I was a bit surprised to find one of these in the UK, but the seller was from the South coast so I'm assuming it came ashore with the rest of the boat in a refit of a Yankee Clipper or some such. Here it is fettled, kettle just about to boil As I said that was after the strip-down and some servicing of parts, of which there were quite a few An unexpected snag was that the non-return valve was inset in a recess at the bottom of the pump tube. The NRV had to come out because it wasn't working My regular, Primus, NRV removal tool (bottom in this pic) had a head diameter just a bit too big to fit into that recess, so I had to make up a 'special' to fit The pump washer was a nasty plastic gizmo that didn't work reliably Unfortunately, I laid out my stock of different sized proper pump washers (from Sefa of course) and though I thought the largest (Coleman-sized) might have worked, it was just that bit too big, so the plastic washer had to go back for the time being The control knobs proudly proclaim the stove's American manufacture ... ... but the reverse told a different tale about the origin of the burners at least The underside of the stove, spill tray removed One of the burners, intended for methylated spirits/alcohol only Under the silent burner inner and outer caps is a disc air-valve to adjust the mixture. Once lit, I tinkered with the setting to get a blue flame. It involved setting the valve, trying it out, letting it cool and trying another setting. Takes longer to write than it did to do Inner cap The advantage of having meths in the tank was that it could be pressurised, then each control valve opened to trickle some fuel into the priming cups Though I gave the tank a rinse, I wasn't too thorough I guess and a couple more tankfuls should see the orange tint to the flame disappear, I reckon. One of these shots shows a tracer formed by speck of incandescent carbon, you'll notice A leaflet on the model from the CCS Ref Library Leaflet John
Hi John, Another impressive fettle of an interesting stove. I reckon there can't be many of these in the UK as pressurised alcohol stoves never seem to have caught on here...perhaps because of the high price of Meths. Best Regards, Kerophile.
I'm sure you're right, George. Though I can get meths in 5 litre bottles reasonably economically, it'd bankrupt me if I were to use the stove regularly. Mind you, same goes for the white gas ones fuelled by Aspen 4T. I've kept a small can of Coleman fuel for its investment potential ... John
Nice fettle, John! I've a few of these. In my experience, the burners can be adjusted for proper mix whilst burning. Use a large pair of grips and grasp the outer rim of the burner. That outer part will move and allow you to "dial-in" the proper mix while the burning continues. Early versions of the 205-32A came equipped with Svea 1915 kero burners that were converted to spirits with a restrictor tube and an alcohol jet. The same procedure used on the Optimus 111T. Those early models can easily be converted for use with kerosene again by swapping out the jet and discarding the restrictor tube. One caution, though. The hotter flame of kerosene does not treat the arm tips of the porcelined grates well. The porcelin can heat chip and bubble on the first 1/2" or so of the protruding arms. Works super well otherwise. Always enjoy your excellent posts. Best, Gary
Thanks Gary. I enjoy your posts too ... and then some! Sure enough, prior to taking delivery, I'd already read your masterly fettle of that Homestrand with the Svea burners. Doc (Mark) had told me about that dodge with the pipe grips and I prepared for doing that by dousing the burner heads in releasing oil in advance but when it came down to it I couldn't get the darned things to turn and didn't want to force them and gnarl up the rims. Consequently, I went for the slower method. Cheers, John
Well, I got some more sparks and orange flame in with the blue for a while longer ... ... then a fresh tank of fuel and the burners settled down fine John
Evening, Guys, John, that's a very nice Homestrand you have there, and well done on the fettling!! As to adjusting the air/fuel mixture, to my knowledge, there are three different burners, and the two ways to adjust them are not interchangeable. If you have the disk inside the burner, as your stove does, John, I really don't believe you can turn the entire burner head to adjust it. If you can turn the burner head, that is a slightly different burner, and is easier to adjust. I have both of those types, plus a third time that has burners that cannot be adjusted, at all, and have, instead, a mushroom cap which sets on top of the inner cap, and under the outer cap. This third type burns just fine, without adjustment. At least, that's my personal experience. Others may have differing mileage. For what it's worth... Congrats on getting your Homestrand, John, and also for tipping me off to the "Made In Sweden" BEHIND the regulating wheel!! I'm going to check all of my different Homestrand stoves, to see if they have that same cool stamping behind the their wheels!! Very nice bit of information! Thanks!! Take care, and God Bless! Every Good Wish, Doc
As always John great work!!! What does meths cost over there for 5 liters out of curiosity? Thanks Jeff
I'll just check the price label on the bottle Jeff ... £14.35 ... googling currency converter, that's, ah, 23.15 Canadian Dollars or 22.12 USD. Half litre bottles are more widely available in diy stores, garden centres and such, typically at £2.99 a bottle (sometimes more), or around 4 to 5 Canadian/US dollars a pop. Of course Doc, I wondered why I couldn't see the join! All the best, John
Do the Svea 1915 equipped stoves require adjusting the mixture? Or were they "pre-set"? Much thanks for the documentation on this great fettle!
Pre-set I believe. Bernie Dawg explained a little earlier in the thread that the Svea burners were designed for kero but were converted to burn meths in the Homestrand application by installing restrictor tubes and jets with larger orifices. That's to get the fuel-air mixture right for meths, which requires a richer fuel-air mixture than kero does. John
I did the same made a tool loosen to the check valve but I cannot get it for the life of me out of the tube it's loose, but there's no way for me to grab it and pull on it. and it won't come out I've tried everything is there a secret ? is there way to replace the tube entirely?
Okay she came out just quite crusty but the bummer is they sent me the wrong check valve the threads are different
John, There are Homestrand parts available from Ess-Kay Yards in New York including the rubber U-Cup on your pump assembly, NRV valves, and NRV removal tool. Check it out at http://www.ess-kayyards.com/catalog/homestrand.html Ben
Thank you very much Ben. I overlooked your helpful post when you put it up. The Homestrand is headed to another CCS member in Europe in an interesting trade that I hope to feature (it's a stove of course) here on CCS in due course. John
