Help! Pressurized Kerosene Stove

[GEH]

I have used Primus paraffin stoves for many decades & still have a very compact one which disassembles into a tin for mountain/camping activity. The advantages are that you can see how much fuel you have, the flame is adjustable but very hot & there is no risk of explosion. The disadvantages are that the fuel is smelly if spilled, some knowledge or skill is needed to operate & maintain it if problems are to be preempted. The main hazard is spectacular flare-ups of unvapourised fuel. This is almost invariably caused by not pre heating the burner before tentatively turning on the regulator valve. I have used methylated spirit as the priming fuel, but alternatively burning paste and Meta solid fuel blocks ( similar to that which comes in the ultra simple military folding stoves in field ration packs) . Prickers for cleaning the jet can be bought from camping equipment suppliers.

[hpeer]

I have 3 of these stoves; one in each boat and one in a hunting cabin. I have done most of my cooking on these for some years. Great stoves, very safe, efficient and hot.

The MOST LIKELY issue us insufficient preheat. That is caused by:
1: not filling the pre heat cup sufficiently
2: incorrect preheat fluid - look for alcohol that says it is for marine stoves. Once when stuck I used high proof white lightning rhum mixed with sterno to get it liquid enough.
3: kerosene leaking into the preheat cup - unlikely, but make sure the cup is bone dry before starting

I have never seen a clogged jet cause this problem.

This is a typical new user mistake and I have done it myself. I do NOT use the above mentioned wicks because I found they prolonged the preheat time and were an annoyance.

Sterno works well but I find it a bit messy. When mixed with alcohol so I can use my squirt bottle it is very good.

To make the stove easier to use get a Justrite chemical squirter bottle from Grainger or others. Half fill with good stove alcohol and store with the cap slightly loose or pressure changes will empty the bottle. It is a very neat and safe way to fill the preheat cup.

Base Camp and Spares in the UK have all the parts and ship to the USA or Canada for very reasonable cost and time.

[double u]

Originally Posted by kryg

Not sure what you filled the cup with? It should be mentholated spirits and not kero, which is seems like you maybe using by the color of preheat flame? Another trick is to put an asbestos wick around the inside the cup, so the metho will not spill out. Light and wait till the preheated cup is nearly out and turn stove on slowly.

"mentholated" spirit......
"Asbestos"....yeah sure! good advice...
(use methylated spirit & a fibreglass wick...)

[esarratt]

Originally Posted by hpeer

I have 3 of these stoves; one in each boat and one in a hunting cabin. I have done most of my cooking on these for some years. Great stoves, very safe, efficient and hot.

Yep! I have one and am hunting for two more. They are very safe.

What helped me was watching Youtube videos of people lighting the same model stove I have.

Post a picture/s of your stove.

Originally Posted by hpeer

The MOST LIKELY issue us insufficient preheat. That is caused by:
1: not filling the pre heat cup sufficiently
2: incorrect preheat fluid - look for alcohol that says it is for marine stoves. Once when stuck I used high proof white lightning rhum mixed with sterno to get it liquid enough.
3: kerosene leaking into the preheat cup - unlikely, but make sure the cup is bone dry before starting

I still make this mistake sometimes. Insufficient preheating is a common issue.

Originally Posted by hpeer

Base Camp and Spares in the UK have all the parts and ship to the USA or Canada for very reasonable cost and time.

Correct. I actually bought my stove from The Base Camp. I had it shipped to the US. Here is their website: https://www.base-camp.co.uk/

I have also had lots of luck with Classic Camp stoves: classiccampstoves.com

[Boatyarddog]

Originally Posted by cardinham

So I have a pressurized kerosene stove in my boat. it looks almost un-used. I have had a lot of issue finding information on these. The setup has a stove, a valve, and a pressurized tank.

I am unsure what I am doing wrong here.

I fill the cup and heat it up for about 2 minutes or so, open the valve, turn on the stove, and light it. I get a fairly large orange flame maybe 10% blue. Tons of soot and black smoke. goes out a lot...

