Hello. Another Nubie with an old 123. I purchased this stove recently and it worked great the first two-three times I started it up. Now the stove exhibits the classic problem of not shutting down (turn the key to close and still get a small blue jet). What's worse is that if the tank becomes slightly pressurized it will leak fuel from the top, even if the valve is shut. I suspect I need to take the stove apart and R&R per guidance elsewhere on this site. My question is, does this sound like damage caused by misuse of the stove by me, or is it likely that it is just dumb-luck that the old girl failed now? I am concerned that I may have caused damage by torquing the valve closed too hard (of course to ensure that it wouldn't leak). Any advice on if this damage was caused by me, or the age of the stove and components wearing out, is appreciated. Any advice on might be wrong with the stove is appreciated as well. Btw, I am using Coleman fluid with the stove. Cheers, Barry
I don't mean to insult your intelligence by the following. Is the stove a 123 or 123R. R has the cleaning needle built in. Turning to the right shuts the valve off. If you have the problem turning the right, you have a valve seating problem or cleaning needle rack problem on the 'R' version. Turning to the left raises the cleaning needle and will sometimes shut the stove off. Turn to the right instead. Cleaning needles will wear and not shut off the stove. Try cleaning all the parts by taking the stove apart making sure there is no carbon build up and see what happens. This is the first step. If the problem persists and you know the parts went back together properly then you have a seating problem that will take a little more effort or new parts. best, sam
Hi Barry. Welcome to the forum. If your control spindle is horizontal, you have a 123R with a built in cleaning needle. If the spindle is angled downwards, it is a 123 without a cleaning needle. Let us know which you have and then we can give more specific advice. It's a very good stove and difficult to damage. Just needs a little fettling. Terry
Hello Terry, My stove has a downward-angled spindle so is the older 123. I got it because we will be doing some camping this summer and needed a small stove. I was planning on purchasing a new stove, but the Svea kept turning up as one of the most reliable stove because of its simplicity. I'm all about simplicity and things Swedish (I have a 1985 SAAB 900, need I say more LOL) so I naturally fell for the Svea. Cheers, Barry
You have a 123 and not the 123R, which has a cleaning needle. You may have a problem with a dirty valve or a badly seating valve, which may need replacing. This stove would have the symptoms you describe with these problems. You may have to pull the valve spindle to check and/or clean it. Hopefully, it is not damaged and only dirty from carbon build up. That does happen when unleaded fuel is used. If there is damage you'll either have to replace the spindle (parts are available) or get it fixed (quite difficult). If the seat is damaged instead of the spindle, you'll have to replace the whole burner valve, which would be bad news. The damage can occur from tightening the stove too tight while it is hot. Hopefully, this is not the case. See if you can find some other posts that show the internals of the valve spindle and the internal parts. This *is* the only moving part in the stove and is removable. If you can clean it, you'll return it to its full glory. This is the simplest and best stove you could have found. It's just bad luck that you found one with this problem. The vast majority don't. sam
Hi Barry. As Sam says, your control spindle is not seating properly. Remove the spindle packing nut ('stuffing box') and then unscrew the spindle by turning to the left. It will get quite stiff but will eventually unscrew. Have a look at the pointy end. It should be uniform. If not, grip the point in some emery paper and give it a gentle spin to clean up the sides of the point. Reassemble and test. Terry
Hello Sam, Thanks for the detailed diagnosis. Based on what your wrote I suspect that the valve seat is damaged because: 1. the stove worked flawlessly when I first got it 2. I pulled the spindle and it is clean (actually looks better than one I bought off eBay as a back up) 3. I suspect I did overtorque it after cooking a few times in a naive attempt to "ensure" it was closed I suspect it is very difficult to look at the valve seat with the spindle removed (on my stove the graphite ring does not come out when I slide out the spindle) unless you have access to a boroscope. At this point It looks like I need to see if I can find a new vaporizer ... Thanks again for the help. Barry
It seems to me that the end of the shaft would show damage if the spindle were torqued severely enough to damage the seat. I think the packing should have stayed on the shaft when the spindle was removed. During shaft extraction the packing is retained on the shaft by a metal ring that aids in compression of the packing to seal around the shaft. Perhaps that part was lost or damaged during previous reassembly or use. Although this diagram is of an R model, the principle is the same. It's part #2193. It may be that loose packing or the broken ring itself has finally created blockage enough to prevent complete seating of the spindle. Or maybe this is just Spring fever output. Good luck with it.
