Run Buddy on Coleman Fuel, AKA white gas?

[bfreed]

This is going to seem like an odd question, but bear with me...
Read a post a minute ago (sorry i can't remember who posted) with a brilliant idea - using a backpacking fuel canister for a gas "reserve" for long trips.
Which got me thinking about my other big love in life - backpacking. Which led to thoughts of conserving space....

I know that white gas/camp fuel/Coleman fuel is chemically identical to unleaded gasoline - refined the same way, but without gasoline's additives. The question, I suppose, is:
Does anyone know if the additives in gasoline are important for the Buddy's operation? Also, has anyone ever tried Coleman Fuel, et. al. in a scooter before?

I'm picturing a potential for a long-distance scooter ride, with backpack-style camping. My stove already runs on Camp Fuel (it will also run on unleaded gas in a pinch, but then you've got to worry about the additives' taste, extra smoke, etc.), and I've already got a couple bottles.

Think it'd be possible to save space and use one fuel bottle for both cooking and as a backup fuel source in case of a filling station gap?

[edit] And does anyone happen to know the equivalent octane rating for camp fuel (hopefully without igniting THAT debate again)? On backpacking forums, the debate of gasoline for cooking never gets around to octane - it heats your water either way, I guess.

[illnoise]

That was me that posted about the fuel canister. Works great.

Fuel additives are generally detergents and chemicals that aid combustion and reduce emissions, i'd think. If it's true that they're otherwise chemically the same, I imagine it'd be fine for an emergency, but I wouldn't do it regularly, it'd probably be bad for your seals.

does it work the other way? what happens if you put gas in a coleman lantern?

In any case, it's kind of a waste of money, right? Coleman fuel's gotta be more expensive than gas.

[bfreed]

Yeah, Coleman fuel's ~2-3 times more expensive. It'd be an emergency reserve only type of thing.
I'm not sure about a coleman lantern, but I imagine it would work. But, there's a question of whether the resulting smoke is poisonous (the general consensus seems to be yes). So I'm reluctant to use it in my stove, even though the stove was advertised as a tri-fuel (camp fuel, kerosene, gasoline) model.

At the risk of answering my own post, I did manage to find one discussion, apparently about running antique cars on it, in which it was claimed the octane rating is 55 (which apparently is a closer match to the engine compression ratios of the early 1900's?). If true, that seems like it could be a very bad thing. :-/
http://www.smokstak.com/forum/showthread.php?t=34035

I guess I'd have to carry 2 fuel bottles and save space somewhere else. Bummer - seems like such a waste. Anyway, THANK YOU for the idea. I don't need one of those 2-gallon trekking tanks when I can get 25 miles out of a 33-oz. cannister.

[Piedmont]

Coleman fuel aka white gas aka naptha is actually a bit closer to kerosene or diesel than gas.
This is a bad idea.
A better plan from one backpacker to another would be to get a stove that will run on unleaded gas.

[DennisD]

The Coleman 442 Featherlite (Ha!) stove is a genuine multi-fuel stove that will run on unleaded pump gas. I would put unleaded pump gas in my Coleman stove before I would put Coleman white gas in my Buddy. If you must, I would at least try the Coleman fuel in civilization before taking off and maybe having to try it in the boonies.

Me? I would just carry a different bottle for my Buddy. Campmor has a one liter bottle that will safely store pump gas. See it at:
http://www.campmor.com/outdoor/gear/Product___82451

Dennis

[bfreed]

Thanks!

MSR has a 33-oz too, but looks like the Optimus is a couple bucks cheaper. Good find.

[Dooglas]

Use of regular unleaded gasoline in most Coleman lanterns and stoves will fairly quickly plug up the generator (the brass tube with metal gauze that vaporizes the gasoline). Probably the exact same motor fuel additives that are missing from white gas. Coleman fuel or white gas is somewhat like naptha by the way but nothing like kerosene. I have used white gas in small gasoline engines before so I suspect that a small amount of Coleman fuel in a Buddy will do no harm as a "get home" technique. Given the price of Coleman fuel, you wouldn't do it often anyway.

[NathanielSalzman]

Here's a little petro-chemical goodness for you folks.

Crude oil is a big messy mixture of hundreds of different hydrocarbons. Some are more useful than others, but they're all separated out through a boiling process called fractionation. The lighter ones come off first - methane, propane, butane - and then the heavier materials like kerosene and naphthalene. In the end you're basically left with an asphalt sludge. Naphthalene goes through a thorough catalyst refinement and comes out the other side as gasoline. And just for fun knowledge, kerosene goes through refinement and becomes jet fuel.

So the point? Naphthalene (white gas) is NOT gasoline. And as such has no business in your scooter's fuel tank. (Remember when they put whiskey in the Delorian in Back to the Future III - bad things!)

But if you're looking or a backpacker's fuel canister to haul 'round some extra gas (which is a great idea, btw) you can get empty fuel canisters from MSR - http://www.msrgear.com/stoves/accessories.asp

[irishtim]

Can you say "VOID my warranty!"?