Butane or propane: which fuel will be best for cooking in my very small camper van? 

Surprisingly informative video! It doesn't happen every day when I find such a gem on the platform! ;) There are few problems with burning gas like demonstrated. 1) Efficiency of gas burner is about 30%, so 40 liters of expected 60 liters of boiled water are wasted on heating the atmosphere. 2) Heating and cooling your heavy cast iron pan wastes a lot of energy. 3) Covering pan or pot when cooking reduces losses by significant fraction, 1/3rd or so. 4) You don't have to boil water to cook pasta ;) Put pasta in the water, boil it, and remove from burner. It should be ready in about 10 minutes, al dente.

This video covered everything I would think of: weight, operation temperature, safety, and cost (even factoring in the refilling price). RU-vid needs more videos like this!

Old School, Super Pro Review... Thank you very much.

This video went from boring facts to Gordon Ramsay at the end. Love it!

Came for the butane research but got an amazing cooking education as well.

Thats what im needing no bs talking she got straight into useful information thank you earned my sub

Although they are fairly expensive, you can buy refillable 1 gallon propane bottles. That might be an option for you to consider to avoid the issue of throwing away the bottles.

All of your videos are always so informative. Everyone wanting to live alternatively should I take a look at your channel. I feel like I’m taking an online class lol but I love every minute of it.

Thanks for the timed cooking tests, as I haven’t seen that elsewhere. I got the same GasOne duel fuel stove because of that cold temperature & elevation difference. Also, in 2019 there was a propane shortage between February and June on Nevada’s lessor traveled highways (US-50). It made sense to get the single burner duel fuel stove, and it fits nicely in my PMC mini cargo van.

Thanks for creating another very thoughtful video and for sharing your experience with cooking times. The other factor in my own decision-making process was: "Which type of stove are my friends and family less likely to screw up when they borrow my camper van?" That's what tipped me in favor of butane.

Well welcome Back ! I thought you might have stopped making You Tube videos !?! Thanks for all of the information on the 'Butane vs Propane' great debate. Once again you managed to hit an important issue right out of the ball park with this one also, as you usually do with all your topics ! (Great Work !) There are tons of videos out here that talk about butane and/or propane stoves, But not one has ever broken down the pros and con facts, in the manner that you did right here ! Now that's real information that everyone out here can use ! Again thanks for in-depth analysis and the way you broke it down for us in such an easy to understand format, which didn't take 2 plus hours to explain.

THANK YOU!! The itemized (accumulated) cooking times were awesome and really helped my research of what I actually do and do not need!!

This is the best and most comprehensive video I've watched on the subject. Thanks for the thorough and quality upload. Much appreciated 😊

I also have a dual fuel gas one stove and love it. I decided to keep on hand butane fuel but I purchased an 11# propane tank. It has a 9” diameter and about 12-13” height. It’s the same height as the 20# tanks but much more narrow. It fits in tight spaces and of course lasts a long time and can be refilled the same as larger tanks. It was around $130USD from REI. It came with a canvas carry container (rigid) so that the hose fits nicely inside. Another cooking hack I found was when a breeze would blow out my fire, and the aluminum wind guards I bought would also blow over, some string magnets would stick to the stove through the aluminum and would literally attach the wind guards directly to the stove. The stronger the magnets the better the hold. Love your videos!

I hunt during the winter and it gets below 0° Fahrenheit at times so gasoline is my only option at times but propane will work most of the time or the canisters of isobutane if not too cold. I did like your demonstrations on how much fuel and times in cooking different dishes. I have never seen anyone else do that. Thanks again.

This is exactly the information I was looking for....thank you so much!

Finally a person who answers questions instead of "it depends" answer.

I greatly appreciate this video!! One of the things I enjoy doing is baking rolls while camping. I usually use a Coleman fold up oven for this, but am practicing some other methods as well. Baking in an oven tends to take quite a while - 20+ minutes when you count the time it takes the oven to warm up. It looks like a can of butane lasts about 1 hour and 10 minutes for the most part. I think I'll bake over my campfire going forward, and save my butane and propane for stovetop cooking. By the way, I recently purchased a Gas One dual fuel stove, very much like yours, and look forward to trying it this summer. Your channel is one of my absolute favorites! Your videos are always extremely educational and much appreciated.

Very informative and straight to the point I'm sold.

Such a great video! Fantastic job making things clear and REAL life application for the functionality of the fuel usage and consumption!

excellent comparison. Answered many of the questions I had. Thank you.

Very informative. And, you guys eat well on the road! :) Thanks for sharing...

Very very informative and straight to the point. Learned something too. Thank you.

This was very informative, and i appreciate what you have done! Great stuff. Thank you.❤

👍🏼 Great comparison! You made a good choice with the dual fuel stove, the best of both worlds! We really like ours, and it was only about $10 US more than a butane only model! Although I am shocked at propane bottle prices in Canada! (Bulk fills not much worse than Midwest US price.) 😎✌🏼

Such a well done video! Thank you so much.

Thank you for your video, it is well organized and practical

Well done. I have a similar dual fuel stove but now I have a better perspective on the economics and relative efficiency.

Hi from he Uk, than you so much for your clear concise, professional explanation. Will now check out your other reviews

Food ideas are splendid! Good video.

Finally a helpful comparison with food times, THANK YOU!

incredibly detailed and helpful video! loved watching!

Great Information. I’ve actually been thinking about this. Thank you!

I’ve got a dual fuel single burner. Works great I use butane primarily.

