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POD
1st July 2008, 12:28 PM
Hi all, I'm wondering if anyone can advise me on a problem that has me mystified. Not long back from a 7 week camping trip, and had a very frustrating experience with the LPG stove in my camper trailer. The burners, instead of producing a nice hot blue flame, will flare up with a big yellow flame that threatens to burn down the camper. Sometimes they will burn properly with just the occasional brief flare, other times they will refuse to do anything but flare like this. I thought it must be due to dust in the tubes or jets, so I spent an hour one afternoon pulling it apart and cleaning out the jets with a piece of wire and compressed air, cleaned all the parts and blew out all the tubes, it worked when I put it back together, then when it was time to cook dinner an hour later it was doing the same as before. It then got worse to the point that one jet stopped working altogether- you can hear the gas but it won't light. Does anyone know what causes this?

100I
1st July 2008, 12:30 PM
Sounds like the pressure regulator at the bottle.

dolphint
1st July 2008, 01:17 PM
Hi Pod, I've had the same expirence:( and been down the same track of dismantling everything cleaning it etc etc.:mad: but it was always dirt in the lines. The only way I could fix it was to replace the line/regulator, the jets and blow out the top of the bottle (which is where the dirt got in in the first place as I had left the cap off and didn't blow it out before connecting it up) Good luck:cool:

Regards, Steve.

EchiDna
1st July 2008, 03:55 PM
too much air in the fuel mixture... simple one first - does the sound of the gas flow 'sound right'? if not, the parts are either dirty, misalinged or:

some stoves have a hole in the side of the metal part leading from the valve (temp control knob) to the burner. Often this is covered by a ring of metal with a similar hole in it - by turning the ring and changing the degree of overlap in the holes, you change the amount of air sucked in to be burnt with the gas, which changes the flame colour from yellow to blue.

Bushwanderer
1st July 2008, 04:04 PM
Hi POD,
While it's difficult to diagnose without knowing your setup, my guess would be dirt in the burner jets.

If you have a high-pressure regulator, the burner jets need to be smaller, making them more liable to blockage. Can you get larger jets (with commensurably lower gas pressure regulator)?

defenderbilby
1st July 2008, 04:37 PM
This happens with my stove as well. The problem with mine is that when I connect to the gas bottle and light the stove no problem, but if left with the gas bottle on and the stove knobs off the gas in the hose condenses especially in this cold weather. Next time you light, the liquid gas in the hose evaporates in spurts causing the flaring. After a few minutes of dramatic flame throwing it settles back again. To reduce this I turn the stove off at the bottle and wait for all the gas to be consumed in the hose. This is my theory anyway.

POD
1st July 2008, 05:14 PM
Thanks for the replies, sounds like I was probably on the right track with cleaning the thing out but there's no doubt an endless supply of dust through the thing by now. It is a high-pressure stove that doesn't use a reg, also the air mixer venturis are not adjustable- it actually seems to not be drwing in enough air rather than too much. I'll have to pul it apart again now that I have a proper compressor handy and try again. Seems everything suffers a bit from these outback expeditions.

POD
2nd July 2008, 05:54 PM
This happens with my stove as well. The problem with mine is that when I connect to the gas bottle and light the stove no problem, but if left with the gas bottle on and the stove knobs off the gas in the hose condenses especially in this cold weather. Next time you light, the liquid gas in the hose evaporates in spurts causing the flaring. After a few minutes of dramatic flame throwing it settles back again. To reduce this I turn the stove off at the bottle and wait for all the gas to be consumed in the hose. This is my theory anyway.

I'll have to check that- not sure whether it made a difference how long it was connected. Certainly worth checking. There must be a way to solve this problem without wasting a hose full of gas every time, though??

Newbs-IIA
7th July 2008, 12:10 AM
your theory isn't too bad except there is not "liquid" in the hose, only gas unless you tip your gas bottle upside down (this is very unadviseable)

Give everything a good going over with compressed air, blow out all the hoses and jets just as you did and don't forget to clean the bottle (just open the valve on the bottle without a hose attacked to blow all the crap out). Also make sure you have no air leaks in the lines. The basic HP stoves are great and should only require this little bit of maintainence to keep them going for years, my dad has had his for the past 25...

Bull dust gets into EVERYTHING, there is no stopping it :p

POD
8th July 2008, 07:01 PM
Thanks Newbs, haven't got back to the stove yet- busy building a spare wheel carrier. I don't think the dust has entered from the bottle, I had the screw-in cap that the swap bottles comewith, also 'cracking' the valve before connecting each time. If there is dust, it's got into the hose and stove whilst travelling. You're darn right about the bulldust getting into everything. This is one of the reasons I believe that the Zip-Lock Bag is man's greatest invention (closely followed by the Cable Tie)- wish I'd thought to store the hose in one.
I do think it is possible for the gas to condense in the hose though- assuming there is a bit of a 'U' in the hose when connected. It's the pressure in the cylinder that causes the gas to liquify, and the hose is subject to the same pressure when there's no reg. However, after discussing things with the cook, we both recall that the problem was occurring even straight after hooking up- so dust is suspect #1.
When I get around to cleaning the thing out again, I'll let you all know the result.

fraser130
10th July 2008, 10:51 AM
I've seen this happen if the bottle was overfilled, or in cold weather, somehow liquid gets up to the jets instead of gas. Was the bottle completely level?

Fraser

isuzu110
10th July 2008, 08:42 PM
After having this problem for the last 7 years of camper-trailer ownership, I can vouch for the fact that the major cause is gas condensing again in the hose. I turn off at the gas bottle each night and run the burners down.

If you believe it is the jets, most camping shops will sell you replacements. Take yours apart and read the jet size ("N" or NG" etc) and buy a replacement. I just bought 2 replacements jets for $6 last week.

You can also buy replacement burners for some stoves. I just replaced the jets and burners for $40 on my 22 year old stove. It is still made - new price $89.

POD
21st July 2008, 11:53 AM
Thanks again for the responses. I found time to check this out today and I think the dust theory wins out. The camper has been sitting with everything disconnected for several weeks; I connected the hose to the bottle (which is mounted on the trailer, so is level) and to the stove and one burner completely refused to ignite, which seemed to be the end point of the flaring problem rather than a different problem- the burners flared more and more and then failed to light altogether. I removed and dismantled the stove, soaked the jets in paint thinners for a few minutes whilst I blew clean compressed air through all the tubes, blew out the jets and reassembled the stove. Hooked it al up and it worked a treat. I left the hose connected for a couple of hours with the bottle on and the stove off, still worked okay so, fingers crossed, this seems to have solved the problem. The guy at the local camping shop reckons the dust builds up on the little gauze screen in the back of the jets. I think I'll get a couple of spare jets to put amongst the myriad spare parts I seem to have to carry for a trip. In a zip-lock bag.