The burner head of my first fettled stove was blocked. I read about heating and diping it into water, but I didn't feel confident to do so (I was afraid something could go wrong). Then I had this idea of diping the head into boiling water, then into an ice bath several times. I'm sure this won't be so effective as the "heat and quench" method, but it really worked: the burner is now worling great, and the carbon soot had gone out perfectly from the tubes. This method has an side efect (wich I mention on my other topic): if you do this to an recently polished piece, it starts to turn the bright yellowish color into and old, aged gold color. This process is very gradual, so you can monitor the results. It was interesting for me, because I wasn't liking very much that yellow color.
It'll save overheating the burner to begin with. Boiling hot instead of red hot, then into icy cold water instead of just cold. It sounds like it should work. I might give it a try next time. Thanks for the idea. Cheers
Essentially you're doing the same as the 'heat and quench' method, accept you're only working in the 100C till 0~5C range instead of the 300C+ range till ~20C range. My guess is that your method is a less strain on the brass compared to the 'heat and quench' , but might just be a little less effective. Time will tell I guess.
I have used the heat and quench method once and it worked very well. However, I share the hesitation in doing it with the fear I will snap a joint. I will try the boiling and iced water method next time. I did have one question, though. The first time I did this, I removed the jet first. Is that the proper way to do it?
Hi, I know this is an old thread and I'm not sure whether necro posting is looked on kindly here but there may be another alternative - obviously one would need to take great care that it was compatible with the metal of the burner! We used to clean the carbon out of BSA Bantam silencers by removing the ally tail cone (VITAL step!) and pouring in a caustic soda solution and letting it stand for a bit to remove the coking. Can anyone comment as to whether this would be suitable for a burner?
I have never used caustic soda for stove burners as it really is very strong, nasty, and will eat through skin if you do not use the proper protection such as this Vinegar does work so I do not really need to use strong chemicals. Ron
Heh! It is rather strong stuff - but it does clear out two-stroke silencers very well I thought I'd ask those with more experience given that it can melt ally...
spray on oven cleaner is mainly caustic soda. It does say wear rubber gloves but I never have. It does dry the skin out for a few days. My father tells a story about his time working in a factory making fridges. Every Saturday for overtime he had the job of cleaning the spray booth. Afterwards he would hang his jeans on a hook suspended in the caustic soda pickleing bath and by Monday the paint had come off and a quick rinse and dry by next Saturday. Eventually the jeans wore out and he had an old woollen trousers at home so used them. Come monday he lifted the hook out of the caustic with only a zip attached. Caustic + cotten no problem Caustic + wool+ no wool
That would have been an interesting walk home As for the heat & quench i'd stick to the method that primus recommended , They used to heat their burners with another paraffin blowlamp & pump air through , but fast dipping in cold water ( when cherry red ) the steam generated does the same job as the air pressure & if the water is clear you can see the particles of carbon shoot out from the open ends if your careful , the thermal shock does the work of smashing the carbon build up Stu
I blow compressed air through the burner while it is fired on by a blow torch. Works great. The stuff that comes out initially ignites from the torch flame. Yonadav
I've always been dubious of the heat and quench method for more complex parts such as the Coleman NRV valve. It has the steel ball and the cast and machined body. Tonight I took an old nrv that had an unidentified hardened gunk/fuzz compressed into the ball chamber and that wouldn't dissolve in anything including Zylene (horrible stuff, dissolves gloves!!!) I heated that sucker up so hot it lit up my shop several times, quenching it in ice water. It spit out black fragments for the first 3 or 4 times then came clean. When I was finished I blew it out with the compressor and then installed it into a lantern and it performs like a champ. Just like new. Stan