Well that explains why big buddy didnt want to light in -45c. Lol….many moons ago i went to montreal in dec, that was the temp in nippigan ont. Brrrr. I need the green for my buddy and the stove but might get the single like yours and try the smaller tanks.

What a great, informative video!Thank you!!!

Thank you for another very informative video. This fall is was so hard to find the small propane tanks at the CTC stores in the area....had to pay up at local trading post store.

Very comprehensive and informative video, thanks.

Lots of information in a short time. Well done!

Very informative video, thank you

Thank you for the great video. All useful information.

Very helpful, thank you 😊

Pertinently, useful information.

😀👍Good Stuff, Great Tips

excellent video - thanks for showing us how long each canister can lost during normal cooking.

Superb video. Thank you!

great video, thank you!

thanks very informative

This is a really good factual video!!

I like the quantitative data! I am a finance person and the metrics matters! 😄

Thank You

Excellent comparison! I much prefer the butane stove because of the smaller form factor [cuter] and its ease of use. I have had to put the butane canister inside the sleeping bag with me to warm it up so it would work when it was very cold in my minivan.

finally got some good info other than a 1000th review of the same stove!

Thanks a lot

I finally got a 20lb tank for my small car camping set up and now I could never go back.

Thank you

Excellent.

Extremely informative and helpful!! Generally, Looks like I can use butane for 3 seasons, which is longer than I expected.

Wow... you really put a lot of effort in doing this video which does show the results! This is a very well made video with very well explanation! Only thing you didn't explain is the model this stove is, Or hook ups for the propane bottle. Thank you! Gonna do other research & possibly buy this stove. 👍

Right now it's 16 dollars for the green ones and 3:99 for butane.

Good Vid, thanks for sharing. One small mistake, 20 pound tanks don't get refilled to 20 pounds. Some different vendors quote different "net weight"s for the exchanged tank. I don't have the numbers in front of me, but they are around 17 pounds, some a little more or less. Prices of one pound propane tanks is very volatile right now making comparisons difficult. Penny to penny difference might not be as important to some folks as convenience, safety, and how much room do you have to use or store the stove. These butane stoves are convenient if only that you don't need to look for a match to light them every time. Not apple and oranges, more like California oranges to Florida oranges when all is said and done. Hint, Amazon sells butane cans in lots of 12 for 33.50 (2.75 EACH) (November 2022 prices)

The chef's torches that attach to the top of the butane can are great for browning. And more convenient than a propane torch. I cook ground beef patties with just 1-2 tablespoons of water. by covering and getting the steam up then turning off the burner. Might need a couple of heats depending on the heat mass of your burner. Then use the torch to brown the patties surfaces.

We were able to get a 5 pound propane tank from Costco. It costs about 4 USD to fill

Nice comparison. Thank you for the info. A point of clarification: Unless I'm mistaken, the graphic displayed from 2:54 - 3:13 is incorrect. Minus 1 deg C is approximately equal to + 31 deg F (not - 30 deg F). The difference in boiling points is even more pronounced than your numbers indicate.

thanks for the information, just bought a 500g canister with butane for a 20 day hike, it's good to know how many meals (and cups of coffee) I'll get out of it :)

thanks

Timed my 5 propane cans at almost sea level in S'ern hemisphere at average 1hr20. Best was 1:58, worst 1:10. LPG works out cheaper, so I'm going to refill propane with LPG for 10 cans to see how much cheaper. A 1Lt tin kettle brimful takes 10 min to boil, which gives me 4 cups. Ibfui.

A note about Butane fuel: Don’t buy a brand that doesn’t have the CRV certification, and many don’t. It’s too complicated to explain and I don’t know the science, but non-CRV cans can explode if your pan or pot shifts to the right, over the butane chamber.

The gas burner in a Trangia has a pre heat on the gas tube which work well in colder weather.

yees yesss good videeo

Thank you! Great info ... How are you liking that Gas one? Was thing about that unit for 15,000BTU

Look into propane refill kits or adapters. You can then refill your 1lb tank from a friend's 20lb tank.

Why not try an alcohol spirit burner. Like a trangia type system. Works in all conditions and fuel is cheap and you dont need much.

Thankyou thankyou thankyou.

thank you for the video. can I ask you where you got the grid things you put on the top of the stove when you warmed the milk? and also, what the tool that you used to toast the bread?

i have butane but its not working on the colder nights so now im looking at changing to propane

And you can buy refillable small tanks that you can refill . Then there have been times it very hard to find butane .

👌

Where did you get that little grate on your stove? Thank you also..

J’aimerais bien savoir c’est combien de btu votre poêle au butane? Ça vaut plus la peine aussi au butane?

Hi, when you how much the gasses can heat, what do you mean? Heating to a boiling point?

I refill those little propane tanks myself all the time….blah blah blah…its dangerous….blah blah blah, been doing it for 10 years with no issues.

Too hard to decide so I went with both lol 😅

Propane burners much hotter,I think

If you are thinking about efficiency, why isn't induction cooking part of your choices? Induction cooktop beat gas and electric cooktops.

I usually order 56 butane canisters at a time (bulk order) online, you can get them for around £1.10/$1.00 a canister from around Sept, Oct I've found; that's delivery included to Northern Ireland. It's actually as cheap as a refill here of a 6kg bottle the last time I checked. I think they are great value for money 👍 Good video!

Just 1 hour and 12 minutes

Gas stove

Simply explained💪