I was asked to add some info about a couple of photos I previously posted of a nova running kero with a Novadawg cap... The optimus nova works differently to all other roarers (that I can think of). The fins inside the burner transfer the heat down to vapourise the fuel. The burner bell itself seems to be there just to hold everything together. It appears a silent cap can reduce this transfer of heat, hence the novadawg does not hold a good kero flame... but it can! My fist solution was to grind the fins down on a nova until the cap sat quite a bit deeper. This worked brilliantly but the stove no longer works as a roarer without the fins. So this one is silent only... I regreat the above modification now as I have a better solution, SIDEBURNS. Gary sent me some copper which I used as a base, the rods are brass. I made 3 models to test. All 3 work, my preference is the double version as the triple is a tricky to install and the single has not been thoroughly tested yet. I use the double vesrsion in the snow this winter with no problems. I leave these on, even when the stove not using a cap. Burning nice and clean on kero with the single sideburn burning kero with the 3 sided one What they look like naked Extra insulation, for a but more preheating to compensate for the bulk of the cap. Installed on the burner, with original priming pad in place The stove still folds as it should If you want to try this can can't braise (yet) these 2 things work but not quite so well 1)brass rod twisted or clipped around the fuel pipe (inside the stoves casing), poking up into the flame 2) A strip of bass, hole in one end, bolted to the bottom of the stove, the other end up in the flame. Wow I can write in purple A further improvement could be to use a dedicated kero jet (Artcicflame previously mentioned that he uses a xgk jet, I am now sure if it is xgk ex or a xgk 11). I have not tried it as I do not have a xgk. Dan
P.S. I think this may also work to allow Chinese multifuel stoves to actually be multifuel. I don't have one so can't be sure. Dan
What a brilliant idea Dan! That with the NovaDawg cap, has provided an excellent combination for the use of kerosene. Great flame to. Cheers, John
Hi Dan, Thanks for posting this. What diameter brass tubing are you using? It would be good to know the actual diameter of a XKG jet, know anyone that can actually measure the jet diameter? I have four jets for my Omnifuel which give me great flexibility (I added a 0.32 jet from the “new” Trangia multifuel) it would be nice to have some others made for my Nova so I can increase the flexibility there also. Cheers, Rob
Dan, I did a search and found the Arcticflame post .."Running the Nova on white gas as a roarer you can replace the jet with an old-style MSR XGK X-jet. Then you get better performance in terms of slightly higher output and in an increased range of regulation. The threading of the x-jet perfectly fits the Nova." Now to search where I can get one! Cheers, Rob
Hi Rob It is not brass tubing, it is brass rod. It is some sort of braising rod from an engineering shop. I can recall the diameter but it is not critical, they had 2 sizes, I tried both and both worked. The thicker stuff is my preference as it is sturdier. I would like to try a xkg k jet to get a cleaner kero burn. I have tried a dragonfly jet and it is a very slightly loose fit, so it works loose. I also made one which I fixed to a optimus 99 to try and get a kero burn... but that did not work. Dan
My method of measuring the diameter of jet holes goes like this. I bought several steel guitar strings of different diameters. They are very cheap. They are marked with numbers, like #10, #12, etc., probably having a musical significance for the guitarist (which I am not.) Then I used a micrometer (which I once bought in a flea market) to measure the actual diameter of each wire. I found that the #10 is 0.28 mm, and the #12 is 0.31 mm. The wire that enters the jet with a tight fit gives me the jet diameter. Yonadav
