Is anyone manufacturing QUALITY kerosene (paraffin) burners any more? I believe Hippolyter (dubious quality) from Portugal is gone. Primus seems to be out of the kerosene market... And likewise, Optimus. Anyone left? Would anyone care to comment on which was the best burner ever made! And are they still available. Bryan
I thought basecamp was having new burners made. We surely still have the technology. There are good burners still being made. Primus, Optimus and MSR make a hell of a burner just not for classic stoves. Lucky for us Optimus made a lot of burners. It's the spares we have to watch out for. Jeff
No argument on the Manaslu, heard nothing but good, but I'm STILL just chuffed with the NOS Monitor MoD surplus kero stove AKA C11. Murph
Burners No Never heard of them. However if you mean Hipolito you are wrong..they made QUALITY stoves and their BURNERS were quality items. If you would care to SEARCH this site and do a bit of research you will find WHEN they stopped manufacturing. Likewise This site is a wonderful resource… don’t be lazy Do your research. Quality BURNERS and STOVES are still available from our sponser BASECAMP – have a look at their website.
Hi All What about Stuga Cabbana & the stoves they offer, try this link http://hytta.de/ Best regards Stu
Burners made by Prabhat (in India) are sold by Hytta and Pelam. Quality may not be the same as Swedish or British made ones but is acceptable (and they are reasonably priced). I have a Tempo N°2 roarer (made by Victory in India) and find it to be of good quality. Best regards, Wim
The prices for NOS stoves is acceptable but when you add in the postage, it gets prohibitive. Good stuff, though.
Hi Sparky, I've bought goods from both Hytta and Pelam, and their postage is very reasonable WITHIN Europe, lots cheaper than what some sellers charge on ebay. Is no-one in the U.S. of far away A. importing these same goods? Maybe there's an opportunity for someone that wants to make a few bob? Best regards, Wim
Snowgoose: Sorry if I offend you. But this is a discussion group, not a library. “Hippolyter” comes from Nigel Calder's excellent book which gives extensive information on the repair of kerosene burners. Correct me if I'm wrong but I am under the impression that Hippolyter makes Patria brand burners which seem to have a habit of self-destructing under daily use. Bryan
Bryan, in another thread I remember you were having trouble with your boat stove? You spoke of poor quality local (Dominican Republic I think you said) kerosene and symptoms of underburning (certain death for burners). Patria burners and fuel problem Turning your question about the availability of 'quality' burners on its head, my experience is that no burner is so bad that it won't perform adequately on fuel of reasonable quality. Conversely, any burner of whatever make will eventually fail using bad quality fuel. Fact is, burners are simple devices and provided the brazed joints are sound (mostly they are in my experience) there's not a lot to define quality. Usually it's the rest of the stove (fuel tank, pump, general construction and assembly, detailing) that defines quality. Put another way, the worst stove I own in terms of those other measures of 'quality' will (has) run for long periods without failing or performing poorly - but I use prime quality paraffin (kerosene). To some extent, whether burners are still being manufactured becomes hypothetical because of the large number of excellent used or new old stock burners on the market. I think your experience, because of the poor fuel you've been using, is untypical and not a yardstick by which to measure the 'quality' or otherwise of burners, from whatever source or era of manufacture. Your suggestion that Patria burners are prone to fail isn't fair comment when you consider the poor fuel you've been burning in them. Burning the fuel made your eyes water, deposited soot on your pots, reduced the output of the burners, which had red-glowing caps, and created pitting in the burner tubes, which then leaked. Primus, Optimus, Svea, would have gone the same way. John
It is Hipolito, not Hyppolyter or some such, and the Patria burners do seem to be related to Hipo somehow. I remember years ago having heard that Hipo workers had the tooling after it shut down and they might continue making burners. Whatever the situation, Hipolito and Patria burners have always had a good reputation for quality.
Greetings, I'll toss my two cents in on this topic. Hipolito and Patria are both outstanding burners, of very good quality. If they haven't worked for you, then, as John says, your fuel was the culprit, not the burners, or possibly your lack of experience in using them. Food for thought..... Take care, and God Bless! Every Good Wish, Doc
If a fuel (pretended gasoline or pretended kerosene) make your eyes water, and pits the burner, very probably it is contminated by clorurated hidrocarbons. This is quite an issue in Italy for what is called "benzina avio" that once was a decent white gasoline, and now they putted some dichloropromane in it. Why? just beccause it is an easy and still legal way to discard such nasty, cancerogenic solvents. Thjey do not sell it in gas station, but as stain remover in any drugstore and supermarket. Many tourists destroyed theyr costly MSR and KOVEA with such a stuff. Generally, low quality fuesl, in developing countries, are turbid, have wather suspensions, but rarely they do contentain such nasty compounds, (been there for 20 years) but wathery eyes and burner pitting are quite tipical: stand away from such fuels, theyr fumes are HIGLY POISONOUS. Have fun. and be safe
Thanks... you guys are great! Just to recap: I installed my kerosene stove on my boat over 20 years ago. I had poor results initially, in the Caribbean, because quality kerosene was not available. Still isn't! But in Guatemala, another kero-user suggested mineral spirits... a more refined kerosene used for thinning paints. I tried it and it worked great. Have used it for years without problem. Now, here in the Dominican Republic, I was sold a product called AGUARRAS and lead to believe it was mineral spirits. I suffered burner melt down and, after consulting with the members of this excellent forum, blamed the fuel as being too volatile. I switched to the only other fuel available: the local lamp oil, which is a very dirty, yellowish kerosene that seems to burn cooler but is terrible stuff... smell... soot... dirty burners. That's where I'm at right now, with one caveat... a crusty old Brit came into the harbour and anchored next to me. He told me he “junked” his Taylor kerosene stove in Spain in 1990. The stove had been supplied with burners from Primus. When he couldn't replace them, he went with burners made in Portugal and had the same problems I'm experiencing presently. Now I'll be the first to admit that this is not conclusive evidence that burners from Portugal are of questionable quality... but it does makes me think! Particularly when I see the tubes start to pit and leak raw kerosene... not the soldered joints... the tubes themselves! What kind of metal are they using? Anyway, I love cooking with kerosene. Hell, my stove is on at least three hours every day... seven days a week. It starts with the morning coffee... baking bread... frying fish... dinner in the pressure cooker. Changing the stove over to propane would be a snap. But building a propane tank locker... installing a deck hatch to access it... running all the associated plumbing... is definitely NOT a snap! Particularly here in the Dominican Republic. And I don't want propane on-board anyway. I've got six Patria 94305 burners left in my stores. When I have burnt them up, I'll be hauling out the stove and modifying it to accept the best burners that are still being manufactured today. Hence my question regarding “quality burners.” In closing, thanks to everyone. As always... an interesting discussion. Bryan
Hi Bryan. I'm still convinced it's the fuel! That 'crusty old Brit' (wasn't me by the way) must have been using poor fuel too. Taylors stoves and Primus burners are distinctly high-end stuff. Look, believe me that your search for the ultimate, reliable, 'quality' burner to resolve your problems is pointless. Get some decent fuel man! All the best, John
What about converting to alcohol. ie methylated spirit although Im told your local rum will also work?
