Hi All Last night i fired up a Primus 71 that i purchased recently it could only manage a tiny yellow flame with sooty black smoke. I cleaned the jet and checked that the tank was holding pressure well it hissed nicely when i tried to unscrew the cap not a wise thing to do with a hot stove!!the wick was visible through the spout. so i decided that the stove was probably bunged up inside and that a service was probably long overdue. My normal service would be new wick and gland packing clean out the tank and the passages to and from the needle valve and then reassemble. But then i remembered reading a post about the use of Redex fuel injector cleaner to remove carbon from burners on various stoves. i thought lets give it a go i mixed 20% Redex in with Coleman fuel and filled the stove 3/4 full and primed as normal. Initially no improvement the same weak yellow flame but over about quarter of an hour the flame grew and started to have a little pressure and then the flame sparked and pulsed gradually getting stronger with each surge after half an hour the flame was small but yellow and blue. At this point i decided that it was time to check the fuel level so i started to turn the stove off as i turned the needle valve more sparks came out of the burner so i opened and closed the valve until the sparks stopped i was pleased that i was dislodging some thing!! turned the stove off and went to make a coffee. When i returned the stove had cooled so i checked the fuel level and was surprised to find i had only used about 1/4 of the fuel so i topped it up with the Redex mix and started again. After priming the flame had improved a bit gaining some strength and slightly less yellow i let it run for about 3/4 of an hour turning the flame up and down occasionally at the end of this time the flame was about 50% as powerful as i would expect and pulsing surging and spluttering. i refiled the tank with the last of the 20% Redex fuel that i had mixed and continued as before buy now the flame was clean enough to boil a kettle the heat reflected down from the kettle seamed to help the proses.The flame was now strong and more blue than yellow i decided that it was now time to reduce the amount of Redex so mixed Coleman fuel and 10% Redex refilling the stove to max. i had to make some fishing weights so i needed to melt some lead so i decided to put the 71 to work. i was happy melting lead poring it into molds of different sizes and shapes. After about 3/4 of an hour i remembered the stove and looked at the flame wow powerful blue roaring like a jet engine. Turning it up down no sparks no surge if i was critical a little yellow at the tips but what an improvement!!. i will use a tank more of 10% mix and try on neat fuel but i am very happy with the results of Redex i hope that you find this of interest. Blaze
Hi Blaze, That is a very interesting post. I must give that a try next time I get an iffy white gas burner. I also dabble with the odd blow-lamp, and many of the very old ones were gasoline fuelled, so may try it with one of them when I next stumble across an old "gas guzzler". Thanks - Steve.
Interesting . Is U.S Redex the same RED stuff as U.K/Europe ? Does the wick show any Red discoloration ? At a push ,I might give this a go . Cheers Nick
I've used redex ib Coleman stoves to free up the vap tubes it works some tines but I've found it very it and miss. Si
i dont know i will run the stove until i am happy that redex has removed all of the carbon and then have a look inside. i am sure the wick will be red for a while at least i am considering using unleaded fuel in it with a shot of redex to keep it clean this would make the stove very practical for my use Blaze
Is it this one- Redex fuel injector cleaner Or one of these?- Looks like mostly naphtha with some kerosene and a random solvent or two? To my non-chemist brain
Yes that's it i was very surprised that it worked and that it worked so well. i only tried it out of curiosity it would have been quicker and cheaper to remove the burner and service it. but i enjoyed trying it and any excuse to run a stove makes me happy!! all the best Blaze
for US stovies, I use carb cleaner liquid "B-12" in alot of older gummed up stoves that I get told "dont seem to run like it used to" after about 2 tanks running a 10% mix it goes much better and i never had to take anything apart. and I get to have stoves running along the repair bunch... =)
A couple of guys I know use a product called "Seafoam" available here. It's a fuel injector cleaner/water absorber/carb jet cleaner etc. etc.. I've never tried it, never needed it but it'd be the first thing I tried if I had a stove acting like that. Stan
Any time I had to use gas station gasoline (and now this is a must as in Italy Coleman fuel is no more available, and what is sold as "benzina avio", years go good white gasoline, now is additivated with diloropropane, lethal)I add 2+4 fuel conditioner, sold in outboard Evinrude and Johnson stores,the stove remain clean, I mean inside the generator. Don't know if it could be used to clean clogged burners. Orsoorso