Hi-
I didn't know where else to post this question, so hopefully someone can help me out or point me in the right direction.

We seem to get more than our share of power failures in our area, for whatever reason. The last one was 48 hours or so. I'd like to get a camp stove as a backup for our electric range in these cases- but I'd like to get one that runs off a larger propane tank (the kind for a gas grill) instead of the more portable camping propane bottles.

If I get a camp stove can I >>safely

 

Yes you can buy an adaptor to fit a tank like you would use on gas grills or a 40lb tank.

 

Like rbeck said it's no problem. Any camping/sporting supply store will have what you need.

 

I'll check it out-- thanks!

 

If you have a grill, why not use it as a back up?

 

By any codes I am familiar with you are not permitted to use a 20 lb propane tank indoors.
In most areas code limits use of propane devices in enclosed spaces to a 1 lb cylinder.

I personally use both a propane cook stove and lantern outdoors on a 20 lb cyl and it works good.
What works even better is operating a propane grill off a 100 lb cyl.
Only need a fill every couple of years.

 

We do use the grill as a backup; because of the distance from the burners to the lowest grill altitude the grill doesn't work well with frying pans or sauce pans. The real motivation behind that thinking was being able to warm up formula bottles for the babies, and we're not doing that any longer, so maybe I should re-think that.

GregH, you make a good point about indoor use- I was thinking of outside use only. I didn't know about codes but I'm sure there are carbon monoxide considerations. I also decided not not to use the propane shop heater (connects directly to a 20# propane cylinder) inside the house during the last outage for that same reason.

Thanks again, all, for your thoughts!

Dave O

 

Not sure if this helps, but when I was younger around the boy scout age, we had a setup that used the 20lb. tanks and attached a propane tree to it, which allowed us to hook up a propane stove, lantern, and one other propane device if we needed it. I saw the detachable propane trees at Wal-Mart made by Ozark Trails for a cheap price, but would gladly pay the extra money to get a single Coleman propane tree.

http://www.coleman.com/coleman/colem...tegoryid=27401