Hi all, Great site you have here -- just stumbled upon it last night while looking for help on a stove I have. I dug out a box of old camping gear from the basement and in it was an Optima 199 that my brother gave me a while ago. I've never used this type of stove so I'm perplexed on how to light it. If someone has a copy of instructions, or can at least list the steps to take to start it, I'd be greatly appreciative. For what it's worth, here is a schematic of the 199: https://classiccampstoves.com/threads/no-199-exploded-view.139/ Thanks very much!
Hi, ms960, Welcome aboard! What you have is one of the great stoves. A lot of us would be happy to relieve you of the burden of owning that stove. Here is the general, quick way of using it. 1) Check the fuel cap, and make sure the rubber gasket is soft. If it is hardened, replace it with 3/4 outside diameter O-ring. 2) Make sure inside the tank is clean. 3) Fill the tank with White Gas or Kerosene (if you are using denatured alcohol, insert the sleeve in the burner. Close the cap tightly). 4) turn the spindle all the way to the right to closed position. 5) Fit the mini-pump to the top of the the fuel cap, and pump about 5 times. 6) Add priming fuel to the cup below the burner and light it. 7) When the flame is about to go out, open the spindle to the middle (full open) position, and add a lit match or lighter on top of the dome. 8) The flame should be seen coming out of the burner dome in needle-like form. 9) if you hear a strange sound from the burner, but see no flame, shut it off immediately. It is known as "under-burn," and the vaporized fuel burns under the cap, and it will melt the burner, if allowed to burn for an extended period. If this happens, allow it to cool, and try again. 10) pump up more, if you need more heat. You should be getting a nice blue ball of fire with a pleasing hiss. Sometime the color could be clear green or pink. It has to do with impurities, but should clear out after a tank or two. If it is yellow sooty flame, something is not right. Enjoy!! IF there is any problem, post it with a description, and I am sure others will be able to help you.
Hello bark2much, Thanks for the detailed instructions on lighting the stove! I appreciate your offer to take it off my hands, but since I can't confirm it works yet, I couldn't let it go in good faith . I think, at a minimum, need a new o-ring. The one that is in it is cracked, so I'm assuming it's dried out. When I try to pressurize the tank, nothing happens. Should I be able to pressurize the tank, and then slowly remove the cap and hear a pressure release? What's the easiest way to clean sediment out of the tanks? I spent my camping days with a Coleman stove, so I know next to nothing about the Optimus stoves other than a lot of them were sold. Are these truly good stoves -- reliable and burn well for cooking? Thanks again!
Great stoves, try soaking the pump leather in olive/cooking oil for a couple of hours, often brings them back to life if they are not torn They really are a fantastic stove, bring a litre of water to the boil, lower to simmer, and you can cook for around an hour on that tiny tank of fuel Your flame will look like this Good ain't they
Hi, ms960, Even if the humanity went extinct tomorrow, you would not run out of those who would like to relieve you of the stove. Anyway, just dig out the old rubber and replace it with an O-ring. It should do it. As far as the slush--remove the burner tube carefully. Take care not to damage soft metal. Drain out the slush, add fuel and swish around with your thumb covering the hole. If there are things clining to the inner wall, put the whole tank in the vinegar bath for 30 minutes. Take out the tank, put it in the hot water and let it seep out acidity. Assuming that that cleared out the gunk, add alcohol and swish (Isopropyl would do.) to sop up the water. Drain alcohol Now, get a bucket full of water ready for the following procedures. Now put the fuel cap on tightly, and pump, and submerge the whole fuel tank-burner assembley in the water and see if there is any air bubble rising from the fuel connection and around the cap. Of course, I do not need to tell you to shut off the spindle to do this. If nothing leaks, you are ready for the next steps, which might remove parts of your body hair from you face and head. Now do this outside--away from any property or structures that could burn and otherwise damaged. Get the bucket full of water next to you. 1) Reconnect the burner to the tank, align the burner and tank so it would not sit crooked. Watch the torque!! 2) Fuel up with your favorate petroleum prodduct. 3) Put on the cap tightly. Follow the procedure aforementioned. And keep your head away from the burner, when you light it! If the priming is not done properly, it will break out in orange inferno, consuming your hair, beard, eye brows and lashes, and your pride. Voila! a Blue Fireball! If the stove leaks fuel and it bursts into orange fire, do not attemt to blow it out or kick it away: just pick it up calmly and dunk it in the bucket aforementioned. Congratulations, you have now joined the ranks of the master fettlers. And at this point, for all its fairness, you should be warned: you would catch that incurable disease of classic stove collecting. Your retirement fund will be sent to the strangers for the return of beat up recyclable metalic objects called, stoves. Your marriage will go through profound changes, as your wifey is left wondering, does my man love these more than me? You will be receiving edicts barring you from bringing in the used cooking stoves into the kitchen, bathroom, or living room, etc. Your children will wonder, if you love them any more, because you are using the valuable family resources to stock up on parts and other useless junks (that is what they will call them.) So, why don't ya just avoid the hassel and do a preventive medicine (psychotherapy to reverse your illness, and the marriage counseling sessions to win your family back). I will give you $25 for the trouble of sending it to me.
