Petrol Stove - fuel usage?

I recently purchased my first petrol stove (Primus omnifuel) and intend taking it on a 4/5 day backpacking trip next week with a few friends in Knoydart.

It's my first petrol stove (previously used either Trianga meths or gas canisters) and I am trying without too much success to find some information on fuel usage.

Can anyone offer any advice? we'll be cooking main meals in the evening plus the odd brew.

My stove's an Optimus Nova but I expect much of what I've found will apply to yours too. And apologies if I'm telling you things you already know.

First, I'd recommend using Coleman fuel or the Primus equivalent - the stove will burn cleaner not clog - but it is pricey at £5 or £6 for a 500ml tin. If you want something cheaper, I've successfully used white spirit, which can be bought in quantity quite cheaply at B&Q or the like. Automotive petrol can be used but isn't recommended because of the additives it contains which don't burn off fully at stove temperatures and increase the stove maintenance required.

As for quantity, most of my use has been solo, with a 3 course evening meal plus hot water for brews and breakfast (I'd guess maybe an hour's burn per day in all) and I've found 1 litre of Coleman fuel will last me between 7 and 9 days at that. If I was sparing I could probably do a bit longer. On campsites, cooking meals for one but making copious brews for many I've had half a litre last 3 days.
You don't say if you're cooking for just yourself or the group - but I hope that helps...

Cheers Matt. That gives me a good idea, there's 3 of us, we're only taking the one stove and will have 3 or 4 main meals (might call into civilisation one night) and plan on cooking pasta type meals, plus a desert of custard.

I was planning on using petrol mainly as it's afair bit cheaper than Coleman fuel, though I have some white spirit in the garage which I use for cleaning chain on the bike. Didn't realise you could use that.

Yeh, white spirit seems to do a reasonable job since it's naptha based so essentially a petroleum product (but I'm no chemist!) - not quite as good as Coleman fuel but it certainly works.

Just don't try to run it on meths!! ;-)

Supermarket White Spirit (e.g. Tesco) is cheaper than the likes of Wickes, in my experience.

As for the fuel usage, I'd suggest you play with the thing before you go away, as pressure stoves take a bit of getting used to (priming, etc). Then you can weigh the fuel bottle before and after a representative burn session, to see how much you use.