Review: Coleman 2-Burner Dual Fuel Powerhouse Liquid Fuel Stove

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I got my dual-fuel stove about 12 years ago, and have used it extensively. It’s one of those pieces of camping/preparedness gear I wouldn’t want to get along without.

by Leon Pantenburg

I entered the recipe contest at Crappie World Magazine for the fun of it, and the chance to win a new Coleman Dual Fuel Powerhouse Liquid Fuel stove. (Check out the recipe!)

So when I got my new stove in the mail, I was really pleased, but didn’t particularly need it at the time. My wife had bought one of the standard Coleman camping stoves back in the early 80s and that stove had never let us down.

When we first moved to Boise, Idaho in 1990, we went camping very often. We found the Coleman twin burner to be the quintessential tailgating stove. It works well in a stadium parking lot or at a trailhead in the backwoods. We’ve used ours on my pickup tailgate to boil brats, fry fish, cook venison at elk camp and make countless pots of coffee. It has also been used to make charcloth, firestarter and melt lead. It always works. 

The dual fuel is also handy when it’s hot outside, and you don’t want to heat up the kitchen frying fish or bacon or boiling shrimp.  Take the stove outside and use it on the picnic table or the deck and heat, humidity and cooking odors are not a problem.

Here’s the stats on the dual fuel from the Coleman folks:

Even though I like propane a lot, I haven’t found the need to replace the Coleman. For some applications, such as cooking in extreme cold weather, a gas stove will light when a propane one may be more cranky.

Here are a few tips for making the dual-fuel stove work well.

• Fill the tank the night before. That way, when you spill gas on your hands, there won’t be the odor on your fingers. Or, you could wear latex gloves during fueling. The gloves are cheap and keep your hands from getting that gas smell. One fill is usually plenty to cook breakfast and dinner that night, if you don’t have to simmer something too long.
• Twirl the lever on the valve a couple times before lighting. This evidently cleans something, and makes it light easier.
• When you shut off the stove, turn the valve to “off” and turn the valve lever to the “up” off position.
• Carry a spare pump in your gear. The same pump also works on the Coleman gas lantern and gas backpacking stove. It is the most common part that needs to be replaced.
• Use unleaded gas with no ethanol in it. Ethanol reportedly separates from the gas quicker, causing ignition problems.  I like to use a gas treatment in the stove gas so the fuel will last longer and burn cleaner.

Probably the big advantage to the multi-fuel over the regular Coleman double-burner is the ability to use standard gasoline in the multi-fuel. Regular Coleman fuel still burns cleaner, but  as this is written, unleaded gasoline is going for about $4 per gallon. Coleman fuel at the local Walmart was $9.70-something. The stove won’t work on diesel or kerosene.

Obviously, gas is cheaper. And if your vehicle, lantern and stove are all powered by the same fuel, that cuts down on things you have to take along.

I like things that work and the Coleman 2-burner Duel Fuel Powerhouse Liquid Fuel stove fits that category. You probably need one.

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