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Camp chef single burner stove. How long use per 20 pound tank

3K views 21 replies 14 participants last post by  iiajoe 
#1 ·
How long should i get of use from a 20 pound propane tank on one of these single burners....say on medium heat.

I would only use it to cook rice beans and maybe a quick boil of water to use for oatmeal.

A lot of my stuff is canned and doesnt need to be cooked but im wondering if 5 full propane tanks is enough to get through 6 months to a year of cooking using the single burner.

We do a lot of grilling in the summer using 3 or 4 burners and a tank lasts about 3 months ish (about 4 nights a week) so my calculations say 5 tanks should be plenty?
 
#20 ·
Pretty good way of looking at. I would add that if your stove is rated at say 15k/BTU...that is the max output. If you are using it on low/med settings, you will get more mileage. Don't forget to factor in wind and elevation as factors that require MORE fuel, in order to get the max BTU.

On a CampChef Everest 2X, 2 burner stove, with 20k BTU per burner. I can cook 15 meals, for a family of 4, on a 5lbs tank and yes, I have one of those cute 5 lbs tanks.

I can get almost 3 meals out of a 1lbs green propane tank.
 
#3 ·
As @MikeK mentions.

Also, if you don’t already, consider a range-top pressure cooker or few. Cuts time & fuel. Depends on how much you all enjoy eating such in normalcy tho (store what you eat, eat what you store...).
 
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#14 ·
I have a two burner camp chef stove on the patio and we use it fr pretty much everything in the summer to keep the heat out of the house. One tank lasts pretty much the whole summer.

I take my empties to the local Uhaul to get filled. If you buy 9 or 10 gallons or better you get a lower price, so I generally take at least 3 empties at once to make the volume discount. They fill them all the way to 20 pounds.
 
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#17 ·
Grilling has low cooking efficiency when it comes to fuel. Cooking with a pot is more efficient. The larger the bottom of the pot the better. A shorter “sauce pot” with a larger bottom is more efficient than a taller stock pot. Wind also reduces cooking efficiency. Bringing a tall stock pot to a boil outside in the wind is almost impossible.
The most efficient is a pot with a shell around it, that has about 1/2” gap, so that the heat flows up and heats the side of the pot.
Even a large shell around a cooking pot with a 2 or 3” gap will greatly improve its efficiency when cooking outside.
 
#19 ·
We have a grill with a side burner that when in use is covered on 2 sides. We also use our grill like an oven. Propane use isnt an issue for us as we have way more propane than we have food to cook.

Durring hot days (like the last month) we hardly ever use our indoor stove. We even made a few casserole in our grill last week. Even doing this we could easily go 2months on 20lb of propane.
 
#21 ·
Math is great and is where I’d start!

Actually running it in place with your pots and pans will teach you more and work out any bugs.

A buddy ran his Solo Stove to cook 200 plus meals last year! He started the fire with natural tender and a Ferrocerium Rod. One year later his skill set at starting fires during less than ideal conditions is way up and his ability to manage and cook on his equipment is awesome!

Somethings you learn after you’ve done something many times and self evaluate your methods and abilities as you go!

SD
 
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