I wonder if I am missing something?

I pressurize tank to about 15 PSI per instructions. Open main valve all the way.
i heat up the burner for about 2 mins with denatured alcohol. when it burns out I turn the burner on slightly and light is. it starts a huge orange flame. and i adjust the knobs to manage it, but still cloud of soot and smoke and small orange flame.

should i light with the stove knob all the way open instead of lightly opened?


i am at a loss. it basically is orange flame, soot, smoke, and stinking up the whole boat.

please help

In my opinion, it's a waste of time trying to assist those that do not respond.
Not knowing if this is a Hillerange stove or another brand, just compounds the problems of solutions.
It could even be a heater Force 10 or so.

In any case, be sure the fuel is clean and coming from a tank that's clean.
Water in your fuel will cause these issues repeatedly.
Water molecules don't burn, but will flow thru the stove as well as kerosene.

In my opinion Kero is problematic!
Convert the stove to propane, or get a dang camp stove.
At least answer those that have responded.
Boatyarddog

[CarinaPDX]

Yes, it is disappointing when some of us try to help but the OP never responds: did he read the comments? did they solve the problem? It seems to me we are owed a response.

Thinking more on the problem I remember having had issues from clogging the jet inside the base (not in the burner itself). Some stoves have tiny jets that look similar to the jets in the burners but are smaller (and require a smaller wrench to remove), which is visible in the burner mount once the burner is removed. These jets help prevent surging of the kerosene pressure. They tended to clog for me if I ran the stove out of kerosene, something I now avoid doing. When clogged the burner has inadequate pressure for burning properly. Before installing jets in each burner mount my older kerosene pressure system had a jet in the outlet of the kerosene pressure tank, which could clog from dirty fuel. The new system doesn't have that jet and has an inline filter between the tank and burners so that the anti-surge jet does not plug from dirty fuel. N.B.: always fill with pristine (deodorized) kerosene, and use a filtered funnel if possible.

Greg

[hpeer]

Most fuel is pretty good but bad fuel happens.

RE: the leveling jet, to invent my own name can substitutes with a bit of fine brass mesh rolled up like a cigarette. Insert it into the bottom of the burner, then it will not pulse, or not as much, and is easier to clean or replace. Reducing tank pressure will also lessen pulsing. I have 2 inline filters, they don’t seem to help with pulsing much.

I once bought kero from Walmart that looked fine and burned clean. But it left burn deposits on the jet and I found the fuel turned dark brown in the burner. Really weird. That is the only “bad fuel” I ever had. I replaced my main filter cartridge because the o ring failed and leaked. The cartridge itself was still clean.

[Boatyarddog]

Originally Posted by CarinaPDX

Yes, it is disappointing when some of us try to help but the OP never responds: did he read the comments? did they solve the problem? It seems to me we are owed a response.

Thinking more on the problem I remember having had issues from clogging the jet inside the base (not in the burner itself). Some stoves have tiny jets that look similar to the jets in the burners but are smaller (and require a smaller wrench to remove), which is visible in the burner mount once the burner is removed. These jets help prevent surging of the kerosene pressure. They tended to clog for me if I ran the stove out of kerosene, something I now avoid doing. When clogged the burner has inadequate pressure for burning properly. Before installing jets in each burner mount my older kerosene pressure system had a jet in the outlet of the kerosene pressure tank, which could clog from dirty fuel. The new system doesn't have that jet and has an inline filter between the tank and burners so that the anti-surge jet does not plug from dirty fuel. N.B.: always fill with pristine (deodorized) kerosene, and use a filtered funnel if possible.

