Found this on ebay uk, Stu (loco7lamp) and myself had a quick look at the weekend and I decided to strip the paint and the old fibreglass resin off the font ,,,,not good ,holes,ripped out valve housing and a dodgy base means its a big repair or going to be a tidied up non runner
Reading the tech onfo on the site its a petrol fired beast so maybe electrocution would be safest ,,,but might just do it so it can be restored later,,,no difficulty finding a hole in the font to run the cable through....it has been modified in its past to fit a schrader valve in the pump tube so at least i can add a good bit of air to test it if i go the resto route
Hi norf being a petrol fired stove i personally would not repair it to be put back in use, I would either hang on to the parts in hope of finding a good tank some day, or just repair the tank just for cosmetic looks only. If you do decide to mend it, I would say the best way is to find out if the rest of the tank is sound and there is no metal loss, and weld a patch of sheet metal covering the holes, and then mount the filler neck over the new metal, and then treat the inside of the tank with por15 and then have it pressure tested at least twice the working pressure. But this I would leave to Stu with his brilliant engineering skills
Brian, The base of the tank isn't too sharp either ,I should have taken a photo,,,,the base plate upstand has been reinforced with a ring of 2mm steel,and this has been roughly soldered but leaves a large gap to the original section of base plate, its not looking good , the major corrosion of the base plate is the same side as the valve corrosion so it looks like the stove has been left outside upside down and a puddle of water sat on the base,rotted through then settled on the valve section of the inside of the tank and rotted that through as well,,,,,
Hi Norf in my opinion it would be fool hardy to attempt a repair, especially a petrol pressure tank, If you really want to get the stove working, I would contact old coleman parts in the USA. If there is one available cheap enough it would be great to see it working.
When I was looking after a scout groups gear (I still know where thee are 12 Optimus 00s that havnt seen light of day in 10 years and were fully tested just before that) I scrapped lanterns with tanks like that without even testing them. Some people will repair them and for personal use it might be ok but for others to use is it worth the risk.
Greetings, norf, I have to agree with the others. The tank is too far gone to repair, safely. Too many chances for rupture in the future, and this makes it unsafe to use, even after a try at repair. Strip the parts, and start looking for a replacement tank. That's what I would do, if it were mine. Too dangerous to try for a repair. Take care, and God Bless! Every Good Wish, Doc
C&L plumber's furnaces are not rare in the states. Even with shipping costs I think you could buy a working one off ebay Us and ship it over for less than the time and effort of restoring that one.
Thanks for the replies,,,yes .i'll keep the bits and keep an eye out for a replacement tank,,,I wonder if all the advice about not repairing the tank is like waving a red rag in front of Stu and he'd want to baffle you all by mending it....
Good decision. These furnace / stoves come up on US e-bay with some regularity. Some are incomplete (although the sellers often don't know that and ask the price of complete stoves) and there are sometimes parts stoves. Give yourself a couple of months, and you'll find something. Paul