TK 800 / Booster Stove.

[Harb505]

After trying to cook in the Peak district this winter with a standard canister type stove I decided it would be worth while investing in a stove that can take liquid fuel as well. After a few hours of browsing Coelman and MSR stoves ect... I came across the TK800 / S-9 / Booster stove (Depending on where you buy it from) at only £45 it was considerably cheaper than its competitiors. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Camping-Stove-Gasoline-Gas-Multi-Stove-TK800-x1set-/300389635488?pt=UK_SportingGoods_Camping_CookingSupplies_ET&hash=item45f09e15a0&x=62&y=5
So on opening the box I found what I expected a Stove that looked like a Chinese copy of more a expensive product. Despite this the stove is fairly solid and very simple to use.
I first tested it using standard petrol as I had no white gas to hand. After reading the manual which was in very broken English I filled up the 530 ml bottle (A larger one is avaliable) and atattched the pump and stove. After a few pushes on the pump I started to pre heat it and within a couple of minutes I had a stable blue flame with the ocassional yellow tip.
Yes its loud...sounds like a jet. The stove on full burn is insane, boiling water in no time at all (sorry didn't time it for a liter) at the other end of the scale trying to simmer can be problamatic there is a fine line between turning it down so low it starts surging and burning too hot. I doubt it will ever simmer as well as a gas stove but the adapter allows you to use gas bottles anyway.

While I get along with this stove there are a few issues that I have noted:
1) It quotes a full 530 ml bottle will last 2.5 hours on mid burn, while I have not emptied a bottle yet (just refiled it when about half way) I doubt it would last 2.5 hours.
2) To depressurise the bottle you have to unscrew the cap, while you do this a fine mist of petrol / white gas is emmited which can blow onto your clothing, in addition this means that before you depressurise the canister ensure the flame is definately blown out in the stove itself.
3) Its advertised as multi fuel that can burn petrol, white gas, kerosine, gas and parrafin... It just can't while you could maybe get it to burn kero if you mixed it with another fuel, reading users comment no one has managed to get it to work with kero of paraffin even if you use the slightly larger spare jet it comes with. So this is purely a white gas and cansiter gas stove
Pros:
Cheap in comparrison to competiors
Easy to use, powerful
Suprisingly well built
Readily avaliable spares

Cons:
Burn time not maybe not as long as expected
It doesn't simmer very well
Messy depressurisation method
the spanner that comes with it is usless
Doesn't burn all the fuels the manuacturer/ retailer states it can.

Final note: I paid £45 for this stove. I have recently found if you shop carefully you can pick up the stove on its own for £10 the bottle of £5 and the pump for £5 so a fairly good liquid stove for a grand total of £20 + P&P

 

[Silverhill]

If you upend the bottle (providing its not full) the pressure will purge the fuel in the line in about 30-60 seconds, leaving the line clear and with less fuel spillage.

You're bob-on though, they're excellent for the money!

 

[Harb505]

Why did I not think of that? I do it with spary cans all the time! Thanks for the pointer

 

[BillyBlade]

It will burn diesel. Mine does

We tried it for a laugh last year when we were away. More soot than a Rolls Royce Avon engine though!

Great stoves. Not just 'for the money' either.

 

[Graham_S]

I've got one, I managed Kerosine just fine.
Needed quite a bit of priming though.
I mainly use gas or coleman fuel/panel wipe now.

 

[Silverhill]

I mainly use gas or coleman fuel/panel wipe now.

Naptha! Why didn't I think of that?! I bet its cheaper than Aspen as well.

 

[ged]

You want a smaller jet for heavier fuels like kerosene and diesel, not a larger one.

 

[Harb505]

Alot of interesting info regarding the alternative fuels, thanks has anyone got an accurate burn time for a full 530 bottle?

 

[Silverhill]

I'm afraid not Harb. I like to fly by the seat of my pants Even if it means my noodles are cold!

 

[Harb505]

Will try mine out on a full bottle when I get some cleaner burning fuel and also clock time taken to boil 1 ltr of water -after a few uses of using standard petrol it is a little black to say the least.

 

[ged]

Alot of interesting info regarding the alternative fuels, thanks has anyone got an accurate burn time for a full 530 bottle?

I don't have a stove exactly like yours but I can give you some pointers.

