Hi, I am replacing my primus Omnilite with one of these but have seen videos of this stove pulsating. Is there a cure for this? I am thinking of adding a silent cap like a PolarDawg to reduce noise and improve simmer control like I have done with the primus. Will that cure the pulsating flame? These caps only seem to be available from the US and involve high shipping costs. Is there a UK supplier?
My Polaris does not pulse, nice, steady flame output. I've had a recent production Nova with a similar pump that could pulse a little, but adjusting the stop valve at the pump, to almost shutting of the stove, would always cure it. I bought my cap here: PolarDawg For Optimus Polaris Optifuel | 3D Printing Shop | i.materialise Kind regards Tron
I use white gas (Aspen), this is a white gas stove in my opinion. I have used it with canister gas (butane/propane mix) and kerosene as well. It works well with canister gas, and reasonably with kerosene. I don't think kerosene is a particularly good fuel for this stove, white gas/Aspen/panel wipe is really the best fuel for the Polaris. Kind regards Tron
No, of course not - but there is one in Belgium/EU: iMaterialise But, I guess it's as bad as the US for a Brit though. You guys really shot yourself in the foot... PS Neither of my two Polaris' have any pulsating problems...
Recent Optimus stove like Polaris, one jet for all fuel may not really very be optimized for different fuels imo. And I agree that one is the best for the white gasoline. If you are not replacing yr omnilite yet, what do you think about Omnifuel II? Unless you are not using Kerosene or similar Heavy fuels, the semi automated jet cleaning is not important, so omnifuel is considerable option. Furthermore Primus supports the end users well, but Optimus... I don't think... ...
Chances are, this will be used most of the time on canister gas or white gas, (Stihl Moto 4 plus) as I use on my Coleman 442. It is nice to have the option on long motorcycle journeys of using petrol. It would be interesting to try kerosene as this is ultra cheap in comparison. The Omnilite worked well with this fuel even with the silent burner which the manufacturer did not recommend. What helped, was using alcohol for preheating and this keeps the soot down.
Hi folks, I recently worked on my sister’s Optimus Polaris that had gradually begun to pulse annoyingly over the last several years. She has used this stove extensively for backpacking and snowcamping for perhaps 10 years or more. She had recently done the usual maintenance per the manual. She typically has used reasonably fresh Coleman fuel but sometimes Crown or MSR Superfuel from REI. My impression was that there were multiple contributing factors to the pulsing; I could not narrow it down to just one thing. Once I fixed all of the possible issues, the stove runs like new. (The stove will pulse some until it’s hot but I think it has always done that.) Here’s a list of what I did: Fuel bottle gasket aged, hardened and leaking slightly; replaced with a Viton gasket. Fuel bottle quick disconnect: O ring seals torn because of a small burr at the bottom of the threaded hole left from manufacturing. Removed burrs and replaced O rings with custom Viton washer. Cleaned and lubricated pump leather. Fuel bottle will now hold pressure for quite some time. Orifice was lose; cleaned, cleaned where it seats, confirmed that it seats properly by the visual wear pattern from tightening. (You can use a Sharpie pen on the mating surface to help if the contact pattern is not obvious.) The fuel filter had recently been replaced; verified that it was not plugged. Full disassembly and cleaning: I use a sequence of solvents (eg K&B No. 8121 thinner, alcohol, acetone, although sometimes carburetor cleaner works well. A sequence of solvents works better than just one. I use lots of Q tips and pipe cleaners, always making sure I don’t leave any lint behind. After the gas generator and orifice were cleaned and degreased, a 15 minute soak in Griffith Nickel Pickle followed by a water rinse then a fine brass brush wheel on the exposed surfaces of the burner. Do not soak in Nickel Pickle for an extended period. Nickle Pickle is great for this sort of cleaning without risking scratching or damaging things with mechanical instruments. Cleaned the control valve spindle, checked and lubricated the two O rings, confirmed that where they seat was likewise clean, that they were not cracked etc. After disassembly, blew out all passageways and fuel tube with an air nozzle at 60 psi. New ceramic fiber wick made from Amazon.com: Nutec MaxWool Ceramic Fiber Insulating Blanket, 1/2" x 8" x 10", High Temperature 2400F, Durable, Lightweight, 8# Density : Arts, Crafts & Sewing After reassembly I did a number of test runs a day or so apart. In watching the response of the control valve as the stove warmed up I had