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

When I was planning out the kitchen for my very small camper van I wondered what was the difference between a butane stove and the propane stoves I was used to.
I did a bit of research and tried out both fuels and here is what I learned about cooking with these fuels.

Welcome to a very small camper van, my channel all about my very small camper van - a minivan being transformed into a diy camper. #vanlife #minivancamper
Please take a moment to subscribe:

[pavel]

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.

[humbertocares]

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

[trenthollifield]

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

[kaizenanalyst]

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

[DSJVNdsjnvf]

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

[xujiaqi]

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

[BOMBON]

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

[FreeSpiritMom]

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.

[corvuschromatic_G-]

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.

[christinabailey]

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

[debvoz]

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.

[JackDougherty]

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.

[karinhart]

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.

[angeladawn]

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

[jannezack]

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!

[shannonmurphy]

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.

[WeShareTheSameAffliction]

Finally a helpful comparison with food times, THANK YOU!

[tonyglasstv]

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

[gus]

👍🏼 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.) 😎✌🏼

[Lolaandcassidyadventures]

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