I've had this 'new' No12 cooker for approx 1yr, and decided a couple of days ago that the time has come to fire it up for the first time and start using it on an everyday basis at work. I'd hoped to have found the time to mirror polish the tank and other components, but have had to settle on just a quick clean up and check over. The initial lighting showed that I hadn't pinched the jet quite tight enough, and on simmer it appears that I need to adjust the level of the burner plate (if that is what it's called) in order to produce an even flame pattern. With a little bit of adjustment I hope that it should prove to be a reliable daily user. For reference, I used red diesel. Leaking jet Simmer shot
Hi Eddie very impressive indeed running on red diesel,i have seen varioius stoves on the tube, where they have run and converted them to run on diesel, but i have never been impressed with there performance through out. You have a great stove that is going to be a reliable daily user,but i personaly would run it on good quality paraffin,as it will give better performance and you will not need to service the burner as much,even though i am not familliar with the army stove, i would imagine the burner will coke up quite quickly with red diesel.
Hi Eddie, what a shiny tank and burner! Here is a link to some photos of my No.12 stove running on paraffin to show the range of power that I was able to achieve: https://classiccampstoves.com/threads/16802 Best Regards, Kerophile.
Hi Piper. By "pinched the jet", I meant that I hadn't quite tightened it enough. In my case, I was using te term pinching as just another expression for the tightening. Brian, I may well switch to paraffin, and I was also wondering how a mix of fuels would effect the performance. I have only ever played with the earlier No2 stoves so using this, should prove interesting. I have chicken curry and rice lined up to cook at work tomorrow. Many thanks Kerophile, I shall take a look.
Hi Eddie. I have run mine on diesel but normally run them on heating oil (kerosene) as it's cheaper than red diesel. Regards, Terry
Hi Eddie, if you don't run it on paraffin, I would go with Terry's advice and use heating oil/kerosene. I don't know if red diesel has any additives in it, as these work well in engines, but not in stoves and the gum up the burners, whereas heating oil I am sure does not and is cheaper than red diesel and will be far kinder on your stove.
Thanks all for the helpful advice. I made the switch to paraffin today, and was very surprised about the difference. My imagination or not, it seemed far nicer to use and somehow felt and behaved smoother.
