They are round somewhat mushroom like .Says to burn white gas .So what happens if i use regular unleaded gas ? what is the real difference . Use it ice fishing only .

if you use gas only use non ethanol gas. even then it will plug up. lot of difference in white gas (naphtha) and gasoline

I have been told the Generator and Orifice are different. Just change them out.

Known issue burning gasoline in white gas lanterns and stoves is clogged generators. I wouldn't try it with all of today's additives.

Thanks, I got it at the dump ,looks barely used ,Put Coleman in and it works but not real hot . I guess some skinflint like me put regular gas in it .I am going to try to fix it and use white gas in it . Can you dismantle and clean the generator or do you have to buy a new one ?

g smith, I may be wrong but I don't think the Coleman catalytic heaters have generators. They are different than the Coleman pump up stoves which use a generator. The catalytic heaters work more on a convection type system. I used the catalytic heaters a lot but never took one apart, so maybe I'm missing something.

I've got one somewhere I need to dig out. I fired it up one time and worked good. Seems like it has a cover you put over it to make it go out.

Does your heater look like this?


I did a little looking and apparently Coleman makes a catalytic heater now that uses propane. The ones I am familiar with,( like the one in the picture) would work with unleaded car gas, aviation gas, Blazo or Coleman fuel. I would fill them up with whatever I had available, then soak the top of the element all the way around the edges with gas and then light it with a match. Do that outside in a safe area. After the raw gas flamed out then it was safe to pack it around where ever you wanted it. Sometimes it may take 45 minutes or an hour for them to get up to full temp.

Seems to me the old ones used a wick to supply fuel to the top surface. Like Spek says we used to pour gas on the top to get them started. Used them to preheat airplane engines overnight

I think you're right Ken, and thats mostly what I used them for as well. I had a military surplus heater that was about half the size of the Coleman heaters and it would fit under the cowling on a super cub and you could still latch the hood down. It would burn about 10 hours on a tank.

I never used them in a tent for fear of carbon monoxide.

Best I remember if you didn't soak the top of them fairly well then they would sometimes not fire off and stay burning.

They did have a steel cover you put over them to smother them out if you wanted to shut them down. It did take some time for them to cool down safe enough to pack away.

Exactly. If you didn't get the top burning enough it wouldn't wick fuel from the tank.

I also had one about the size of a single burner Coleman stove. Fit great under the cowling of a Cub but the tank was fairly small. Good for 5 or 6 hours

I still have an old Coleman 3000-5000 btu one. Says do not use leaded gasoline, it will ruin your heater on the base. I think gasoline burns out the heating pad. We turned them upside down and soaked the pad, then lit em.

Same as White and Speck here.

I use 91 octane with no ethanol in all of my old Coleman lanterns and my two Coleman "mushroom" heaters. It was the lead in old leaded gas that plugged them. When you light the heater outside like speck recommends, good idea by the way, don't give up on it if you come back and it looks like its not burning. Put it under a tarp or take it in a dark shack or ice house and you'll see the "mushroom" head glowing. You cant see it glow in the daylight.

Go to www.colemancollectorsforum.com The folks on there know anything Coleman inside and out, and are very good at answering questions. I have seen many discussion on there about Coleman catalytic heaters.

Moosetrot

Spek 's picture is the one . I bet I did not wait long enough on it to get fully hot .My old friend did turn his up side down like caldwellite said to light. I might put it in my old Dodge diesel pickup cab tomorrow on a long run delivering some hay (I will crack the windows though it has lots of ventilation ) I think that it could be real handy for a few months !I will check it on Moosetrots site.Many thanks to all of you and Blessings to you and yours smith

I thought in Montana they just set up a wood stove in the passenger side floor board.

Still have one, haven't used it in years... we turned it upside down until you have a wet mark the size of a hardball and then light it- it always worked well and put out a lot of heat

White> you are correct ,as mine is the same. my issue its it puts out some fumes ,more than i would like if i remember.

I have two and still use them during deer season. Ive seen videos on youtube of people taking them apart. Theres a giant wick in the center like on an oil lamp. The people on the coleman forums say if you use anything but white gas that wick will clog over time. Walmart sells a brand of white gas that is about half the price of coleman. Eagleye is correct. Turn it upside down until you have a wet spot about the size of a baseball. Take it outside and lite it, you'll have about 2 feet of flame above it. In about 5 minutes the flame will die. In about 15 minutes it should be hot enough that you cant have you're hands less than a foot above it. If its not that hot you probably either need a new wick, or a "new" one. You can usually find good looking used ones on ebay for about 35 bucks.

Dodge to bumpy chimney fall off inside pickup .Thanks to all , working on the wick tomorrow ! My delivery of cheap hay went well balmy today and did not need the Coleman .