I picked up this 1978 Coleman Peak1 576 this weekend. It seemed to burn fine, maybe a little more yellow than it should have in the flame. Today I cleaned the tank, added new fuel, pumped it up - and it began leaking pretty heavily around the top. It appears to be leaking evenly all around the top - no more on any particular side. I am still fairly new to these and haven't taken one of these single burners apart. Any ideas what might be leaking? Is it difficult to get these apart or back together? I should add...both the black 'flame adjustment' and red 'fuel lever' knobs appear slightly melted, so I'm guessing whoever had it last experienced this problem as a flame out
Though it's possible that it's leaking there, more likely the fuel valve is on/leaking and the burner is flooding. These are pretty bullet proof. To test, loosen the generator nut and pump it up. You'll know the answer pretty quick either way. Obviously, don't do this inside or near flames. As for disassembly, they don't come too much easier. Take photos when you get it apart. Mike
Only seen 3 Colemans leak there. Each one of them had been overfilled and was not faulty. The 533 i have caught fire when this happened to the previous owner so I got it cheap Good stove. A tramping buddys 422 did it after being lit in a tramping hut. Got it turned off quick enough and the 422 I have did the same but not lit to me while testing. Dont tip the tank when filling and the inner tube stops overfilling
What you will see is fuel leaking out of the valve. It's nearly impossible for the stove to leak liquid fuel from the location you show because thats air space at the top of the tank. The fuel is most likely leaking at the valve and going through the generator into the burner box and leaking out of there. Mike
I think it was because I made two newbie mistakes: didn't keep it level when filling the tank (because the filler is almost ground level!) and overfilled it. I just dumped some of the fuel and let it sit a while, then tried again - no leaks this time! I'll give it a longer test when I have time and make sure that's all there was to it, but it seems like that's it. Thanks!
Most likely, you got it. If its over fueled, the fuel goes in both the air and fuel ports, flooding the burner box. Regardless, it shouldn't have happened with the valve turned off. You would have had to of hyrolocked(no air at all in the tank or pump tube) it and used like all your weight on the pump to only possibly blow the seals. Which btw it an excellent way to pressure test tanks and free stuck NRVs minus the "all your weight" part. Mike
I also noticed that the 'red' fuel valve isn't quite right. If it's pointing 9 o'clock (horizontal, pointing left) then the fuel valve is back open. You have to have it at about 8 o'clock for it to be closed and turn the stove off - if you move it past 8 o'clock to 9 o'clock, the stove will re-light. Is there an adjustment?
Most likely, someone strong-armed it. These are o-ring valves. Just like a washerless faucet, forcing them won't make them seal, in fact can damage them. The wire is likely just twisted a bit. Here are mine: Note the they are all a bit different. They all run well. A key to lighting these is making sure you use the light(down) position on the valve to entrain air and keep it from flaring and flooding. Lots of pressure and pumping on this one is needed. They can be tough in the cold and a preheat with paste or alcohol can help. Use the light position for shutdown as well to burn most of the fuel from the generator and reduce the smell and length of time it takes to go out. Wait till the flame gets bluer and starts jumping away from the burner, then turn it off. Mike
Three?? Nice!! Thanks for the hints too. I plan on lighting mine and letting it burn a while under careful observation tomorrow or Saturday.
I had a Canadian 505 that did not work right from the very start in 1988. In 2011 I discovered it did not have the wadding in the chamber under the burner pan. It was missing about half of it. When I added some refractory wool, it ran just fine. Without it, it poured vapors out of the box under the burner pan down the stove body. Remove the generator, un-screw the burner screw, pull up the burner and pan, and check to see if you have both sides of the square box under the burner pan full of wadding.
Hey Sparky, Indeed that would do it too. And it only took you 23 years to find it. HA! Even with it, if you flood it slightly, it'll burn yellow until it burns that fuel out of the wool. I've been using fiberglass wick and cloth and it works great. What's the refractory wool made of? I'd be happy with asbestos if I could find it. The whole asbestos scare is blown WAY out of proportion. As long as care is taken not to get the stuff airborne, there no better product in my opinion. These can be a bit tricky to light. All 3 of mine have there own personality. As someone here mentioned not long ago(can't remember who) that brass block on the flame control/cleaning needle acts like a heat sink and that's why these take a bit longer to get going right. Mike
I bought a small sheet of this , for my woodstove. If someone needs a bit, I can check to see if I threw away the trimmed bit... (In two weeks, When I go up to Oregon)
The stuff is made of kaolin clay and has a variety of names: CeraWool, Kaowool, etc. The stuff Bajabum linked to is the right stuff. No asbestos and good for very high temperatures. I use it to line my gas forge.
