I tried removing the pricker as described and it pulled right out of the eraser when I opened the valve. I could use some needle nose pliers I suppose, but worried about doing permanent damage....
have been running without aluminum base plate, no change in performance. Have tried the hot dunk test in water but iwll try what you suggest and report back
When the needle+rack is free of the spindle, it should fall out if turned upside down and shaken. The pencil/eraser is used when putting the needle+rack back in the stove. Does this help? SVEA 123R Disassembly Tony
Yes, thi shas been very consistent the last 20 or so times I have fired up the stove. I can try the slow in crease in flame you suggest, will report back
I can get the rack plus pricker out with no trouble, was trying to just remove pricker per snwcmprs' suggestion. I am having a hard time seeing why the pricker would be at fault? it seems to work as always has the last 45 years I have owned this stove. SO frustrating, i built my entire cook kit around it and now it won't work any more. It seems like the solution should be evident by now, I wonder if the modern version of these stoves are any good? Maybe I should just replace it
I reckon these stoves are almost indestructible, so if your 123R was working properly, it should do so again. The needle (that is the steel wire) does not come free of the rack that it’s affixed to. Often people refer to the rack+needle as the needle. @snwcmpr was suggesting running the stove without it (many people do) so that you can eliminate it as a source of your problem. Tony
that worked, have a pot of boiling water on it now. Have stopped and started it a few times, a bit of candling at shut down, not sure how fix that but love having the steady burn. I don;t understand how the pricker was the culprit?? should get a replacement, can I get a replacement?
The pricker+rack looks ok to me. I think you need to reset the pricker and test again. See here: Tony
Will do and report back. Thanks to you and @snwcmpr and the rest of the posters on this thread! this was a stone in my shoe even with a perfectly good backup stove
post pricker update: I reset pricker per Tony's instructions, primed and started stove, back to original problem, dammit: good blue flame initially, quickly tapering off to yellow weak flame. Removed picker, primed and restarted: same result good blue flame initially, quickly tapers back to yellow flicker. Bear in mind that I did have it running normally after I took the pricker out initially, for 15 minutes straight, and after a couple of shut downs and restarts was still getting a solid blue flame. so it must be something with the jet? not seating well maybe? I am afraid to over torque these parts. One interesting thing was that on my last run I was fiddling with the stove as the flame diminished and sort of rocked it on the surface it was sitting on and got a brief upsurge back to full power before tapering back down, never seen that before. I am going to turn in before I through the stove out the window but will be grateful for any further diagnostic help
Well. You found a way to eliminate it. Not 100%. But, you are in the right direction. Remove the rack again. Get it to consistently run. If not, there was something else that you did to fix it I learned to only change one thing at a time when troubleshooting. I am having trouble picturing the jet causing the pressure loss (or is it fuel flow?) Tight wick?
I'm not very familiar with the 123, but on American blowlamps, there is a copper wire running from the burner down into the fount to aid in heat transfer. Is the 123 supposed to have this?
At this point I am wondering if the best bet is to break this stove down completely; clean all the parts (soak in carb cleaner or use an Ultrasonic parts cleaner) and then reassemble with new valve packing? I think I have graphite left over from last go round or I could order more from fettlebox... I'm guessing there is are step-by-step rebuild instructions somewhere on this forum? really want to be able to rely on this stove, have a dinghy cruise along Cape Lookout National Seashore coming up in a month, trying to get all my gear in top shape before shoving off.
Run it without the rack a few times. You do not "need" the rack. Keep the rack as a pricker, if you need to prick the jet. Double preheat in the prime. Rebuild, yes. That is not a bad idea, since you did it once, it should be easy. But, the graphite packing has the life of uranium. I reuse it unless lost. But your choice. Maybe the wick is tight.
this was something I wondered about, I put in new wick a year or so ago, about when all this started, from a rebuild kit, it is tighter than other wicks I have had, didn’t think it could be an issue but maybe that’s it, how tight should it be? I could remove some of the yarn….
