My Russian 8R clone was going to be my "hiking" stove, but it is acting up so I have to figure it out and make it work again. It had an uneven flame flame and it wouldn't "roar", so I took off the burner and wiped the jet off with alcohol and blew air through the microscopic hole. Put it all back together and lit it...Just a candle flame now. Been researching on here but I'm not finding any answers. Anyone know how I goofed it up? Thanks Bryan
Check the seal of the fuel filler cap. It should be soft and rubbery. If it is hard like plastic then it needs to be replaced with fuel proof nitrile rubber or viton. If there is a poor seal here you will have no pressure for your flame. The next question to ask is how are you preheating the burner? A good test would be to preheat the stove with the valve closed until the flames go out completely. When there are no flames, open the filler cap and listen for a hiss of escaping pressure. This will be vapours from warm gasoline so do this outside away from any sources of ignition! If you have good tank pressure then we can look elsewhere for the fault.
I am preheating the stove by filling the "cup" under the burner with alcohol. I think the seal may be ONE of the problems because I had to preheat with the alcohol a few times before I actually got it to burn the first few times; the only times. Now it doesn't even do that. I will check when I get home in a few hours and see if the seal checks. Thank you for your advice. Cheers Bryan
Hi Bryan, Just to clarify, are you using denatured alcohol or isopropyl alcohol? 70% isopropyl will not burn hot enough for a sufficient preheat. Are you using coleman fuel or gasoline? Gas can cause problems quickly. I thought you had this stove running good in the beginning but now it sounds it's never been right.
Ray, I am using the normal everyday rubbing alcohol from the grocery store. Is there a different kind? I am using Coleman white gas in the stove. As for the uneven burn and lack of "roar" it has never been correct. It may very well be headspacing and operator error. I followed the directions that were sent, but it just doesn't want to cooperate. I thought that cleaning it would fix it, but I messed it up even more. I think I am going to have to try and get together with someone that actually knows what they are doing and see what I can learn.
Rubbing alcohol is watered down isopropyl alcohol. It doesn't burn quite hot enough for preheating our stoves. You want denatured alcohol from the hardware store. You'll need it for your Primus stove too. I get the gallon size can from Home Depot to get a better deal but they sell quart size also. Some people use coleman fuel to preheat but it'll soot things up. My Russian stove worked great right out of the box and I haven't had to replace the cap washer yet. Start with a good hot preheating and see how it goes from there.
You can also pick up "HEET" in the YELLOW bottle at wallyworld for about 1.75usd. (do not get the red bottle, it too is isopropyl) It is methyl alcohol and will work better for your pre-heat.
I will pick some up next trip to town...I'm about 125 miles from the nearest Wallyworld or Home Depot...which is just the way I like it! I may be able to get it at the hardware store, but again...it is fairly limited. Thanks for all of the advice. Cheers, Bryan
An additional note, I have ordered a "set" of washers from The Fettle Box. One will go in my 123 and the other in my Clone...I think...?
