Safe to use butane on a propane outdoor oven?

[Rancherstriker]

Hi! My parents asked me to do some research and choose an outdoor oven for their house. My dad loves baby goat and beef ribs on the oven, but my mother has been complaining that the smell permeates their whole house.

So, after some research, I found the Chef Camp Outdoor Oven, (https://www.campchef.com/portable-ov...ping-oven.html). The price is good, it has excellent reviews (better than the Stansport one that I was comparing to), Amazon Mx sells it here, so great!

The thing is, here in Mx, we do not use propane. Buying the little bottles is hard, since you have to find specialized vendors and it carries several import taxes and such, which deems it expensive. What we use here is Butane gas.

Does anyone with hands-on experience on this can help me understand the risks and such? As far as I've researched, the main difference is that butane does not work well on cold weather (gas pressure drops below 0°C), and there is a different pressure on the regulator, but a lot of sites say that there is no problem to use either of it.

My limited experience was with the weber gas start, it is build for propane, but I connected a butane gas tank and used it for a couple of years without any problems.

Thanks in advance!

[tbob4]

That is a good question

[JGo37]

I believe the convergent / divergent regulator orifice diameter needs to be specific to the fuel, is easy to change, and that eliminates unsafe concerns. I didn't search for it because I had to a long time ago, and made the changes I needed to make without issue.

Maybe someone with a HW Store PhD can chime in?

[Rancherstriker]

I believe the convergent / divergent regulator orifice diameter needs to be specific to the fuel, is easy to change, and that eliminates unsafe concerns. I didn't search for it because I had to a long time ago, and made the changes I needed to make without issue.

Maybe someone with a HW Store PhD can chime in?

I know that stoves using natural gas (What we call the metered gas service here in Mx) requires a diferent width on the sprit than a butane gas one. The natural gas comes out at a higher pressure.

I pretty much assume that it's the same thing with Propane vs Butane, but haven't found specific info on this.

[JGo37]

Yep - it it's the PSI difference - exactly right. I think maybe, depending on the cooker, you can be safe without a change but consumption inefficient. If you're using big bottles or a metered connection the change becomes mandatory.

[phrogpilot73]

I believe (and I could be wrong) that Butane burns at a lower temperature than Propane. My understanding is that it's safe (provided you replace the regulator) to burn Butane in a propane cooking appliance, but not the other way around.

[Rancherstriker]

I've read that their BTU output is the same, just that they work with different pressures, hence, the need to replace the regulator.

The main reason to use propane is that it works at colder temperatures. Butane freezes up below 0°C... Which is not an issue in most of Mx. Hence, we use butane

[Fredsautos]

Here in the UK we use either propane or butane with our caravan gas appliances. You need the specific regulator though and butane is far more likely to freeze during cold weather

[Mr. Bones]

Ya pose a very interestin question that I haven't happened upon, in my travels, thus far, Amigo...

My best recommendation would be to contact Camp Chef's Support folks, an pick their brains, some...

Good Luck, an keep on smokin!!!!

[Rancherstriker]

Trying to speak with them as I'm typing. the guy on the line doesn't know, and they will contact engineering to check this. Will post the follow-up in case anyone else its interested

[FireMan]

This again is an outstanding display of the value of Amazing Ribs (wibs to those of you in Oconomowoc). Where else would one find this kind of back & forth. Keep smokin Rancherstriker.

[Fire Art]

WiB on

[Nate]

Sounds like you need a flux capacitor.

[Mr. Bones]

Dang, O' Reilly appears to no longer carry em...

https://www.oreillyauto.com/flux-capacitor

They usedta have em in stock; apparently summat has changed...

[Nate]

Mr. Bones , must be in high demand again. Lol

[EdF]

Good one, Nate !

[jfmorris]

Assuming you find out that you can replace the propane regulator with a butane regulator, I am curious as to whether one of the Camp Chef outdoor propane powered smokers such as the Smoke Vault would be more useful for your dad? It would certainly hold more than their small camping oven does. In principal it would seem similar - a gas powered burner inside a metal box. The Smoke Vault could be used with or without wood chips, and can accommodate more stuff inside it would seem.

[Rancherstriker]

I honestly doubt that my dad would learn how to use a smoker. The idea of an oven was because basically it handles and works the same way that a stove.

He's looking for something for the times that they want to cook some meat, as most of the time it's just my mom and him. If any of their children (7) are around, we take the cooking roles.

[aladdin4d]

Fredsautos already mentioned this but in the UK and some other European countries, butane and propane are largely interchangeable by swapping for the right pressure regulator. Both are LPG and they have the same heat output but butane has 12% more energy by volume so a bottle of butane will last longer than the same size bottle of propane.

[Fredsautos]

Slightly OT but I'm trying to brush up on my American, but what does WIBS mean?

[mgaretz]

It’s what Kripke cooks on a smoker.

[Fredsautos]

Ahh OK 😂

[EdF]

It's what Elmer Fudd calls cooked wabbit chest!

[Rancherstriker]

Just posting how the conversation with chef camp went... Basically they have no idea, as only third world countries use butane

Nah, they were very kind and patient explaining to me that they do not know anything about it, their engineering teams have never tried using butane, so they don't have any point of reference to answer my questions.

Ended up asking my mom what this was all about. Turns out, she wants to build an outdoor kitchen on their yard, for gatherings and such, and my dad interpreted that as "get an oven".

Thanks for all your answers!

[Dan Deter]

Obviously your Mom rocks! If only my wife would say that to me.