I've put back lead washers after heating and quenching the burner of an Optimus 00. It's a good user and has served me well last year. I'd like to know if anyone has more experience with lead burner washer. Does anyone know from experience if lead burner washers hold? Do they melt after a while? Cheers and thanks Peter
A while ago I borrowed a thermal imaging camera to check on burner and associated stove part temperatures during firing Thermal imaging of stoves Looking through that set of photos and results the nearest I got to checking that part of the burner was in this photo, where the area of the burner tube in the vicinity of the jet nipple was 308°C on a Primus 85 With a melting point for lead of 327.5°C and given that your washer is in a part of the burner that isn't likely to get as hot as the burner tube above it, I'd say it's unlikely your lead washer will melt, Peter. The only justification for using the usual heat-resisting fibre washer that I can see is that a lead washer lacks the elasticity of fibre and there's a possibility that it may need tightening up occasionally to maintain the seal, particularly since its hitting high temperatures, insufficient to melt but possibly enough to degrade the joint's effectiveness. The riser to tank joint (lead washer) on a collapsible stove obviously has the joint re-tightened every time the stove is assembled so that aspect of joint pressure-tightness and the effect of temperature on the seal's effectiveness don't arise. John
Hi John, Thanks a lot !! That's a very intelligent and scientific answer IMHO and a nice reference to your excellent and interesting post earlier in February 2012. The burner bottom where the washer is, is black in the picture, so it should be (a lot) cooler than the yellow part at 308 degrees Celsius. Thanks again, Peter
I've tried lead burner washers on 2 of my stoves, a Primus 210 and an Aida 100. Both similar sized roarer burners. On the Primus, it was successful, and lasted until I replaced it with a fibre washer recently. On removal, it showed to be in pretty good condition still. On the Aida, it ran fine, but if it was shut down from high, the washer would melt as the residual heat in the head of the burner conducted down the riser tubes to the joint. Though almost identical burners, the Aida seems to run hotter than the Primus does, though the Primus was superior in actual heat output (boiling about 10% faster). I say try it a few times, torture test it (long runs, high heat, rapid shutdown) and see. If it lasts like that, it'll be fine. I never had to tighten down the Primus burner in all its time with the lead washer. It was completely trouble free. I don't think there's much "thermal margin" in a lead washer in this application, however. J