My Optimus 111B puts out about 3kW at full power, using about 4 grammes of fuel per minute. Petrol and similar fuels have a density about 80% of that of water so you can reckon 4g/minute is about 5ml/minute.

From what I've seen of Steve's stove I reckon it's a good bit more powerful than the 111B, so I think you could be looking at anything up to seven or even eight ml/minute at full power.

Of course for gentle cooking, when you turn it down to a few hundred watts instead of a few kilowatts, the fuel consumption goes right down too. I think the fuel tank on the 111B holds about 260g at most, so it could run at full power for just over an hour. At one-tenth power it would run continuously for approaching half a day.

It depends on how you use it. You can learn to be really economical with fuel when you have to carry it everywhere.

 

[Silverhill]

It depends on how you use it. You can learn to be really economical with fuel when you have to carry it everywhere.

I'll second that! These stoves are a little vicious when you've been used to gas or a campfire for cooking, for example; if I open my stove up to even half power, the base of my Tatonka billy glows red! I've learned to be reasonably cautious with the regulator since its first outing, and mainly use it on tickover as there's never really a rush to boil water. I will add however, that the thread lock they used during assembly, failed on the regulator knob on the third outing on account of a drop of fuel that worked its way into the thread after a spillage. It may be prudent to add extra superglue to the thread as in an emergency, the last thing you want is for it to come off in your fingers.

 

[ZEbbEDY]

thinking about getting one of these from the bay, i see them in various different names but looks like the same stove, one i fancy is a booster+ or brs-8

is everyone who owns one still alive? i see that they have been withdrawn from sale in some countries (ctrl-f stove)

have seen some videos on youtube and doubt id like to cook in the porch of my tent using alcohol as it looks like a hot air baloon jet when you light it and i could easily end up wrapped in molten tent

 

[rik_uk3]

I've got a couple of these 'multifuel' stoves, they are fine. I've a Booster setup in a Trangia 25 running on gas, Jetboil speeds in realistic sized pans.

 

[ZEbbEDY]

well my stove turned up today, these things are pretty brutal

tried it on propane/butane cannister as dont have any liquid fuel on the go and it started coming out of the connection before the pre-heat tube :yikes: so had to re-tighten it and nothing seems to be coming out here , also turned the cannister upside down and it started going brutal full power so turned down the power and it wouldnt go down :yikes: but subsided eventually :yikes: was testing it in the house so thought oh no goodbye fixtures and fittings

good for the money overall

 

[ged]

... was testing it in the house ...

Don't do that, that's silly.

 

[BillyBlade]

Might be worth checking the connections on them when you get them I think. Saying that, I was using mine again this morning (not in the house Zebbedy you mentalist) and still, no bother with it and still going strong.

 

[Silverhill]

Might be worth checking the connections on them when you get them I think. Saying that, I was using mine again this morning (not in the house Zebbedy you mentalist) and still, no bother with it and still going strong.

I agree with Billy; mine required a strip-down and rebuild before it went into regular service (mainly to satisfy the engineer in me than anything else )

 

[ZEbbEDY]

broken it already

soooooo... i was stripping it down and taking the jet out and the thread snapped off and is stuck in

might need to drill it out

 

[ged]

broken it already

soooooo... i was stripping it down and taking the jet out and the thread snapped off and is stuck in

might need to drill it out

Oh dear. In your defence, even with a lot of experience it's difficult to know what things like this will take when you're using a hand tool to undo it or do it back up.

But before you make an awkward situation into a real problem, hang on with that drill. There are tools for extracting broken threaded bits. You might not even need something as technical as that. If the jet broke because it had been tightened too much in the first place it probably broke with practically no threads on the jet and most of the threads still in the stove. In that case there's a good chance that the threads won't be tight in the stove. Assuming that it's a right-hand thread jet screw (or is that the problem?) if you can just get something like a left-hand thread sheet metal screw with a diameter just a fraction bigger than the hole in the bit that's broken and screw that into the hole, then it might just unscrew easily as you tighten the left-hand thread screw. In any case I'd put a drop of WD-40 or 3-in-1 into the threads just to try to ease it up a bit. Leave the oil to soak for a couple of days before trying anything else.

Afterthought: I'm assuming that you've emptied all the fuel out? If not, do it NOW.