the following impression of the cause of pulsing before the stove was fully hot. During this time, liquid fuel may not be fully vaporized in the vaporization area and may be spit out as small droplets which then burn when they hit the hot flame spreader. I suspect that this liquid fuel in the vaporization area is boiling with bubbles of vaporized fuel breaking free – just a guess. As the stove heats up the rate of pulsing will increase as if the fuel is boiling more and more rapidly. Finally the pulsing stops, but only if the stove is turned up enough for the burner to get really hot, enough to ensure all the liquid fuel gets vaporized where it should be. Once fully hot it can then be turned down substantially. If it’s later turned too low, it will start to pulse again as the burner cools off some. Just turn it back up high again, or live with the minor pulsing. Larry
Just tried it a few times out of the box on different fuels. No pulsing on canister gas but low setting is unstable and does go out indicating too much air to fuel ratio. White gas is better, occasional pulsing, this depends on bottle pressure and valve setting. Also as the bell cools at low setting, more prone to pulsing. Tried it on kerosene after preheating with alcohol, and it runs better than I expected. This is when most of the pulsing occurs and at a higher frequency. I suspect the silent burner might cure some of these issues. This I think has something to do with the single size jet.
Yes, it seems to run best on this, or equivalent ie Stihl moto4 plus or Aspen 4. I have yet to try it on petrol maybe with a few drops of Redex to stop clogging and residue build up.
I say that because I recall reading here that low octane is a better fuel for stoves. This is link to Stihl USA. https://www.stihlusa.com/products/oils--lubricants-and-fuels/premixed-fuel/moto4/
Gasoline additives for automobile fuel are added to make the fuel less flammable, to prevent premature ignition (dieseling) due to piston pressure in high-compression engines (which is to say, pretty much every car since the 1930s). Also added are detergents to help clean out the gunk left by burning the less efficient fuel. Needless to say, ignition retardants and detergents are not needed for campstove operation, and the incomplete combustion leaves deposits behind that will eventually clog your stove. ….Arch
Hello, if the cost is the mainly considerable factor, we have Kerosene as a good alternative, the reason why I love it. Afaik Kerosene is easy to be found from usual fuel stations, cheapest, usually no additives, usually less harmful for my health & stoves'. Motor gasoline and Diesel: horrible for both...
Have you tried Polaris on kerosene? How does it behave? I get high frequency pulsating on mine when using this fuel.
Nova and Polaris have burners that are quite similar to Hiker+ and my tests on Hiker + and the quite similar Trangia/Primus MF2 tells me that a larger jet and/or more pressure makes them more prone to pulsation - the very quick and easy fix is simply to not overpump. Regardless of instructions saying "pump 20+ strokes" - just pump until you feel some resistance, light the stove, wait a moment and then pump some more pressure than you need for your cooking, regulate with valve and give an additional pump stroke when needed and it will burn nice and steady and less noisy.
Hello, I don't have any of recent Optimus liquidfuel stove, so don't know it. But my friend has it and I expected why - it has too big jet orifice for Kerosene and other similar heavier fuels. Optimus says one jet for all fuel but I don't think it is working in proper way. (Only my opinion) so the pulse is being made because of too low contain the heat at the burner-bell considering its jet fuel output(too big hole for kero) It takes so much heat from a burner due to the Latent-heat for vaporization. So vaporization doesnt work well then the stove makes pulse. So I think Mr. Lennart's advice is very valid but need to note that the power output would not the same as gasoline. but it was designed as a universal jet for all fuel so no way to hide from it even though Kerosene contains the more energy(hope not wrong but I do sure).
I tried another comparison using the three different fuels and the time it takes to boil half a litre. White gas took 1 min 45 seconds and very little pulsing, kerosene, 1 min 30 secs with lots of pulsing, and canister gas just over 3 min. Adjusting the valve minimises pulsing. So yes, this proves that kerosene has the highest energy and the idea that a single jet size works just as well for all fuels just doesn't hold true.
And many old blowlamps with large vapourizers had fuel restrictors before the vapourizer to prevent inlet of more fuel than the burner jet could handle - those models use to pulse heavily at any throttle if the restrictor doesn't work properly.
