Best stove for Winter

[cave_dweller]

So... after a *really* long wait, my stove showed up today. With no instructions.

Needless to say I wanted to make sure it worked, so I put it on a big chopping board in the kitchen, connected it up, fitted a gas cylinder, and... it works a treat.

However - I was encourage by this, so I figured I'd try it on Coleman fuel, and almost burned the house down. :11doh:

I had checked it was all tight and fitted well, but obviously not properly (no instructions!).

It flared, big time, then some escaped liquid fuel got off the chopping board, and suddenly I was watching my old man beating out the flames with my soft-shell!

I really should know better, but I definitely wasn't expecting flames that big!

Moral: Take it outside, and be careful.

Is there a 'right way' to start these things when running on liquid fuel? Pretty please?

 

[spandit]

That is a long wait!

To start mine, I pump it up then open the valve to let a tiny bit of fuel out. I then close the valve again.

Then, I light this fuel & let it burn until it's about to go out - that's when I open the valve again. The stove should be sufficiently hot enough to burn properly then

 

[Nonsuch]

You have to prime it first. Run a little bit of fuel into the priming cup and burn that off first to get the burner hot, then when you open the valve the Coleman fuel will burn as vapour, and produce a nice small blue flame not liquid. Take your time priming to make sure the burner is properly hot. Keep it out of the wind as windy conditions will stop the burner heating up properly. HTH

 

[johnboy]

There is not a lot to go on in your description... You did prime the stove first before opening up the fuel valve and lighting the Coleman fuel??With any liquid fuel stove ( not all but the vast majority) you have to preheat the burner so when the liquid fuel hits that it vaporizes from the liquid state to a gas and can mix with air and burn cleanly.You can preheat the burner in a lot of ways a common one is to open the fuel valve and let a small amount of fuel escape into the the burner close the fuel valve completely ignite that fuel which heats the burner one that fuel has burnt off and the burner is nice an hot you can open the fuel valve what you get then if the burner is hot enough is fuel vapour you then light that...That's a really basic overview of it...You need to practice and definitely do it outside...

 

[ged]

So... after a *really* long wait, my stove showed up today. With no instructions.

They would probably have said something like "only use this appliance outdoors, in a well ventialted area, where there is no risk of setting fire to your undies".

Well I'm not quite sure about that last bit.

... Is there a 'right way' to start these things when running on liquid fuel? Pretty please?

I usually get the burner hot by putting a bit of meths on it first. Cleaner, not so smelly, quick, relatively safe.

 

[cave_dweller]

You have to prime it first. Run a little bit of fuel into the priming cup and burn that off first to get the burner hot, then when you open the valve the Coleman fuel will burn as vapour, and produce a nice small blue flame not liquid. Take your time priming to make sure the burner is properly hot. Keep it out of the wind as windy conditions will stop the burner heating up properly. HTH

That does help - thanks muchly! I did prime it (at least, I thought I did) by allowing a small amount of fuel into the bottom of the burner, then letting it burn. When I thought it was hot, I opened the valve - that's when the trouble started!

Obviously I didn't let it get hot enough. Oops! Ah well - live and learn.

 

[BillyBlade]

I run mine on unleaded, and yes, without pre warming you get literally 4 foot of flame shooing into the air before the preheater bar wams enough to get the desired effect.

Was rather grateful I did mine outside the very first time. Otherwise, bad things may well have happened!

 

[bronskimac]

I did a small test on Enliven Hand Sanitizer gel, it burns with a nice blue flame but does leave a residue. Will give it a go as a primer on my recently acquired Coleman Dual Fuel 533 that was gifted to me.

 

[widu13]

Might be of interest to some:

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=81520