Hi, I would go with the boroscope look see method, as it's quite rightly said, the renewal of a needle or re-surfacing it's point could well be the answer, however, a new one from Base camp is about £30 in our money, I memember something from the Pre unit Triumph motorcycle manual about using a suitably sharpened drill to re-cut oil pump ball valve seatings which have become pitted, this fettle could well be your answer, after all, what you're doing is re-conditioning a needle & seat. Best wishes & happy Easter=John. ---------------------- If in doubt, brew up.
I agree with John. As a last resort (if you're going to ditch the burner you've got nothing to lose), try inserting a drill bit and giving it a gentle 'twiddle' which may clean off the seat. Not tried it myself but may be worth a go . Terry
Hi, my tuppence worth again, I would surmise that the main issue would be a minor fuel leak out of the jet when the stove is stored with the cap tight & the temperature warms up during the day. Another suggestion is to locate a Primus 70 travel cap which is fitted onto the vapourising tube in place of the burner head whilst the stove is stored, someone on here must make them, if so, I want to put my name down for one. Best wishes=John. ----------------------- If in doubt, brew up.
OP ... 1) Small blue flame when shutting down. This may not be a problem. I usually blow out a very small flame when shutting down the 123. 2) Leaking. Where is it leaking? If the spindle packing isn't tight maybe it is leaking there. I know, if it was, there would be a flame there, but maybe not. I would suggest a minor rebuild/replace of basic parts, like the packing, before cutting the valve seat. Ken in NC If Kerophile were here, a link to the solution would have been posted a long time ago.
Folks, With the valve shut, I still see fuel leaking out of the jet. This can occur with a the stove cold and I warm it with my hands or under my jacket. OK, so I replaced the original spindle with a replacement that I purchased in a kit off eBay. After reading everyone's post I took out the original spindle and noticed that the tip had an eccentric wobble when I rotated the shaft; obviously this is not per original spec. Reassembled everything with the new spindle and lit the stove. Oh boy, now the stove is in auto start mode, even when valved shut. Good news it has a great blue flame! Bad news is that I cannot shut it off using the spindle. Looks like I need to get a graphite ring at the very least and clean out the area where the spindle resides up to the valve seat. Any advice where I can source a new graphite ring? One option that occurs to me to take out the old ring is to take an appropriately sized drill bit and ream it out. Another option would be to take a small flathead screwdriver and try to break and pry out the bits. That latter may be safer as I'm afraid that the drill bit may bugger-up the threads in there. Please advise. Thanks again, Barry
I won't comment on the valve seat. Someone more knowledgeable than I can do that. But graphite foil is available from a member in Member Services. I got some and have used it several times already. That will need to be hand packed into the opening, not like buying a pre-shaped ring. There are posts here, somewhere, that can show you how to do that. You say you got a kit. Did it come with any other parts, like the graphite ring? Did it come from A&H? Ken in NC
I am having similar troubles with my 123R. Spindle and point in perfect condition, I think the needle may have been incorrectly adjusted as the very tip of my spindle was blackened. Everything polished up lovely yet it still won't seal/shut off fully (also tried without needle to be sure). I think my only course of action is to grind a drill bit to the same angle as the point and give the seat a quick hone. The other option is to sharpen a dowel to the same angle and using brasso or carborundum paste, try to lap the valve seat clean. Hmmm. Alec
