Small Coleman Canisters
 

I recently bought a Coleman grill for the motorhome. It is made to run on the 16 oz (actually 16.4 oz) canisters that can be bought at Wallyworld or Dick's, or just about anywhere. It can also be run off the larger tanks with the proper adaptor. Anyway...

I never paid much attention to the small canisters before. They have some pretty neat "appliances" for cooking, light, and heat. I've seen people post on here in the past, looking for suggestions for heating and cooking in a SHTF scenario. Especially those who seem to be "stuck", as in "I live in an apartment in Manhattan..."

If I had limited space, I'd think about setting up a system for cooking and heating with these small canisters. You could store them just about anywhere in an apartment, and in a pinch they might keep you from freezing to death. One of the small ceramic heaters would easily heat a bedroom, and the 2-burner stoves would whip up a hot meal rather quickly. I know it's not a long-term solution, but you need to be ready for a "short term" SHTF, too.

The heater I looked at will heat a 200 square foot room for 8 hours on 1 canister. I did some checking just for the heck of it, and I can fit 5 canisters across the back of my sock drawer without removing anything. I'm guessing I could put 100 out of sight in my bedroom alone if I wanted to. (I'd just put a couple of cases in my garage, but I'm trying to think like an apartment-dweller...) I'm sure this would be violating some apartment rules and regulations, but it would be easier than moving and hiding a 20 lb. tank.

I've often read these "what sould I do" posts and wondered what I would do in the same situation. I really think that you could keep yourself warm and well-fed in an apartment for quite some time if you laid in a supply of canisters and a heater and stove.

You have to take care of the rest of the preps yourself...I'm just throwing out an idea that might work for some of you who have limited storage space and no ground you can lay claim to...

Re: Small Coleman Canisters
 

yes these things are great. I have a little butane powered single cooker. Probably a bit different to yours as it is not convertable to other gas. Comes in a small case. Is very light.. a few hundred grams. The butane is just an aerosol can which you can buy in packs of four for about 6 bux. Works really well and I think you can get small light and heating attachments for them. Has a piezo lighter in it as well so even if you can't find matches you can still fire it up.

Re: Small Coleman Canisters
 

how do you ventilate the 'Buddy' if you are using it indoors?? open windows - doesnt seem practical if freezing outside, diminishing heat return?

I have one but have not used because I don't see how to reasonably ventilate the house. looking for suggestions.

Re: Small Coleman Canisters
 

I've got a roadtrip grill, coleman propane lantern, and a Big Buddy propane heater that all use those 1lb bottles. I saw an adapter at Tractor Supply for refilling those bottles, it might make sense to have a bigger tank and refill? I haven't gotten around to rigging up the big (60 gallon) tank on my motorhome for outside appliances, but when I do I plan to also have one of those adapters for refilling 1 lb bottles.

Re: Small Coleman Canisters
 

I've got a great little butane one like that too that collapses down to almost nothing and has a little collapsible stand. I've used it to cook when the power has gone out, and I'll get a lantern attachment. It works very well, is designed well, and you can cook a meal and boil water inside 10 minutes or so. Setup time from taking out of cases to lighting the unit is under a minute for a guaranteed flame! Used sparingly you can get about 6 cooks out of one can.

They are kind of disapointing if you try and use them for heating, I have found that the aerosol can types seem to be a lot lower pressure and therefore hold a lot less butane than the bigger steel propane type containers.

One night I was camping out with someone else and they couldn't take the cold (it was a bitterly cold winter night near the sea), I was pretty well rugged up in a sleeping bag.

So I setup the butane stove in their tent and ran that, it was reasonably ok at warming the tent, but it only lasted an hour, then I was changing canisters again, sigh... don't bother, start a real fire in an emergency.

Re: Small Coleman Canisters
 

To play the devils advocate here, be careful how much propane you end up storing in your place (i.e. apartment)... in most places there are regulations on how much propane you can keep in your place with some pretty stiff penalties backing them up. Of course, I say that as I sit one room over from probably 100 lbs of propane in my place, too lol