Adapter to attach a camping stove to a propane tank?

[Lachlan Fysh]

<p style=”text-align: left;”>Hi,</p>
Bit of an odd one – I’m considering taking the plunge on the MSR windburner “group system”. I’ve been using the solo stove a couple of years and reckon the new remote system and bigger pots look great as a group camping setup.

One way I’m trying to justify the extreme price is that I think it could also be a great compact car camping setup, especially wig I grab the stock pot.

To really stretch it in that regard for longer road trips it would be good to be able to hook it up to a propane tank rather than chewing through canisters.

However I just can’t find such an adapter -no stress finding butane push fit to iso propane screw top, or a raft of propane tank to iso propane *canister* refilling ones (which would be the fall back) but none that go from a tank with a male canister fitting to attach to the stove…

 

Anyone seen such a thing and can help??

[stephan q]

Howdy, is this it?

 

[Roger Caffin]

Just be very careful running LPG or propane into a normal ‘canister’ stove. Propane will run at a higher pressure than the butane/propane mix we normally use, and you could turn your stove into a flame thrower. Keep the flame at medium or lower.

The higher pressure of propane is why BBQs etc have pressure reducing valves on them.

Cheers

[Lachlan Fysh]

Thanks Stephen and Roger.

The adapter linked helped my googling, which led me to discover exactly what you’re saying Roger, in this article:

https://adventuresinstoving.blogspot.com/2017/01/the-g-works-adapter-100-propane-for.html?m=1

Specifically that article says not to use that direct adapter with a Windburner as the regulator may get damaged due to the pressure. But I don’t think all is lost!

I hadn’t been looking for that adapter – I’d been wanting to go from a bigger refillable tank like this:

I’m really trying to solve for two issues:

1. Backpacking canisters are uncommon in small towns around Australia, and expensive when weight is no concern.
2. Using smaller canisters is not very environmental as a fair bit of steel is being formed each time, even if it’s recycled.

Problem 1 is pretty easily solved with an adapter to use aerosol style butane canisters, which are easy to find. I could also refill a lindel canister… but I don’t think that step is needed if everything is just being chucked in the back of car anyway.

Problem 2 presents the pressure issue from propane and I can’t find an adapter to go directly from a refillable tank to a camping stove anyway (probably for good reason!). However, there are many to go from a refillable tank to the smaller “coleman” tanks. The two fittings seem to get referred to as POL and BOM respectively:

https://www.tentworld.com.au/buy-sale/coleman-5ft-gas-hose-pol

I haven’t found one yet with a pressure regulator in-line, but there’s plenty of standalone ones that can be put ahead of the adapter:

https://www.tentworld.com.au/buy-sale/Companion-POL-2-75-KPA-3-8-BSP-Gas-Regulator-Low-Pressure

So… if I go:

1. Refillable tank
2. Regulator
3. POL to BOM hose
4. BOM to Lindel adapter (like link from Stephen)

I think I’ll be there with pure propane flowing at 2.75kpa thanks to the regulator.

I need to do some more research to ensure 2.75kpa is less than the max pressure of a camping canister and hence within the tolerance of the regulator on the Windburner, but my initial searching would indicate that pure propane is about 2-3X the pressure of a propane-butane mix dependant on temperature, and stats on this site indicate that regulating down to 2.75kpa is a massive reduction in percentage terms:

https://www.elgas.com.au/blog/1969-how-much-pressure-is-in-lpg-propane-cylinders-in-what-state

So my working assumption is that’s well into the envelope of safety of a stove intended for the mixed canisters.

Kind of a kludge solution, but if it’s all just sitting in the back of a car that doesn’t really matter and it makes the new Windburner a pretty versatile setup.

[Edward John M]

G’Day Lachlan

I’ve tried to do what you propose myself, never successfully. It’s a kludge and in the end not cheap either. Propane camping stoves are so cheap when on sale [ and they always seem to be on sale] that I found it wasn’t worth the hassle. What does seem to work for me is simply using the smallest possible propane tank. I have thought about an adaptor to shunt LPG from a 9kg tank to the 2kg tank but so far haven’t bothered

[Roger Caffin]

2.75 kPa is a bit high. If you could get the regulator down to under 1.4 kPa you would be within the range of a standard (screw-thread) camping stove canister.

I would definitely NOT try running unregulated propane into one of the little stoves with a so-called ‘regulator’. I do not think they are specified for that (and they are just a marketing gimmick anyhow). But you could run propane into a standard (simple needle valve) canister stove provided you kept the flame down. A simple metal needle valve can handle that.

Cheers

[David Thomas]

I’ve screwed many simple canister-top butane-mix stove heads onto the top of 1-pound (contents) propane cylinders through an adaptor and had no problems.

I then refill the one-pound propane camping cylinders from a 20-pound BBQ-grill bulk cylinder so the fuel cost is very low.

But Edward makes a great point about just using a $20 propane stove head since you’re not worried about the weight when car camping.  I do that sometimes when snow camping if we’re hauling a sled and/or I’m using the one-pound cylinder to run a catalytic heater.

In addition to working to lower temperatures, propane should burn more oxygen-rich, fuel-lean which may help to reduce CO emissions at altitude.  Not that you’re usually car camping at altitude unless you’re in California, Colorado, or Nepal.

[Paul McLaughlin]

I have to think a simple one-burner camping stove designed to run on propane will be cheaper than the parts you need to make this adapter setup – as well as being less work as others have mentioned. Even a basic 2-burner may be cheaper, and then you have 2 burners to play with. You are car camping, after all – go for 2.

[Edward John M]

Last white season I had a stove hose problem and could not buy a replacement [ a change of standard it seemed] a new 2 burner LPG/Propane stove cost me $36- on sale with a 3/8th hose included. Given the current exchange rate that isn’t too far from Davids $20-. Given that I keep the gas bottle in a milk crate and that crate hold most of the cooking gear I don’t find it too much trouble

However Lachlan if you want to play around Paypal me $9- for postage and I’ll send you all the bits and pieces I bought to try and do the fudge and I’ll include NC the little butane adaptor I have spare for you to play with  I have a Cobra adaptor and I don’t need  a second unit

[Author]

Posts