What happened to Coleman stoves?

[Vagabound]

Back to the current Coleman stove propane regulator for a moment...

Can anyone think of a reason that that regulator would not work in an upside down position?  Overlook for the moment that your scrambled eggs would fall out of the pan. ;-)

Tom

P.S. - Yes, whoever you are, this is a real question.

 

[LeeRevell]

Have you contacted Coleman, or checked on Amazon, to see if there is a flex line option for you stove?
Another alternative is to sell or trade that stove to someone else and get yourself a stove that meets your needs? Maybe a Butane stove with the gas cartridge inside the stove?

 

[akrvbob]

The Gas One Butane Stove has a hose that screws into where the butane bottle snaps in place and converts it to green propane bottles or to your bulk bottle.  No big arm sticking out and it is the tiny form factor of a butane stove. They also sell it in a mini stainless steel version and in a two burner version with a special griddle designed for it. I'm testing a standard single burner out now and so far it seems outstanding.



[video=youtube]

 

[highdesertranger]

hey Bob have you tested the stove at altitude or below freezing with butane? I guess in those situations you could just use propane. highdesertranger

 

[akrvbob]

No, I just got it so no extremes. I'm not a fan of butane so I'll just keep a few bottles around to test every so often. It'll be hooked up to my 2 1/2 gallon propane bottle 95% of the time. I do like the form factor and especially the mini version.

 

[FastEddie313]

Mine is like this..

Their are some on ebay for like $65 but I got mine at a garage sale or goodwill or something like that for like $10..
Mine has a bit of surface rust and I think it's like off white/yellowish and can't remember if it is 2 or 3 burner.. I like old stuff like that so I can't help but pick it up..
Stashed somewhere in my old 5th wheel at my moms with a ton of other similar stuff..
I lived a few summers in that old 5th wheel at a couple different places with a couple different girls..
87 mallard 27' I think.

 

[vtwinkicker]

 Later I purchased another Coleman two-burner stove without the push button lighter (fewer parts to break), but this one has problems with the gas knob control. Specifically, no matter which knob I use or how much I turn it, as soon as I let go of the knob the fire height / intensity changes on its own as if the stove is possessed. For example, if I keep trying to turn the stove down, as soon as I let go of the knob, it may go back up. It seems to me that the problem is cheap crap valves probably made in China.

Questions:

2.  If they are all like this, is there a reasonable fix for it?


Thanks for any information.

Tom

Tom, yes there is a quick fix for the possessed valve knob.

Here's my video on the simple fix.


In a few words the fix is to remove the knob and put something behind it to act as a friction plate. I used leather as that what I had that was handy and works great. I'm sure rubber washers, cardboard, cloth, just about anything would do the same thing with different degrees of success and longevity.

 

[Vagabound]

Have you contacted Coleman, or checked on Amazon, to see if there is a flex line option for you stove?
Another alternative is to sell or trade that stove to someone else and get yourself a stove that meets your needs?  Maybe a Butane stove with the gas cartridge inside the stove?

No, haven't asked Coleman. These days I would almost rather be dragged behind a horse than have to call any company's tech support or "customer service". Thanks for reminding me that there might be more practical options.

Tom

 

[Wabbit]

Tom, yes there is a quick fix for the possessed valve knob.

Here's my video on the simple fix.


In a few words the fix is to remove the knob and put something behind it to act as a friction plate. I used leather as that what I had that was handy and works great. I'm sure rubber washers, cardboard, cloth, just about anything would do the same thing with different degrees of success and longevity.

This is a great post. I suppose I should actually try it before I endorse it, but in theory...why didn't I think of this on my own?!? Lol. Age...

TBH, didn't watch the bid, but when I started reading what you wrote, it clicked. Will prob try this on my 2 burner Coleman stove sometime today. Thanks again and even a rep point! Wheeeeeee333eeeee!

 

[abnorm]

I checked a number of sites for the replacement "hoses" including Coleman............all list the rubber hose as obsolete............I think you're looking at design-by-litigation..............somebody/somewhere had a serious problem with the rubber hose failing and it was decided the rubber hose was too dangerous and the design was changed to solid piping..........

I designed my own kitchen set-up based on experience of an old Coleman stove............after it was built I purchased a new stove and was disappointed to find the new solid pipe design.....Just like Tom..........I found the bottle/pipe would not fit the space allocated...............I returned the unused stove and looked for an option

I found a Swiss designed PRIMUS stove .............two burner with a flexible rubber hose to the small disposable propane bottle.......A tad larger than the Coleman but it fits the space while allowing the bottle to sit behind the stove......It looks VERY similar to the Camp Chef propane stoves alto I don't know how/what the fuel connection is used on the campchef.................The Primus hose is available as a replacement part BUT I don't think the fittings will fit the Coleman products

https://primus.us/products/hose-with-valve-8

Nothing's perfect..........I'm pretty certain it's manufactured in China...........there are many online negative reviews of funky controls or weak construction(some of those reviews indicated a possible rough handling).....maybe I got lucky but mine fires a Hot flame that dials down to a simmer...........I bought the cheapest model (10,000 BTU) but find they also make a 20,000 BTU per burner model.....I like the fact the stove edges of the sheet metal are rolled and smooth rather than straight cut like many of the Coleman stoves......TIME will tell

doug

 

[Wabbit]

...

