If You Only Knew the Many Benefits of Butane

Most homeowners rarely think long and hard about where their power comes from. We use electricity, natural gas, or oil to heat our homes, food, and water, and don’t pay much attention to other ways to obtain fuel until we are left without it. If you’re forced to get those basic human necessities outside of your home, however, you start to encounter a lot more choices about how to cook your food or heat yourself, especially if you’re an outdoor enthusiast. When you need a portable fuel source for heat and fire, nine times out of ten, refined butane is the best way to go. But don’t just take our word for it; read on to discover why you should be using butane.

What are the Uses of Bottled Butane?

While people are most familiar with butane through the use of disposable or refillable pocket cigarette lighters, there are many other uses of both pure butane and butane-propane blends for consumers. Butane bottles are used for a wide range of devices and purposes, including:

Portable camping stoves
Outdoor grills
Patio heaters
Portable space heaters
Cabinet heaters
Caravan and motorhome cooking and heating
Mobile catering
Refilling lighters

Butane in either its refined form, n-butane, or its purer form, also known as isobutane, is used in industries such as plumbing, construction, culinary arts as well as in jewelry making, glassmaking, welding, and other crafty ventures.

What are the Benefits of Butane?

Butane is superior to its long standing rival propane and other fuel sources such as kerosene and gasoline for portable cooking and heating devices for a wide variety of reasons. After reading the following list, you’ll never look back.

Low Price – Although butane and propane are extracted via the same process, butane is less expensive than its hydrocarbon peer and bottles of butane also often contain higher volumes of the gas.
Fast Burn – Butane lights instantly and reaches its maximum heat output right away so that you don’t have to wait to start cooking or get warm.
Ease of Use – Compared with using other types of fuel such as unleaded gasoline and kerosene, butane is extremely easy to use. While other types of fuel may require priming with a preheat fuel or pouring a certain amount out, butane canisters are easily attached to the stove or heater and will start working right away. Butane canisters are easily resealed and can be saved and used next time.
Low Toxicity – Butane is less toxic and burns cleaner than propane and other fuels as it normally only produces carbon dioxide, not the more deadly carbon monoxide.
Energy Efficiency – Butane produces about 12% more energy than propane when the same volumes are burned above freezing. Campers will save on money, back pain, and space by using butane because they won’t need to buy or pack as many lightweight butane bottles.

What are the Best Butane Brands?

Although many stores only sell propane or propane-butane blends, butane is often available from online stores and can be obtained in bulk so that it’s easy to stock up for the year all at once. Here’s a breakdown of some of the best butane brands on the market today.

Colibri – Colibri paved the way to the modern semi-automatic cigarette lighter in 1928, which replaced older, more dangerous models.
Lucienne – Owned by UK-based company Keen-Newport, Lucienne is distributed throughout the United States from its main base in Chicago.
Newport – Newport is known for its innovative crenellated cap system that adapts to whatever application you are using to refill the canister, making refills safe, efficient, and inexpensive.
Power – One of the most popular brands of butane on the market today, Power butane is known for its high-quality gas that does not clog lighters or torches.
Puretane – One of the few American-made butane companies, Puretane butane is known for its ultra-filtered and ultra-refined 99.9% pure n-butane that contains very little toxic sulfur.
SToK – Voted the top butane in the industry in 2013, SToK butane has gained a reputation for quality and reliability during its 50-year history.
Vector – Vector is widely known for its high-quality line of smoking accessories as well as highly refined butane in the form of both customized lighters and disposable and refillable bottles.
Whip-It! –The best deal for bargain-hunters, Whip-It! butane comes in a number of levels of refinement, which means that it is some of the least expensive butane on the market.

Butane bottles are typically available in 5x, 7x, 9x, and ultra refined. The more refined the butane, the hotter and more consistent the flame and the less likely it is that your lighter or other appliance will get clogged.

To make the switch over to butane head to our shop or give us a call and see how we can help.