The ongoing coleman fuel supply shortage issue...

Evening Ron173,

have the same stove but gave away using shellite ( trade name from shell I think ) use white spirits much cheaper, burn just as well and can get it from most hardware and paint shops.
Hope this helps.
Harvey
DBN05

I ran 5lt of shellite through my stove when new, but gave up due to ease of access to petrol and have been using premium unleaded since without issue. didn't notice any difference to shellite. Also use premium in lanterns. Haven't used regular unleaded to compare.

G'day Ron,
I have used Coleman stoves for years & use any one of the following 3 fuels
Shellite, X55 solvent or Unleaded. I find a little automotive injector cleaner helps when using unleaded fuel.

Been a while since I used the X55 solvent but I think I paid around 60 bucks for a 20 litre drum last time I bought it.

Cheers
Stu

Ron,
I use premium unleaded whenever I can in my coleman stove.
Unfortunately I cant buy such a luxury where I live so I run it on straight shellite or a blend of shellite and normal unleaded.
I might try the injector cleaner idea with the unleaded next.
Enjoy

Here is the story, both coleman fuel and shellite are white spirit (additives...um ..maybee), sometimes refered to as dry cleaning fluid.

Dry cleaning has moved on a bit and they often use more sofisticated blends for cleaning clothes.

White spirit is basicly the clean white unadulterated solvent that is the basis for a number of solvents and fuels.

You can argue semantics but, white spirit forms the bulk of what we know as petrol, it is also the basis of mineral turps, and most paint thinners contain a large percentge of " hydrocarbon solvent"

If you are buying shellite you are paying for the rights to use the name....check the difference in price between Diggers brand white spirit and shellite on the shelf right next to it.
At one time shellite used to have a yellow dye in it to make it distinct from kerro that still is blue......not sure about now.

I don't have a fuel stove but I use white spirit for a number of purposes....it is an excelent cleaning solvent that evaporates leaving no residue...I use it for cleaning delicate mechanical items like fishing reels.
Used as a thinner in varnish it performs better than mineral turps, because the lack of the oily component tends to have less of a problem clouding the finish.

I can comment from experience but I expect white spirit would burn cleaner in stoves than petrol because, there will be no lubricants, detergents or other additives in it.

Now the problem with white spirit is getting it in big enough containers and getting a decent price.....for the quantity I need I still buy in litres....though it irks me.
It seems to be either retail packaged or in industrial volumes.

Apparantly some bunnings will get 4 litres in for you but you may have to buy a box of 4.
I have not found a line on 20 litre drums handy.
A friend of mine in melbourne buys it by the 44, but he manufactures wood work finishes.

make what you can from this info

cheers

G'day Ron. In a previous life I worked for Coleman when they set up here in the late 70's and with the problem of shipping Coleman fuel from the USA we had to look for other alternatives. Shellite was the fuel of choice but Shell would not pack it under the Coleman brand. We ended up with BP and what they call Solvent 13. I just Googled it and it is still a product that they make.

Good luck.
Cheers,

Mike

Hi Ron
Shellite equivalent is available at Blackwoods and most cleaning chemical suppliers.
20 lt. drums $65.
And is still a long way cheaper than gas. I use both.
I have just replaced my coleman 415 powerhouse, it wore out after having a rough 30 years of cooking.
I also have a coleman sportster that will fit conveniently in the car boot.

Thanks for all the great info here, to summarise, as said above, Blackwoods do 20ltr shellite for $105,
however, thanks to info here and some digging, Mobil depot sell an equivelant, but its called R55, and comes in at a respectable $69/20ltr,(that's a local price, so may vary nationally) happy with that, that's $3.45/ltr which is far more reasonable than $8 for the brand named shellite.

Hope this helps others with a similar quest.

Again thanks to all.