Where to find white gas (Coleman fuel)?

[InquiringMind]

I've got an old Svea 123 camp stove. Not as light as some of the newer designs, but damn near bullet proof. I haven't been camping in a number of years, but I'm planning to go later this month.

I went looking to buy some white gas (Coleman fuel) and am having a hard time finding any. Home Depot and the local Ace hardware don't have any (hadn't even heard of it), and EMS wants $13 a QUART. Online searches of places like Sports Authority turn up nada.

Is this stuff hard to come by now, or am I having bad luck? Anyone know good sources?

[Cedar]

I went looking to buy some white gas (Coleman fuel) and am having a hard time finding any.

Call Coleman and see who they sell to locally to you.
http://www.coleman.com/chooseafuel/
1-800-835-3278

Cedar

[fritz_monroe]

I haven't purchased it in a couple of years.  But I've seen it in Walmart and in Dicks Sporting Goods.

[kckndrgn]

my local Walmart carries it, in the sporting goods section (with camping stuff)

[FreeLancer]

I got a soft spot for the Svea from childhood backpacking trips.  It's a little messy if you're not careful, and one time not tightening the fuel cap resulted in an interesting auxiliary jet of flame, but otherwise always worked well enough. 

Like others, I've never had a problem finding white gas at Walmart or sporting goods stores.  REI usually has MSR and Coleman brands in gallon and smaller sizes. 

[TexDaddy]

I purchased mine from Academy. They had the best price at the time.

[InquiringMind]

my local Walmart carries it, in the sporting goods section (with camping stuff)

Yesterday I called in to Walmart to save myself a trip and they said they didn't carry it. Only propane and kerosene.
Today I was in the area anyway, so I decided to stop by and check for myself. Good thing I did - it was sitting right there next to the other fuels. I guess I made the mistake of assuming they had basic competence...

At any rate, thanks for all the help! In the end, Walmart sold it for 1/4 the price EMS was asking.

[ShannonB]

We also find ours at Academy in the camping section. During deer season it is usually in cases HIGH up on the shelves.

[JerseyVince]

Yesterday I called in to Walmart to save myself a trip and they said they didn't carry it. Only propane and kerosene.
Today I was in the area anyway, so I decided to stop by and check for myself. Good thing I did - it was sitting right there next to the other fuels. I guess I made the mistake of assuming they had basic competence...

At any rate, thanks for all the help! In the end, Walmart sold it for 1/4 the price EMS was asking.

Probably thought it was some L.A. Punk rock band name "White Gas" when you asked 

[alan123]

I got a soft spot for the Svea from childhood backpacking trips.  It's a little messy if you're not careful, and one time not tightening the fuel cap resulted in an interesting auxiliary jet of flame, but otherwise always worked well enough. 

I still fire up my Svea once a year. Works like a champ. I still have a little pump that attaches to a replacement gas cap. Pressurizes the stove.

[FreeLancer]

I still fire up my Svea once a year. Works like a champ. I still have a little pump that attaches to a replacement gas cap. Pressurizes the stove.

Neat.  We always used some crappy medicine dropper thingy to dribble the liquid into the primer pan.  Pain in the butt, but cool when you're a 12 year old pyromaniac.

[mnotlyon]

When I was a kid, back when leaded gasoline existed, the old timers said that white gas, and unleaded gasoline were the same thing. Many of them used it in their colman lamps.

Years later, when I wanted to buy a colman lamp, I bought a "duel fuel" version that ran off either fuel. I suspected the only difference was the color of the lamp, but I decided not to take the chance.

[Pathfinder]

Wal-Mart, TSC (I think), any of the Fleet/Farm or Farm & Fleet stores. Most of the rural hardware stores should also carry it, or at least the ones in ND do.

[fritz_monroe]

When I was a kid, back when leaded gasoline existed, the old timers said that white gas, and unleaded gasoline were the same thing. Many of them used it in their colman lamps.

I had a Peak 1 stove that I used for many years when I was in the Boy Scouts.  I often ran unleaded gas in that stove.  Worked like a charm.

[endurance]

I had a Peak 1 stove that I used for many years when I was in the Boy Scouts.  I often ran unleaded gas in that stove.  Worked like a charm.

When I was with the forest service we ran a government truck out of gas once on a backroad.  All we had was white gas and it worked ok to get us to the pavement so we could coast back into town.  I can't say it worked well, but it worked adequately to get us out of a pickle.  We only needed to get about a mile to get to the pavement and then we coasted for about six miles before restarting it to pull up to the pump.

[TexDaddy]

When I was a kid, back when leaded gasoline existed, the old timers said that white gas, and unleaded gasoline were the same thing...

"White gas is a common name for two flammable substances.

