White gas

[Lib]

Planning 2018 at thruhike and am wondering if you can refill containers on at with white gas all along the trail or should I go with a jetboil.

[Slo-go'en]

It's still available here and there - mostly towns with an outfitter. Otherwise you'd have to find a Walmart and buy a quart bottle. Mostly it's getting scarce. No real demand for it anymore. Canister stoves have become the standard. Jet boils are popular, as are the screw on burner for use with common pots. Alcohol stoves are also common.

While an old white gas stove is still useful at times, it's not a good choice for a thru hike these days.

[swjohnsey]

My stoves burn car gas just fine, available nearly everywhere or pennies.

[Venchka]

It's still available here and there - mostly towns with an outfitter. Otherwise you'd have to find a Walmart and buy a quart bottle. Mostly it's getting scarce. No real demand for it anymore. Canister stoves have become the standard. Jet boils are popular, as are the screw on burner for use with common pots. Alcohol stoves are also common.

While an old white gas stove is still useful at times, it's not a good choice for a thru hike these days.

Very real demand in the real world. Every Walmart, Hardware stores, RV Parks - including the one in Big Bend NP.
If the OP’s stove will accept a jet for kerosene that’s a viable alternative as well. Gas stations in the NC and TN mountains have kerosene pumps next to the gasoline pumps.
Not to mention the fact that a quart of white gas will last 3+ weeks with care.
But white gas stoves really are obsolete.
Wayne


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[nsherry61]

My stoves burn car gas just fine, available nearly everywhere or pennies.

Oh my gosh, yuck!! I'd try burning diesel before I ever burned car gas again in my multi-fuel stove - not that I use my multi-fuel stove any more. The level of noxious fumes and soot that emanates from car fuel flames in a multi-fuel stove is stifling. I'd rather go stoveless in winter than use car fuel.

[HooKooDooKu]

Oh my gosh, yuck!! I'd try burning diesel before I ever burned car gas again in my multi-fuel stove - not that I use my multi-fuel stove any more. The level of noxious fumes and soot that emanates from car fuel flames in a multi-fuel stove is stifling. I'd rather go stoveless in winter than use car fuel.

I've used gasoline in my MSR Shaker Jet stove without noxious fumes or soot... From what I understand, gasoline just doesn't burn as clean as white gas and the stove will dirty up faster.

[rafe]

I'd go with Slo's answer. I did plenty of AT miles with Svea and Whisperlite, but those days are long gone. I'm guessing 90% of AT long-distance hikers nowadays are using either canister or alcohol stoves.

Sure, you can get gallon cans at Walmart. That really doesn't help much.

[Venchka]

All of the Walmart’s in my neighborhood stock 1 quart cans.
Stove choices doesn’t indicate obsolescence.
Never mind. I go in the opposite direction to do my backpacking.
Wayne


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[rafe]

All of the Walmart’s in my neighborhood stock 1 quart cans.
Stove choices doesn’t indicate obsolescence.

It's not about obsolescence. Sometimes you gotta go with the flow.

Time was when you could buy a few oz. of white gas at a hostel. Is that still the case? I doubt it, but I could be wrong.

[cmoulder]

Even a 1 qt can is a HUGE amount of fuel.

I've used WG quite a bit, but those stoves are really outdated for backpacking.

These days it's either alcohol (3-season) or canister (winter).

[peakbagger]

They still have a niche for winter camping, hard to beat the heat output. I do agree that for typical AT use canisters or alcohol stoves have pretty well taken over

[Slo-go'en]

I put no-lead into my SEVA 123 stove once. It promptly gummed it up and I had to rebuild it. Never again. Even so called "multi-fuel stoves have problems if you regularly use gasoline. Gasoline has additives which makes it good for powering a car, but not so much to cook on.

[Feral Bill]

As my Svea approaches 50 years of reliable service, I have no reason to change to a stove that burns much more expensive fuel, puts out far less heat, fails in cold weather, or any combination of the above.

[DownEaster]

Even a 1 qt can is a HUGE amount of fuel.

So if you can't buy by the ounce you purchase a quart, put what you need in your fuel bottle, and leave the remainder of the quart in a hiker box. You'll still end up ahead on cost compared to canister fuel. And some other hiker(s) who also couldn't buy a smaller quantity of white gas will be thankful.

[cmoulder]

As my Svea approaches 50 years of reliable service, I have no reason to change to a stove that burns much more expensive fuel, puts out far less heat, fails in cold weather, or any combination of the above.

You can refill isobutane canisters with cheap butane that costs about 75¢ for a 110g canister.

Butane has 21,000 BTUs per pound, naphtha has 20,000.

Using a copper heat shunt, a JetBoil works just fine beyond -20°F and is a far more efficient snow melter than an XGK.

I have a lot of experience with WG and extreme cold, and I will never go back to WG.

JB MiniMo with Sumo cup melting snow at 4°F.... no problem sumo melting snow on slide_edited-2.jpg

[cmoulder]

So if you can't buy by the ounce you purchase a quart, put what you need in your fuel bottle, and leave the remainder of the quart in a hiker box. You'll still end up ahead on cost compared to canister fuel. And some other hiker(s) who also couldn't buy a smaller quantity of white gas will be thankful.

How much WG is found in hiker boxes? (Or alcohol or canisters, for that matter? .... Just asking, I really don't know. Locally, I've seen partially used isobutane canisters in trash cans.)

[Slo-go'en]

How much WG is found in hiker boxes? (Or alcohol or canisters, for that matter? .... Just asking, I really don't know. Locally, I've seen partially used isobutane canisters in trash cans.)

There a plenty of nearly empty canisters in hiker boxes. No one wants to carry a nearly empty canister if they just bought a new one. If I don't need all the contents of a HEET bottle, I'll leave the rest in a hiker box and I've seen others do the same, so there is a chance you can fine alcohol in a hiker box.

I've never seen white gas left. But then, it's been years since I've seen anyone other then the occasional weekender use white gas. Like the guy I meet at Thomas Knob shelter trying to use a Whisper light and promptly nearly burnt down the shelter, and then set fire to a pack when he tried to kick the flaming fuel bottle out of the shelter and landed on another hikers pack! (lesson, don't over pump and make sure all the fittings are still tight!)

[Kaptainkriz]

I had forgotten this - hardly any reason to consider naphtha any more.

Butane has 21,000 BTUs per pound, naphtha has 20,000.

[DownEaster]

Butane has 21,000 BTUs per pound, naphtha has 20,000.

I found these figures in one source: Butane 21,221, Gasoline 20,930, which isn't much of a difference. Naphtha/white gasoline (before additives for automotive engines) is just the light distillate of whatever crude oil is processed, and will vary depending on that source. I've also found figures as low as 19,000 BTU/lb: quite a lot of variance indeed.

To my mind, the big differences between canister fuel and white gas are the cook times you can achieve (basically whatever fuel bottle size you're willing to carry) and cost (much cheaper). I like baking, and can do that with white gas but not dinky little canisters.

[Analog_Kidd]

Oh my gosh, yuck!! I'd try burning diesel before I ever burned car gas again in my multi-fuel stove - not that I use my multi-fuel stove any more. The level of noxious fumes and soot that emanates from car fuel flames in a multi-fuel stove is stifling. I'd rather go stoveless in winter than use car fuel.

One day, on a whim I decided to try gasoline in a soda can stove, just to see if it would work in a pinch, such as power going out. Trust me, this is a horrible idea. There were nasty, sooty flames shooting up about three feet tall. Worst of all i lit it in my workshop on my workbench. Had to grab the can and move it to the floor. I nearly burned the place down.