Just put a piece of cardboard behind a knob and fixed the variable flame issue. Cardboard and stove...nothing could go wrong! Will replace cardboard with prob leather(what vtwinkicker used) next time I get the chance. My Coleman can now "simmer" food instead of burning the crap out of it! Thnx again VT!

 

[John61CT]

Don't know about Coleman, but I'm shopping some specialized electric gear ATM, and my last four calls into mfg Tech Support lines have been 5 out of 5 stars, in fact a pleasure.

 

[vtwinkicker]

Just put a piece of cardboard behind a knob and fixed the variable flame issue. Cardboard and stove...nothing could go wrong! Will replace cardboard with prob leather(what vtwinkicker used) next time I get the chance. My Coleman can now "simmer" food instead of burning the crap out of it! Thnx again VT!

You're Welcome Wabbit! Glad it worked for you

Also those with limited space I found this Coleman stove pretty handy. It's called the Fold n Go. Two burner stove hinged in the middle like a waffle iron. If you only need one burner you can stand the other burner straight up and the stove takes less space.

Here's a look at it on my YT channel.



On Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Coleman-Inst...8589373&sr=8-1&keywords=coleman+folding+stove

 

[Vagabound]

Doug: Superb post.

John61CT: You must be the designated "on the other hand" guy today. Good for you on your good experiences. You might want to rush out and buy a lottery ticket while the streak lasts. ;-)

Tom

 

[eDJ_]

When I saw "Coleman" I immediately thought of a book I read some time ago.

China Shakes the World: The rise of a hungry nation.  by James Kynge.  (Child of a UK businessman stationed in China and he grew up there)

In the book he mentioned how China was buying American Companies to get their Brand Names.  "Coleman" was one of them.   So they could produce in China and market to America while appearing to be an American
Company.   Thus they would be able to make things there without any US overlords holding them to their standards.  

 

[Vagabound]

...
In the book he mentioned how China was buying American Companies to get their Brand Names.  "Coleman" was one of them.   So they could produce in China and market to America while appearing to be an American
Company.   Thus they would be able to make things there without any US overlords holding them to their standards.  
...

When I began my comments about Chinese culture and its implications in this thread, that's exactly the sort of thing that I was implying. 

If you take the negative essence of that, magnify it, and extended into every facet of life, you may begin to understand what I was getting at. 

Typically, I would be the first person to jump to someone's defense, or the defense of a culture. In this case, many years of close observation tell me that this is a horse of a different color and less worthy or not worthy of defense.

Tom

 

[PhilD1954]

I did not read everything in this thread, but saw a possible fix recently.
it's by vtwinkicker who posted just above.

 

[Vagabound]

I recently discovered that Coleman sells a single burner propane stove. In case you don't know, it's called the Powerpack. It's not a new stove. I was just unaware of it.

Because my counter space is limited, I decided to get one of those and store my two-burner stove for now. I'll likely use the two burner for outside cooking.

When I first began using the Powerpack single burner stove, it seemed to have a malfunction. Although my flame height knob can rotate more than one full turn, only the first 30 degrees or so controls the flame height. In other words, after less than 1/4 turn of the knob, the flame is at its maximum height and the rest of the knob turning does absolutely nothing.

Thinking about my apparent stove malfunction, I contacted Amazon for a replacement. It turned out that my replacement stove functions exactly the same way. Also, I have a friend with the same stove that he bought about five years ago and it functions exactly the same way.

Not being able to understand why any mechanical engineer would design a device with more than 360 degrees of rotation in which only 30° was useful, I contacted Coleman for an answer. It took a few tries to get any information, and it was still incomplete. What I learned is that the single burner stove was built for a specific purpose. It was built to work with Coleman's camping coffee maker. Their representative said that such an application did not require much flame control. I'm not sure I buy any of that, but that's what they told me.

The good news is that this stove seems to be even more efficient than the two burner. Flame seems deceptively low on its highest setting, but it boils water faster than the two-burner stove. And it frees up counter space for those of us with tight living quarters, or too much stuff, or both.

Tom

 

[Ballenxj]

Another great reason to shop secondary markets.

I used to have a two burner, and the backpacker singe burner model with the pot and pan that served as a container with the handle that fit inside for it. They were both white gas models made in the USA. I sold both as a set to a Boy Scout master for something like $30. Occasional flare ups aside, (don't light them indoors) once they wee lit and warmed up they worked great. Used to cook a mean spaghetti on the two burner.
I'm a bit sad I sold them now.  
There used to be sources online for rebuild kits for them, but haven't checked in years. Probably dried up by now.
Edit, found this. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/12/business/ram-pickup-truck-recall-fiat-chrysler.html?_r=2http://www.midlandhardware.com/6142...MIoPexzY_t0wIVW7XACh09IgymEAQYASABEgKq1PD_BwE