   1.  In its most common modern usage, "white gas" is used as a generic name for camp stove and lantern fuel, usually naphtha.
   2. White gasoline, also called white gas, can also be a name for pure gasoline, without additives. This was commonly used when leaded gasoline was the norm, to prevent fouling in situations where the properties of the lead additive were not required.
    3."White gas" can also refer to un-dyed gasoline."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_gas

"Coleman fuel is a petroleum naphtha product marketed by The Coleman Company. Historically called white gas (not white spirit), it is a liquid petroleum fuel (100% light hydrotreated distillate) usually sold in one gallon cans. It is used primarily for fueling lanterns and camp stoves. Additionally, it is a popular fuel for fire dancing. Originally, it was simply casing-head gas or drip gas which has similar properties. Drip gas was sold commercially at gas stations and hardware stores in North America until the early 1950s. The white gas sold today is a similar product but is produced at refineries with the benzene removed.
Coleman fuel is a mixture of cyclohexane, nonane, octane, heptane, and pentane."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coleman_fuel

[nelson96]

In case you ever want to look for it in other names. . . .

Coleman Fuel
Naphta
Panel-Wipe
Aspen 4T
Sunnyside stove fuel
Crown stove fuel
MSR super fuel

[TexasGirl]

And it keeps forever in a sealed metal fuel bottle.  I found some from the late 70's packed away with my first backpacking stove.  It still burns great! 

~TG

[kindersir]

Things change and I am not necessarily recommending it, but I had a stove that burned "white gas" many years ago (35yrs)  We quite buying Coleman fuel and filled the can up with premium gas (highest octane)  and ran those stoves for years on gasoline.  I am pretty sure an optimus stove but in a "square box" enclosure.

[surfivor]

MSR whisper light international stoves are backpacking style single burner stoves that can run on white gas, regular gas from the pump, or kerosene depending on the burner attachment you use. You pump up the canister to pressurize it and then heat also helps the gas expand during operation.

 This is an ideal stove to bring on airplanes. You clean the fuel canister out with baking soda and water and pack it in your luggage. When you arrive in Mexico, Costa Rica or wherever just use regular gas to cook with. On the way home, empty out and clean the fuel canister again and your all set.

[Cedar]

Things change and I am not necessarily recommending it, but I had a stove that burned "white gas" many years ago (35yrs)  We quite buying Coleman fuel and filled the can up with premium gas (highest octane)  and ran those stoves for years on gasoline.  I am pretty sure an optimus stove but in a "square box" enclosure.

Is that even safe? Not a bomb you are cooking with?

Cedar

[machinisttx]

Is that even safe? Not a bomb you are cooking with?

Cedar

Perfectly safe if your equipment is in good working order. No fuel is going to be safe if there are leaks. Nearly all of the liquid fuel stoves or lanterns are perfectly fine to run unleaded pump gas in. Most people who do this say they have to clean the generator tube more frequently though.

[fritz_monroe]

Things change and I am not necessarily recommending it, but I had a stove that burned "white gas" many years ago (35yrs)  We quite buying Coleman fuel and filled the can up with premium gas (highest octane)  and ran those stoves for years on gasoline.  I am pretty sure an optimus stove but in a "square box" enclosure.

Yeah, that's what we always did too.  Premium gasoline.

[fratermus]

Why premium?  It would have more additives.  Unless maybe premium doesn't contain ethanol in one's area.

[armymars]

  Somewhere in the back of my mind I thought Colman Fuel had an octane of 67.

[fritz_monroe]

  Somewhere in the back of my mind I thought Colman Fuel had an octane of 67.

Wikipedia says that Coleman fuel has an octane of 50-55.

Why premium?  It would have more additives.  Unless maybe premium doesn't contain ethanol in one's area.

Because that's what I was told to use.  That was MANY years ago when I was in the Boy Scouts, back before the Internet was readily available, probably prior to the IBM PC being a thing.

[Carver]

The original question and subsequent posts mention asking a store employee if they carried white gas, or Coleman fuel. I also have asked that same question as well as many other such questions about other inventory and have found that it is human nature to say they don't carry it instead of making an effort to find out if they do if they have no personal interest in doing so. After I ask and get a negative response I go and look for myself and usually find the item I asked about that they claimed they didn't carry. In this case, white gas, I have asked about it and got a very decisive "no", I then walked back and scouted out the shelves and have found the white gas in the camping department at Walmart. Home Depot also has very confident associates that also have no idea what you are asking them or if it is on their shelves if they do know what it is.
There is also an adaptor that will allow a white gas stove to operate on propane canisters. I've got one but have not used it. And some have said that you can use non-ethanol gas in any white gas stove, but some say not.