Greg

Tanks that are left mostly empty, collect water.
They shouldn't because these are pressurized not open to a vent.
When we fired up our Cal 2-29, pressurized tank the same issues happened.
Turned out the tank was left with a quart of Kero in it and the inside was a bit rusty.
No pressure allows for some air in it, over time water collected.
We removed the tank, emptied the contents, tossed in about 20 quarter sized stones, and shook the crap outta it, till the rust stopped from coming out, pretty much dusty rust.
Flushed it and added jet fuel from an airport hangar.
Jet fuel is purified Kerosene.
Burned fine, but I prefer propane.
Boatyarddog

[maury]

Originally Posted by Boatyarddog

Tanks that are left mostly empty, collect water.
They shouldn't because these are pressurized not open to a vent.
When we fired up our Cal 2-29, pressurized tank the same issues happened.
Turned out the tank was left with a quart of Kero in it and the inside was a bit rusty.
No pressure allows for some air in it, over time water collected.
We removed the tank, emptied the contents, tossed in about 20 quarter sized stones, and shook the crap outta it, till the rust stopped from coming out, pretty much dusty rust.
Flushed it and added jet fuel from an airport hangar.
Jet fuel is purified Kerosene.
Burned fine, but I prefer propane.
Boatyarddog

Yes,, I was waiting for a rusty tank comment. I have a rusty tank will stone it. Thx

[Bycrick]

I had a kerosene stove for 25 years. I found that the easiest way to preheat them was to use a propane torch. Once I quit trying to use alcohol, most of the problems went away. Cleaning the orifice required removal using a special wrench, but was easy with the pricier tool. My burners had a pricking wire built in. Except that good, clean burning kerosene is now expensive and hard to find, I’d still have the old stove.

[maury]

As we speak my kerosine tank is almost clean after a good shaking with stones and wd-40. I plan to wash it out with water until clean then rinse with a high grade of kerosine. Never used this system before but got it to hold 18 lbs of pressure for an hour so had that resolved before the tank cleaning. At the end of pressure test I turned on Hillerange burners. No activity from stove top burners, oven had a mist of old fuel come out and a small amount drip into the fuel drip tray. Can I assume that means stove top burners are clogged, oven burner is ok?

What is best cleaning method. I have spare burners but don’t know their condition. Unit was probably made in 1981 and installed on the new Orion 27 at that time.

[maury]

I have a couple of these heater wicks I am told to soak in alcohol and then just lay it on top of the burner and light wick to warm the burner..I question on top of or should it be under?

[Kelkara]

Originally Posted by maury

I have a couple of these heater wicks I am told to soak in alcohol and then just lay it on top of the burner and light wick to warm the burner..I question on top of or should it be under?

I don't know if Hillerange used the same burners as Taylors, but most kero burners are similar ... The little round wick wick goes in the priming cup beneath the burner (#32 in the image below). Hopefully your wicks are fiberglass and not asbestos.


Add alcohol to the cup with the wick in it, set fire to it, let it burn down, and just as the flame goes out, open the valve and light the burner.

[maury]

Got it all working but almost had a catastrophe. I went to dump the stones out of the tank and discovered the fuel input hole besides sticking up an inch also sticks down into the tank an inch. I couldn’t just dump them out. I cut a plastic bottle butterfly style and stuck wide end into the filler hole. It was like a game shaking the two gallon tank so pebbles would hit the plastic piece and be funneled out of the tank. Finally after about 500 tank shakes rinsed tank with kero, hooked it all up navigated starting it, finally successfully.

[hpeer]

I don’t use the wicks, I found that they made lighting the burner harder and messier.

As to cleaning a burner, I have seen this described on another site. (Somthing BURNER) IIRC they make a connection to an air source, relatively low pressure, and heat the burner base until the contents ignite. Supposedly it is sort of like mini jet engine, best to have no inflammables around.

Not having that set up I used some very fine stainless steel wire rope, like 1/8th inch. You find that at West Marine. Work that into the two legs through the base. Take everything off the base. Wash it out with mineral spirits or something. Takes a good while but I have been able to open up a couple of pretty plugged burners. Just pure mechanical action. Eventually you will be able to blow through it. Then it is good. Thats what I remember anyway, been a while.

But also, a single strand from that 1/8” wire rope will pass through the jet nozzle, like a pricker. Handy stuff.