I have a dual fuel stove and a dual fuel lantern, that can burn either regular automobile gasoline, or Coleman Fuel aka white gas. Being that I spend a lot of time camping, and being that I’m cheap, and thought it was stupid to be buying Coleman Fuel in aluminum containers that ultimately just get discarded in the recycle bin, I figured I would just run the stove and lantern on gasoline.

The problem with gasoline is that contains larger hydrocarbons and more aromatic hydrocarbons then Coleman Fuel. Gasoline is a heavier hydrocarbon, although with the addition of aromatic hydrocarbons allows it be burned in relatively low compression gasoline engines, and not knock when climbing steep hills or other times of heavy load on engines.

Gasoline clogs up dual stoves and lanterns, especially if it’s allowed to sit in the stove, and degrade. It creates a film on the edge of gas tanks, and even worst, forms a film along the edge of the “generator” tube, that when heated, vaporizes the fuel and turns it into a gas, so that stove or lantern can burn it to make heat or light without the use constantly pumping the stove. I ended up having to saturate a generator for the stove with carburetor cleaner, and actually replacing one, due to the use of gasoline plugging it up.

Gasoline also smells, both when you fuel the stove or lantern, and when you burn it. It’s okay when the stove is running at full temperature, and generator is working fine, fully vaporizing the fuel prior to combustion, but if you turn down the stove, or the generator starts to become clogged, you’ll smell the aromatic hydrocarbons and even the sulfur in the gasoline.

After burning pure gasoline in a dual fuel appliance, you’ll want burn only Coleman Fuel. Coleman Fuel burns hotter, and generally better. It does not plug the “generator” tube, it does not nearly smell as bad. It works so much better. Yet, it’s expensive. The first can of Coleman Fuel I bought three years ago was $4.50, then it was $6.60 in 2008, an era of $4.25 gasoline, and now it’s up to an insane $8.80. I use a lot of fuel as I camp a lot, but rarely go through more then a gallon can a year.

I have found Gasoline can be used in a dual fuel appliance, reliably, if it is blended at a rate of 50-50. I’ve had pretty good luck with such a mixture, because the Coleman Fuel seems to dissolve the gasoline residue, and makes gasoline burn hot enough that it does not smell. During the end of camping season, I’ll only use Coleman Fuel, to make sure all the gasoline deposits are dissolved, and it won’t clog the generator up when it sits over the winter.