Has anyone here worked on a marine Hillerange alcohol burner? There are not primus/optimus burners. I am working on a 2 burner stove with oven. I have the pressure system worked out and one of the burners is working well. The burner for the oven is really weak though. I have pulled it out and cleaned the orifice/needle valve. However trying to blow through what I assume is a generator tube and it is very clogged. I've tried spraying carb cleaner in from both sides as well as using the compressor to blow it through but it still seems very clogged. Any suggestions on other approaches to cleaning this? Not sure if the generator is supposed to be able to come apart or not. The clogged tube is the tube across the top. There is a bolt removed right at my thumb which gives access to the generator tube and that is one of the places I've tried compressed air and carb cleaner. Thanks, Shawn
There may be a spring or rod inside the tube which you need to remove. If its hard to remove, try heating the tube with a blowtorch or propane torch and immediately plunge the tube into cold water. The thermal shock may losen the crud inside the tube. Once the rod or spring comes out, then you can do a bit more of heat and quench and perhaps a long rod to sort of scrub the tube. Good luck. Ron
Hi Ron, Thanks, I tried the heat/quench a bunch of times and got a little gunk out but it was still clogged up tight. I ended up putting a steel rod in the fuel inlet side and used that to pound out the rod that was inside. The rod is threaded and has a spring on the end near the nut to locate it. I used a brass brush to clean up the rod (it is threaded) and reassembled it. It has a spring on one end to help locate the rod. Still has a weak flame though. I'll have to give cleaning the generator another shot. Thanks, Shawn
Cleaned the generator and tube again. This time the burner was going very strong. After a couple of minutes it got weak again. I think the problem is the thread on the generator rod is such fine pitch it clogs up easily. After it cools I'm going to clean it again and this time add rolled up brass mesh ahead of the generator tube to hopefully act as a fuel filter. Will see if that takes care of it. Shawn
Hey Shawn, not sure of that model but does that have sort of a cleaning needle at the jet end of the tube? Yes, if the tube is still dirty, some particles may come off during the course of it lighted and lodge itself in the jet hole so it really has to be very clean. You may want to buy the round stainless brush and attach it to a drill and just run it through the tube. Ron
Ron, I think most of the gunk was coming from the tank. It is 30+ year old alcohol burner with a steel tank. I washed it out a few more times. I cleaned the generator again and put a bunch of rolled up brass mesh ahead of the generator to act as a filter. This time when I lit it up it burned hotter and I got the oven up to 400 degrees, previously it would only get to 200. There is not a cleaning needle on this. As far as I can tell the jet is the orifice for the needle valve itself. You can clean that by simply unscrewing the control knob until it comes out completely. Then just use a bit of 20ga. wire as push it back in through the jet as a pricker. Shawn
I realize that this thread is ancient, but I have the same stove and am trying to get it up and running. I have taken apart all of the components and finally got the generator out of the fuel tube. I just don't understand the purpose of the generator and spring. Should the spring be threaded around the generator? What does the spring do?
There may be some disconnect between our uses of words with this, so without pictures and without specific knowledge of this model I can only say that in broad terms the purpose of the generator is to generate fuel vapor by heating and vaporizing the liquid fuel. This fuel vapor is mixed with air to provide a clean soot free flame which does not smell. Most straight over the burner generators have some kind of packing which serves as a heat sink and limits the volume of liquid fuel in the pipe, which aids in vaporization. This is often in the shape of a spring-like coil of wire. So it probably isn’t actually acting as a spring, it’s just a piece of metal which increases the surface area inside the generator. Sorry I can’t speak with more certainty, pics would help.
Thanks @dwarfnebula i've attached a link to the parts breakout. Unfortunately, it isn't a very clear document. What you describe makes sense though.
It's working now! I need to replace the wicks. I'm going to try tiki torch wicks since I can't find parts.
