Coleman 413G dual burner white gas stove. I hadn't used it in at least 20 years, and the last I recall, it was rode hard and put up wet. Well I pulled it out of the garage and was a bit concerned that it might not light. Well it did, and I fixed three meals and boiled water for coffee for my family over the 36 hours we were without electricity with weather in the teens in SETX. It certainly helped comfort us a bit. It performed flawlessly. Today, now that the weather's more temperate, I stripped that baby down and gave it a good once-over. Cleaned out the generator and valve stem, pulled out the pump assembly and cleaned/oiled it, cleaned up the spill tray and burners and lightly painted them as well. She's good to go for another 45 faithful years!

 

[oldag]

Yep. Our 40 year old Coleman worked fine. The night it got down to zero, though, it was just too cold for the fuel to vaporize.

 

[Axxe55]

Good to hear you and your family made ti through okay. I too have an old Coleman stove in the attic. It's probably about the same age. Luckily we never lost power so it wasn't needed. But I didn't have any fuel for it anyways! Might be something I need to think about though

Good suggestion.

 

[skfullgun]

Sometimes the "old" stuff can save your life.
I remember many a night using a Coleman pump-up lantern to stay warm in a tent!

 

[sparkyv]

I kept the stove indoors until I was ready to use it. It never dropped below 45oF in the house, but even so, I waited unti it got close to 20oF before I went out to cook.

Yep. Our 40 year old Coleman worked fine. The night it got down to zero, though, it was just too cold for the fuel to vaporize.

 

[baboon]

Mine is in my shop that I have not been able to unlock since the first load of moving went into it.

 

[TAZ]

Thinking about investing in one of those or a pair of jetboil stoves. We never lost power, just heat and water, but next time we may not be so lucky

 

[ZX9RCAM]

Thinking about investing in one of those or a pair of jetboil stoves. We never lost power, just heat and water, but next time we may not be so lucky

If you didn't lose power, why did you lose heat?

 

[hippolove]

yes, I pulled out an old trusty coleman 452B and cooked up some instant mashed potatoes. surprised I even had some old camp fuel.

 

[Texasjack]

Put my old Coleman on the front porch and cooked on it when we had no power. I was having trouble with the Coleman fuel system, but I had a propane converter I bought at least 10 years ago that was still in it's package. It worked great, but man that stove goes through a 1 lb can quick! Used my downtime to order a hose so I can connect a larger tank and a new pump. After I ordered, I recalled that I had a pump behind the work bench. Sure enough, I had 2 I bought at some closeout for $1 each. Swapped it out, cleaned the fuel pipe out, and it's back working like new.

I've always said that if you can go camping, you can survive just about anything.

 

[dsgrey]

We lost power and the ability to cook for 5 days in 2000 due to an ice storm taking down feeder lines in Fannin county. I didn't have a Coleman but my gas grill with a side burner saved us for cooking and boiling water for coffee. I also had a dual burner heater that attached to a propane tank. As soon as one propane tank goes empty I refill as my spare tank is in use on the grill. You never know when those come in handy!

 

[oldag]

I kept the stove indoors until I was ready to use it. It never dropped below 45oF in the house, but even so, I waited unti it got close to 20oF before I went out to cook.

Yeah, I got smarter after that night and stored it in the house. Helped a little.

 

[satx78247]

To All,

Perfectly functional COLEMAN gasoline lanterns & stoves are OFTEN available for sale at garage & estate sales for 5 bucks or often less.
(I recently bought a pair of "single mantle" Coleman lanterns for 2 bucks each at a SATX garage sale, just after Noon. - The lanterns were "marked for" 10 bucks each & I asked IF I could get a better price & the lady offered them to me for 2 bucks each. ===> SOLD.)

It also OFTEN pays to watch the "bulk pick-up days", as I have several times "scavenged" Coleman lanterns/stoves that were "put out for the trashman". = I gave a pair of gas lanterns to each of my brothers that were "tossed out".
(ALL that the lanterns needed was a "good bath".)

yours, satx

 

[Texasjack]

One thing about old Coleman stoves and lanterns is that they were designed to be simple and rugged. If you do find a garage sale, beat up Coleman, there are plenty of YouTube videos on how to restore them, and you can get parts on Amazon or Ebay. Often just a few minutes cleaning out the old gunk and spiders will get it back to 100%. It may sit in the garage for a long time, but there is always a hurricane or camping trip or hunting opportunity that will bring it out and make things happen.

 

[PinnedandRecessed]

I've always had a positive association with Coleman lanterns and stoves. I used to buy them cheap at auctions and garage sales then fix them up and gift them to family and friends. I had to downsize when we moved to Texas but still have a few things to help us through if the situation warrants it. Like mentioned before the hose adapter is a must have for propane powered stoves being used for an extended period. Always good to have options. Just make sure to have good ventilation...some people learned this the hard way this past week and are no longer with us.

 

[ZX9RCAM]

Your shit is too neat.
I hate you!

 

[sparkyv]

Options, Baby, options!

View attachment 245595

 

[satx78247]

One thing about old Coleman stoves and lanterns is that they were designed to be simple and rugged. If you do find a garage sale, beat up Coleman, there are plenty of YouTube videos on how to restore them, and you can get parts on Amazon or Ebay. Often just a few minutes cleaning out the old gunk and spiders will get it back to 100%. It may sit in the garage for a long time, but there is always a hurricane or camping trip or hunting opportunity that will bring it out and make things happen.

Texasjack,

You are 100% CORRECT. - I'm NOT at all sure that there is ANY problem with a Coleman stove/lantern that cannot be repaired with enough TIME & cheap parts.
(I've been known to disassemble 2-3 old/broken/rescued "from the trash heap" lanterns/stoves to get enough "scavenged parts" to fix ONE device.)

I once "scrapped out" 4 Coleman 2-burner stoves (that I found in the trash-heap) to rebuild TWO 3-burner stoves for our BSA troop. = Our "total investment" was <10 bucks & about 2-3 hours of my spare time (on a rainy/cold Winter evening) for the 2 three-burner stoves.
(Anyone who thinks that doing those 2 rebuilds is "NUTS", has NOT checked-out the cost of a pair of new 3-burner Coleman stoves.)

yours, satx

 

[PinnedandRecessed]

Your shit is too neat.
I hate you!

I'm not a big fan of clutter. I don't mind a little clutter but it better be organized clutter.

 

[deemus]

I nave a 45 year old Coleman 413G dual burner white gas stove. I hadn't used it in at least 20 years, and the last I recall, it was rode hard and put up wet. Well I pulled it out of the garage and was a bit concerned that it might not light. Well it did, and I fixed three meals and boiled water for coffee for my family over the 36 hours we were without electricity with weather in the teens in SETX. It certainly helped comfort us a bit. It performed flawlessly. Today, now that the weather's more temperate, I stripped that baby down and gave it a good once-over. Cleaned out the generator and valve stem, pulled out the pump assembly and cleaned/oiled it, cleaned up the spill tray and burners and lightly painted them as well. She's good to go for another 45 faithful years!

I bought a conversion kit so mine can use the small propane bottles. VERY convenient and no seals to oil.