Hi, I am completely new to the concept of kerosene stoves. I bought an olde yacht equipped with an Optimus kerosene stove. So a number of questions poped up: 1) How do I fire up such a stove? 2) What kind of maintenance is needed? 3) How do I know that it works (is it me or the stove that is the troubls)? Cheers, Tore
G'day and welcome to the forum Tore. Kero stoves are just a little tricky ,but are easy to master. Kerosene needs preheating to vapourize,that is one of the most important things to learn. You should also check for leaks,without pressure being maintained the stove will soon go out or not fire up. To start,what model do you have?
Welcome there... My advice is to not listen to what your friends say when they brag about how easy it is to use Kero stoves, ignore their playful encouragements to "just give one a try". It's how we all began and look at us now... our families spend dark cold winters without enough food whilst we scour the net for more stove bargains. It's an addiction like any other. Sure the stoves LOOK pretty, but they are cruel temptresses, each and every one, especially Svea 123s ("go on, you know we're lonely, buy another five of us"). It's a slippery slope. But if the hook has lodged then look no further, we're here to help. There's lots of useful stuff on this site if you look and also see: http://www.base-camp.co.uk/instructions 3.htm Cheers GC
