Can anyone point me to the gasket for this?

Hi, I have this stove that I love using for camping, the brand is called LL Bean, but apparently made by Primus. The last time we camped, the stove started leaking at the connector. There is a cork gasket in there. Soaking it in water solved the problem in the short term, but the gasket needs replacing. It seems a shame to throw away an older stove like this just for a gasket, but I can not find a gasket anywhere. I am open to making a replacement, but I want to understand how thick and what type of cork to buy (or a cork gasket if anyone knows a source). Thanks for any advice you can offer...

 

The connector of propane supply hose to stove? I’ve a Primus propane stove but it doesn’t much resemble yours, though models varied over the years.

Cork seems an unusual choice for a gasket expected to seal a propane connector. O-ring seals made out of nitrile rubber (latterly viton) are the norm.

Photos of the connector and gasket would be helpful.

 

Ok, @presscall I will pull the stove out, pull the gasket out, and take a couple of photos. Definitely cork, and I am basing the idea that it is a Primus on research I did with AI, so that was Grok's opinion...

 

Propane stove, can see the hose and small container on the ground.
Duane

 

I have quite a few primus lanterns and old Coleman propane stoves that used cork to seal the propane bottle. It does resemble some Primus stoves that I've seen, just in red. Could you take a picture of the burners please. I don't know what you have in the way of hardware stores, maybe they would have something in rubber and if so, buy some spares.

 

Looks like a relatively new model, so the use of cork is kind of surprising. I would expect from post 1980s sort of time they would have used nitrile or similar

 

@presscall I am posting some photos here as requested

 

20 mm outside, 5 or 6mm inside, 2 or 3 mm Viton?
How many would be needed?

RJ

 

@Russenjesus There are 16 divisions between the solid lines so it to be imperial. Perhaps @ladywendolyn would be kind enough to confirm. If so, 15/16" (24mm) OD X 5/16" (8mm) ID would be closer to the mark.

Regards
John

 

Missed the edit deadline by 1 minute!

Make that ......... so I believe it to be imperial........

 

No problem for my punching set.
RJ

 

Looks like what we, Australians, would call a 'Companion' LPG 468g bottle (aka USA 'Coleman' LP) and they have a 1" BOM RH M fitting so I think the cork is slightly shrunk and should be 1" by 5/16" and I would use Viton of 3 mm thick. That is because adaptors to suit these bottles and blowtorch fittings also usually and currently have a rubber washer there.

 

@ladywendolyn
Thanks for the photos, I understand now what you’re dealing with. The cork gasket is, at best, a secondary seal. The primary sealing of the propane is achieved between the spigot/probe (whatever you want to call it) on the appliance connector and an internal O-ring within the outlet of the 1lb Coleman propane bottle.

The Coleman bottle (bottom) and the Rothenberger MAPPpro bottle (top) have the same fitting and when the appliance is screwed on two things happen:

1. the tip of the ‘probe’ on the appliance depresses a sprung-loaded pin within the bottle inlet that seals the bottle when not coupled up to an appliance
2. the ‘probe’ on the appliance pushes through an O-ring within the bottle opening, making a seal

The large washer that in your stove connector is made of cork acts as a cushioned stop to the screw-to-bottle connection. It also serves as a secondary, back-up seal if the seal within the propane bottle outlet fails.

To illustrate, I removed the nitrile washer in my blowtorch …




… and connected the ‘torch to the 1lb Coleman bottle. No leak resulted, because the bottle O-ring seal was sound.

I’ll put to you that the seal in the Coleman bottle you’ve been using has failed and the cork washer hasn’t done a very good job of backup.

If there’s a control valve on the bottle connector (I can’t tell from the photos) I’d suspect that as a potential source of the leak also. O-rings on control spindles lead a hard life and perish, harden, break (or all three) with age and/or use. If control spindle seals on the stove itself leak, they do so only when a control is opened. A tiny crack or pinhole in a hose can result in an on/off gas leak if the hose is flexed a certain way.

The only truly safe practice with lpg appliances is to inspect hoses and seals on a regular basis and replace them as necessary.

 

@presscall we tried switching bottles. We bought new ones because they are the disposable propane ones that sell for $5.00 in the USA. The leak persisted, but then when we soaked the cork in water overnight, it stopped leaking for a couple of days and then started again. So our thought is to replace the cork seal. My only question is... Can I buy this somewhere? Can I cut one out from an automotive gasket? Or can I buy a rubber gasket or some other one to substitute?

Thanks so much for your help and expertise. I hope to go camping this weekend and get this going if possible.

 

@ladywendolyn
Ok, so it’s not a faulty propane bottle seal. The ‘spigot’ on the connector undoubtedly should seal internally in the bottle inlet. The only other possible explanation is that the spigot (arrowed) isn’t sealing where it screws into the connector.




Those threads on my blowtorch are smeared with a thread sealant paste on assembly. If the sealant fails, sealing of the connector to the propane bottle relies solely then on the large washer (cork in your case).

In the case of my blowtorch, an 8mm socket wrench fits the hexagon flats.

 

Soaking the cork in water will not last.
Someone else can make a better suggestion for soaking. Mineral oil?

 

Not the way to go Ken. Apart from the point I’ve been making that the gas-tightness of the propane bottle to appliance joint shouldn’t rely on the washer other than as a failsafe if the primary seal within the bottle outlet fails, an oil-soaked cork washer is a messy option surely.

 

How hard would it be for me to buy a new hose and switch it out for the one here? Does it require welding or soldering? If so, I can't do that, but if it's a matter of unscrewing an old fitting, I am wondering if that is the best approach?

 

Thank you John.

 

@ladywendolyn $6 bucks for 10
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