Iso-Butane Fuel – Untested Brands

[Russ W]

I’m trying to ship iso-butane fuel to a friend’s residence to avoid wasting time shopping prior to a trip. I usually use Snow Peak or MSR and thought I would just order from REI….no can do. Amazon ships 2 brands I’ve never heard of:  Perune and GasOne.  The general thought is that all of these gas brands are from the same source but I wanted to see if any of you have specific insight. Thanks – Russ

[Jerry Adams]

One possible problem is they have a lot of N butane rather than more pure iso butane

If you want to operate at a temperature in the range of 20 to 30 F or so, the pure iso butane is much better.  If they will be using at warmer temps, then it doesn’t matter if it has a lot of N  butane.

Another problem is that there are contaminants in the fuel.  If they operate a normal upright stove then this doesn’t matter.  If they invert the canister it can plug up the valve.

I’ve used Gas One butane without problem, but it was not advertised as iso butane.  It is about 50% iso butane and 50% N butane.  Packaged in one of those cartridges.  I transferred to a backpacking stove canister.

[Scott Smith]

On a related note. ( you may already know this ) .Jetboil will ship there cans

[Jerry Adams]

Looking at the comments on amazon for Perune butane, the first comment complained that it worked the first day in winter, but each day it got slower and slower.

That is consistent with it being a mixture of about 50% N butane and 50% iso butane, although you never know about amazon comments and it’s hard to know without knowing the exact temperatures they were working at.

I would assume these are not pure iso butane

I routinely use these at cold temps by heating the canister up a bit with a lighter.  There are multiple threads and articles about this subject.

[Jerry Adams]

Looking at the description and comments on amazon for Gas One, I think maybe it has more iso butane in it.  A number of people used it into the 20s.

[Brad W]

I have used GasOne. Worked fine in temps above 45f. Colder than that it struggled-just keep it in your sleeping bag.  It’s no MSR which is the gold standard IMO. MSR works for me down to 25F or so without warming. But I would have no issues with GasOne again. Are there no REI, or camping/sporting good stores in your friends area?

 

[Russ W]

Thanks all… It is Seattle so plenty of REI’s, but timing of my flight and store closing times mean I’ll have maybe a 1 hour window to make it happen, and then I’d have to hang around until 10am the next morning, effectively losing a trail day.

I do have a friend within proximity and I’m trying to ship to his house to minimize impact to him. Otherwise, he’ll make the trip to REI.

I’ll check the Jetboil site, so thanks for that tip.

By the way, did y’all know that Esbit is no longer on the REI website, or available at my local REI’s in Charlotte. Bummer.

[David Thomas]

I don’t have specific experience with those brands.  They claim to be iso-butane (or iso+propane) but even if they weren’t and were mostly n-butane, it’s summer.  If you’re not summiting Hood or Rainier, there are lots of ways to make n-butane work down to stupid-cold temps.  Jerry, I, and others have many, many posts on Moulder Strips, mini-Bics, bowl of warm water (or pee), reflectors, etc.  So I’d be completely comfortable ordering those off Amazon and then tracking their delivery status.

A few other thoughts:

Walmart stocks Coleman-brand butane/propane mix canisters and I’ve had good success with those.  Walmarts have longer hours than REI.

Ask for some trail magic from Seattle-area BPLers.  They buy (or grab from their gear closet) a canister or two and then hide it somewhere on your route.  Behind milepost 37 on I-90 (what I usually do for people coming to Alaska and needing fuel or bear spray) or under the landscaping bark north of the second bush at the Ramada Inn where you’ll be staying, etc. Or while sharing a beer with you.

Or do the online research and task the friend to go to the Puyallup Walmart (Federal Way didn’t have any in stock just now) and get the Coleman 250-gram canister for $6.47 (or the 500-gram for $7.72 – a good price!) in Aisle 120 of that store.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Coleman-Butane-Propane-Mix-Fuel-7-75oz/20595064?fulfillmentIntent=Pickup

[Ken Larson]

David….At one time Coleman Brand iso fuel had issues with stoves that were NOT Coleman Branded. This has changed from your comment above OR are you using a Comeman Stove?

[David Thomas]

Ken, Like from the shoulders being too high?  Gotta admit I mostly buy those Coleman 500-gram canisters to refill my stock of 110-gram MSR canisters for actual trips, so I mostly just screw the refilling adaptor on to it.  I’ll use them directly on car camping trips, mostly with a BRS-3000T and don’t recall any problems.

[Ken Larson]

David…..Others should be alerted that using the COLEMAN canisters directly with stoves that are NOT Coleman have issues with not burning OR burning a short timing, dying and cannot be restarted. This issue may have been corrected, but to date I have no information to the contrary…..this was spoken to in past Iso-Butane threads many years ago on BPL.

Refill as you do is NOT an issue.

[Jerry Adams]

Fred Meyer is another store that sells iso-butane, is open late hours, and there are stores all over.  In Pacific Northwest

[Jon Fong / Flat Cat Gear]

I wish that Hikin’ Jim was still contributing, read about Coleman canisters here.

https://adventuresinstoving.blogspot.com/2017/03/coleman-canister-gas-caution.html

 

[Roger Caffin]

I don’t think that it is the height of the nipple above the rim that matters – many stoves don’t touch the rim, and the Lindal valve is not meant to have the rim touch the stove anyhow.
I am reasonably sure that the problem is that the Coleman canister has it’s own design of plug in the valve, slightly deeper than normal, and the pin in the middle of a Coleman stove is longer than normal to match. A very stupid way of doing things imho.

The question I would ask is where are the latest Coleman canisters made or filled? Off the top of my head I would guess China, although Korea might just be possible. The inference is that the valve is a copy, not a genuine Lindal valve. Given a dodgy canister design, Coleman have had to adapt.

Any way, I suggest that we avoid buying the new orange Coleman canisters if they are that much trouble.

Cheers

[Chris FormyDuval]

Another plug for Fred Meyers. The REIs were out of fuel during my trip last year, they directed to try there. The cans were red, branded Sterno, iso/propane mix. Worked fine with my windmaster. I avoid the Coleman’s. Have seen them work at first with windmaster but then not as fuel was used up. Plus Fred Meyers is a great place to pick up anything else you might need.

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