Hi Bark2much, Wow...lots of great stuff you wrote. I will tell you what I was able to do this evening (prior to reading your post) and then you can tell me which, if any, of those steps still apply. I went to Sears and got the 3/4" OD o-ring and replaced the existing washer. It slipped in and seemed to seal the tank. I pumped it a few times, put some fuel in the cup, lit it and let it burn a few minutes. When it looked like the fuel in the cup was dying down, I opened the valve. The stove itself lit and seemed to work okay, until the pressure slowly died down. It was at this point that I noticed behavior that I didn't think was right. It would only burn a good flame if I was pumping the pump. As soon as I stopped pumping it, the pressure would die down and the flame would start to go out. So I'd pump more, build up the pressure and flame, and it would burn nice for a few seconds. But as soon as I stopped pumping, the flame died as the pressure died. So, after I got it lit (I did get a nice hot blue flame), it would only burn nicely if I was pumping the tank and keeping the pressure up. Sounds like there is a leak somewhere, but since the o-ring is brand new, I don't know where to check. What does this tell you -- what should I be working on next to keep the pressure up? Again, you're very generous with your offer, but I'm afraid I'm going to hang onto the stove for a while longer. Who knows, my brother may want it back after I get it working . Thanks very much for your generous help!
Hey, don't mention it. We do what we are good at here. The problem is with the non return valve. It is located in the little tube that protrudes on the other side of the fuel cap. It is spring loaded. Sometimes the spring is corroded or weakened or even broken. You then will have to get a replacement spring from an old ball point pen and find the right pressure by shortening the number of coil. Usually the spring in the bp pen is far stronger than our need. If it is too strong, it gets pretty hard to pump. It is a little tricky to get the button seal replaced. There is a little button rubber seal that has hardened, just as the gasket has. You must replace the button seal. We usually make one for ourselves. Get a sheet of rubber, (nitril, if you can, so it would not deteriorate in contact with fuel), punch out a tiny circle and fit it. The nonreturn valve (NRV) tube is delicate, so you need to exercise caution when you remove it. If you ruin it, you will need to buy an entire assembley of the mini-pump, which is no longer made. Or eBay may have some used ones at high prices, once in a blue moon. It is the tiniest part, but crucial to the optimum operation.
You should try the dunk test (described in the middle of Bark2much's post) to figure out for sure where the leak is, before you mess with the NRV. I agree that the NRV is the likely source of the leak, but removing it can be a delicate operation. You should make sure it's the culprit before "fixing" it. ....Arch
First, thanks everyone for the assistance. I will try the dunk test this evening to try to isolate where the pressure loss is coming from. Just so I understand the procedure, I need to remove (unscrew) the burner unit from the tank before trying dunk test, correct? I'm merely testing the seal of the tank, which requires the burner to be removed so I can plug the output from the tank -- that about right? Thanks again.
Nah. Actually, dunk test is done with the whole assembley intact. First, Check the spindle is closed; put the fuel cap on tightly. Then pump a few times, and put the whole thing under water. You will see the bubbles where the air is leaking. I am assusming that the fuel tank is dry.
I did the dunk test a few minutes ago. I closed the spindle, tightened the cap and pumped a few times. The air leaks pretty quickly from the hole in the middle of the cap. That means the non-return valve us stuck open I presume? If so, what is the repair procedure for that assembly? Thanks much for your continued help!
The tube unscrews in the usual manner, turn left to unscrew. The delicate aspect of it is how to grip the body of the tube. There are two ways of going about. First the easy way: get a thin small screw driver that fits the slot at the end and gently turn. If it unscrews this way, good. No harm done. If it does not turn, do not force it. If you do, it will damage the sloted end. Now you have no choice but to try hard way. I do it this way: get a Vise Grip and gently grip the tube. This will leave the teeth marks. If you do not like leaving the marks on the soft brass body, you can make a jig out of wood pieces, put it around the tube, bite down with Vise Grip, and turn counterclockwise. That should do it. Follow the procedure previously illustrated for making the button seal, and put things together, and you are good to go. Do not tighten hard. You only need to tighten it. so it would not loosen. Good luck.
That isn't the NRV valve that is leaking, that's the pressure blow off valve. The NRV is down in the bottom of the pump tube and it prevents the air that you just pumped into the tank from coming back out the pump tube. The blow off is to prevent overpressure and possible rupture in the case of overheating. The best thing to so is to buy a new cap. They are repairable, but they are tricky in that to take them appart you need a special key because if you look carefully, the hole is five sided, not your standard six sided hex key. Also, when you reassemble it you should have a means to reset the blow off pressure. Not worth the hassle for a one off in my opinion. Just buy a replacement an be safe. Good luck! CB
Hey, ms960, You can get a new cap from A&H, for ~ $ 10-12 . That way, no question whether you put it together correctly... See the 'Links' section for A&H.
Well I know you are new at it but you can put your thumb over the hole after it gets lit them pump up to make sure. Now I have a jig to test the cap valves with a gauge. I set mine at 40 or 50 psi but I have check out a new one and it was at 70 psi so no seams to know what is it be.
Guys, you are confusing the newbie. 199 does not have a pump tube. It uses a mini pump that mates with the fuel cap, specifically designed to be used with it.
Bark2much you are right i guess one should think before open mouth t was also a little mess up when he said pump i was thinking side not min pump
Bark2much is correct. The fuel cap contains both a non return valve (NRV) and a pressure blow off valve (PBV). There are two springs in there and two small rubber seals, one for the NRV and one for the PBV. One is a tiny o-ring. I have once opend and fixed the cap on an Optimus no. 10, which has the same cap and mini-pump. It now works fine but I do not know if the PBV is set to blow at the correct pressure. The far easiest, and probably safest, way to fix the problem, is to get a new cap.
