Coleman Dual Fuel Lantern

[Beamer4D]

So I've been searching the forums for posts about the famous Coleman Dual Fuel lantern that runs on either coleman fuel or unleaded gas. I haven't been able to find any threads that tell me how much pumping they require to maintain sufficient pressure for brightness.

Does anyone know how often this lantern needs to be pumped while its on? I don't want to spend $70 on a lantern that requires pumping every 15 minutes. I have an LED lantern already but it is nowhere near as bright as I would like it to be. I was hoping someone on here would have one of these fuel ones and could let me know how much constant pumping they require.

I believe Coleman makes a bunch of different models, but the one I'm looking at is the double mantle version. Thanks

 

[OCD]

I have a dual fuel. I have never ran it off of unleaded gas, only coleman fuel. With mine, I pump it (not sure how many times) when it gets dark and it will burn until we go to bed.

I would say I can get a good 4+ hours, maybe even more.

I would say that if you can't get at least that long out of any coleman fuel lantern, the seals for the pump are probably shot.

 

[Lynx_Arc]

I have a dual fuel lantern and you can pump it up and run it for a long time off either fuel and mine is the old non piezo start model so I am sure they improved it some since then.

 

[Beamer4D]

ah alright thanks. If it runs for a couple of hours then it's great. I just don't want to be constantly pumping it up. I read some reviews on a Coleman Exponent dual fuel lantern that said that every 15-20 minutes it had to be pumped. I don't know if its that model because it's smaller or what, but i was just afraid that the other models would be similar.

 

[Kremer]

Those exponents have quite small tanks, not much air volume in there to hold pressure.

For all pressure lanterns if you fill them all the way with fuel it'll need to be repressurized more often, then once the fuel level gets down a bit there will be more air volume which will last longer between pump-ups. On my Northstar if I fill it about half with fuel and pressurize it well it will typically burn through all the fuel and not need to be pressurized again.

 

[ValhallaPrime]

I've got the Dual-Fuel Powerhouse model. Holds 2 pints I believe.....

I fill it with those MSR 23oz backpacking bottles. Makes measuring easy, as I know at empty, dumping the full bottle will give me 3/4th(ish) of a tank. and it runs for about 6-7 hrs on that, and doesn't really need pumping until about 4 hrs in, then as it's getting low on gas, about every 30 mins to keep it at max brightness for the last 90 mins of fuel. If max brightness doesn't matter, say, just letting it create ambient light, it'll burn almost all night without a pump.

I used it on summer vacation last year on a lake.... The light and the CO/CO2 field it makes attracts mosquitoes.... then the heat of the globe kills them. We placed it about 30 feet from our gazebo on a dock. At the end of each night, we were almost entirely mosquito-free, and there were thousands of dead ones ringing the base of the lantern. It really worked suprisingly and unexpectedly well at this. The mosquito carnage was epic.

I have the Northstar single-tube double tie propane autolighter one as well. It's bright as heck and a decent amount brighter than the white gas powerhouse, but at full-throttle it is pretty loud with the propane hissing.

 

[Kremer]

The light and the CO/CO2 field it makes attracts mosquitoes.... then the heat of the globe kills them. We placed it about 30 feet from our gazebo on a dock. At the end of each night, we were almost entirely mosquito-free, and there were thousands of dead ones ringing the base of the lantern. It really worked suprisingly and unexpectedly well at this. The mosquito carnage was epic.

The bug massacres are awesome, and why you don't want the lantern on your picnic table if you are running it at high power, but rather hanging just nearby on a stand or from a branch.

I have the Northstar single-tube double tie propane autolighter one as well. It's bright as heck and a decent amount brighter than the white gas powerhouse, but at full-throttle it is pretty loud with the propane hissing.

..but backed down to roughly the brightness of the powerhouse it is about the same volume, or even less.

 

[ValhallaPrime]

..but backed down to roughly the brightness of the powerhouse it is about the same volume, or even less.

True, but still of a level of -almost- as quiet. At those levels the white gas consumption is minimal. Unless you're pulling off refillable propane tanks, it's pretty efficient. I must add that the Coleman white fuel was $4.99ish gal 2 years ago and I bought 4 gals. A lot different when its now $8.99 at wally world in 2010

 

[Diesel_Bomber]

As mentioned, you'll have to pump more when the tank is full, less room for air. As the tank goes down, every 3 hours or so is normal, a little more often with a kerosene lantern.

All Coleman gasoline lanterns are "dual fuel" and will burn gasoline just fine.

 

[CNR]

My Coleman Dual fuel (282E) works ok on high, but when i set it at any lower level, most of the times, the light starts flickering (light intensity flunctuates as if the fuel supply isn't steady),
i'm using white gas (the one for cleaning stains on fabric, they call it "pure gasoline" here) but in the first 3 tanks i burned regular unleaded, can it be that i clogged the generator ?
The lantern is almost new.

Any tip would be appreciated.

 

[Charlie_K]

My Coleman Dual fuel (282E) works ok on high, but when i set it at any lower level, most of the times, the light starts flickering (light intensity flunctuates as if the fuel supply isn't steady),
i'm using white gas (the one for cleaning stains on fabric, they call it "pure gasoline" here) but in the first 3 tanks i burned regular unleaded, can it be that i clogged the generator ?
The lantern is almost new.

Any tip would be appreciated.

Going by what others have said about unleaded gas being used in these lanterns, a clogged generator sounds very likely. Pick yourself up a new one, pop it in, stick to the Coleman fuel, and see what kind of results you get.