My New Coleman Propane Camp Stove & Actual Testing

My 30+ year old Sears Propane Camp Stove finally gave up during Hurricane IRMA. One of the burners valves started leaking propane and resulted in a flame around the valve knob. I turned it off and used only the one good burner for the duration of the hurricane. In all the years I’ve used the stove this was the only problem with it. It is now retired in the landfill.

I’ve been looking for an excuse to buy a new Coleman propane stove because it has 10,000btu burners where I believe the old Sears stove had much lower btu burners. The extra btu's now to heat my Coleman fold-up oven much hotter, from barely 300f up to 400f+ degrees needed for all the baking I do in it, like bread, dinner rolls, pizza, etc. Coleman’s new burner design and the regulator is noticeably better, uses less propane and produce much more uniform heat throughout the cooking cycle.

The new stove.

Initial testing of the new stove propane:

Its propane consumption and performance is encouraging.

Percolated Coffee, 8 cup percolator for this test:
Turning the burner on high it took 7:44 seconds to begin to perk.
It took another 5 minutes (typical) to complete the brew cycle with the burner flame reduced by half for controlled perking.
Total time the burner was on start to finish was, 12.44 seconds.
Total propane consumed was 36.0 grams (1.26 oz).

Heating a can of Soup:
Typical can sizes of Campbell’s Soup is for Chunky 18.6 net wt. or for Condensed Soup including the can of water is 21.0 net wt. I used the Chunky soup for this test.
Turning the burner on high it took 2:35 seconds to bring the soup up to 180f the industry standard temperature for serving soup.
Total propane consumed was 7 grams (.24 oz) for the 2:35 seconds cooking time.

Boiling ½ gallon of water to sterilize for drinking:

With burner on high it took 6:48 seconds to bring the water to a rolling boil and using a thermometer verified it was at 212f degrees.

Propane used: 25 grams (.88 oz)

Camp Stove Coleman Oven:

Time to pre-heat to 350f degrees, burner on high, 4:30 seconds.

Propane used, including pre-heating. To maintain 350f for an 18:00 minute baking cycle, I only needed about ¼ the burner flame. This temperature is typical for baking bread or dinner rolls used 45 grams (1.58 oz) total amount of propane used.

Propane, Typical Single Burner Consumption Rate:
A one pound cylinder will run a single burner on high for 2 hours (120 minutes).
A one pound cylinder will make 12 pots of coffee.
A one pound cylinder will heat 64 cans of soup.

A one pound cylinder will boil 8.5 gallons of water to sterilized for drinking.
A one pound cylinder will burn for 12, 10 minute cycles for general meal preparations.

A 20 pound RV tank:

Will provide 240, 10-minute cycles for general meal preparations.

A 30 pound RV tank:

Will provide 360, 10-minute cycles for general meal preparations.

One of the common questions about propane:

What is the shelf-life of propane?
Propane has an indefinite shelf-life. As long as the tank or cylinder are in sound condition and doesn’t leak it will last as long as the tank that contains it.

Another question:

Do the one pound camping cylinders leak over time?
Well, it is possible because there is a mechanical valve that makes the seal.
I checked eight of my one pound cylinders that I have in storage with several over 15 years, and none of them have leaked. This was verified by using a gram scale and checking the weight each cylinder and found they were within 2 grams of each other and were the same weight as two brand new cylinders.

Manufacturers Comments:

• Wind Block™ panels help shield burners from wind and adjust for various pan sizes
• Perfect Flow™ technology provides consistent performance, even in extreme conditions
• Perfect Heat™ technology for more efficient cooking with less fuel
• 20,000 total BTUs of cooking power
• Fits a 12-in. and 10-in. pan at the same time
• 2 independently adjustable burners give you precise control for 2 temperature zones
• Durable, chrome-plated grate is removable for easy cleaning
• Aluminized steel cooktop for durable rust-resistance
• Lasts up to 1 hour with both burners on high on one 16.4-oz propane cylinder
• Perfect for camping, hunting, tailgating and other outdoor occasions
• 3-year limited warranty

Photo’s of Oven Test

Stove with ½ gallon of water and timer.

Percolator and timer.

Soups, timer, and temperature gauge.

Gram scale used for weighing propane usage.

Stove with oven.

Ovens’ temperature gauge. Need to add 100f to the reading for the actual inside oven temperature.

Oven with temperature gauge inside oven showing actual oven temperature compared to oven door gauge.

Made some dinner rolls to test the oven. Rolls ready to rise.

Rolls risen, 60 minutes.

Rolls baked, 18 minutes.

Roll bottoms. These rolls were baked on the lowest rack position. Browned the bottom to much and top not enough. I will use the middle rack position from now on as this will balance the browning.

Rolls ready to eat! Yes, they were very good eating.

Overall:

The new stove is vastly improved over older models, mostly due to new burner design, it burns hotter using less fuel.

It will take some experimenting to find out the correct flame size to maintain the oven baking temperature and the proper rack position (there are 3 positions) for the types of food you bake. It’s not difficult to use and does a good job for camp baking. Worth owning!