Fuel stove help

[guest868]

I thought this might be the best place to ask, we shall see.
A few years back I replaced my Coleman Dual Fuel stove that I'd had through my teenage years with a Coleman Apollo stove that I bargain bought from the states.
All has been wonderful and fine and then the other month I went to use it and it was really struggling to light and stay lit. I wondered about pressure issues, but no the bottle was at pressure fine. I wondered about poor fuel, but I had siphoned it fresh that week from a recently filled tank.
The only way I was able to get it to keep burning was to up end the bottle to a funny angle, which lead me to believe there were some problems in the feed.
I'm not being tight about replacing it as I've seen field and trek have some discounts on MSRs, but I'd rather fix it if possible.
Anyone got any pointers at all?

[Richard]

Buy an army surplus trangia ?

[squirrelciv]

Go gas!

[002]

Bollocks to the other two replies !
Trangia......GAS !  Pah !

I wouldnt be suprised if the Generator tube is blocked.
As with a carb. stale petrol will block small any small holes or passage ways.

Strip it down and clean all that you can....but I expect the generator tube will have to be replaced.

Have a peak at the Spirit Burner web site.
For info and parts.
And another to get in touch with for parts is a place over Bristol way....Veals I think it is.
An angling shop but also supplies spares for Coleman cookers and tents.

Jethro

[Andy M]

What Jethro said. Also, try a bit of Coleman fuel, supermarket unleaded if full of stuff that doesn't burn, not what you want when trying to fault find.

Andy

[Richard]

Veals looks okay for lamp spares - can't find owt for stoves though.

Both my coleman lantern and stove are clogged up by cheap unleaded, I keep meaning to try panel wipe as Coleman Fuel is ridiculously expensive.

[guest868]

Cheers for the pointers Jethro. I'll strip and tinker and see how we go on.

[guest868]

Bit of a strip and tinker, replace a ball valve ball that had marked and thought we were all good to go, yet still it was non-lighting.
After some more headscratching I realised that there was a black L piece of plastic and small piece of pipe missing from the pump assembly. This bit sits at the end of another length of pipe inside the fuel bottle. I can only presume that at some point when I'd separated the bottle from pump assembly that it had come off and pinged away somewhere. I've emailed Coleman and will see if I can get a replacement part.

[Steffan]

If you can fix it then fix it - like  Jethro saiys, but for my money after having had a couple of them over the years i am not a fan of these coleman stoves. I get the convenience of integrated tank and the sturdiness etc but when my last one went, a new generator didn't improve matter, it used to leak back and there was flame even after you turn it off. My ineptitude? Perhaps. But they only have the one speed - flat out, which is great for brewing up but not so good for a curry or rice pudding etc.

I replaced mine with an Optimus Nova and after some teething problems on Kerosene never looked back.

Gas is OK for summer hols with the family or in Jetboil, although that said, the gas converter on a trangia is a powerful if fiddly bit of kit. Also you have the issue of reducing performance as the tank empties and the pressure drops.

Steffan

[johnr]

i love my coleman stoves. trangias are ok, but slow and not too powerful, and you need to always have some spare meths with you, gas is ok, but the fuel is expensive and they certainly eat their way through them bottles. but the colemans are great, they have more power than you are likely to ordinarily need, and if you are on the bike, you need never carry spare fuel seperately!

[guest40]

I hope the tank you siphoned it from still got the owner home.

[guest868]

Just to clarify, I have the Coleman Apollo stove-



not one of the all in one Colemans like the Sportster (had one) or the Feather or Apex.

The missing part sits inside the fuel bottle as part of the pump. I do hope I can get a replacement, or fashion something to suit as it is a good stove.

[tj63]

You could try Aspen 4T fuel, as a cheaper alternative to the Coleman liquid gold.  Simon 83 put me on to it, and it burns really clean.

I think I paid about £13 for a gallon.


Trevor

[johnr]

i always use unleaded in my coleman stoves. the stove has a length of rubber tube in it that i use to draw a bit from the bike when i run dry!