Here is my recent acquisition. An Optimus 11. Previously seen here. I did very little except take it apart to check it. I heated and blew out the burner. I did replace one item, the filler cap gasket, the original cork one, with a Viton one from the Fettlebox. The filler cap for this stove seems to be a bit unusual. The gasket was a tight fit, and required some 'pushing' to get it to seat. I tried several gaskets, so it is the cap that is different. I kept the cork NRV and SRV and also kept the existing graphite packing. The stove passed the dunk test, finally, after changing the filler cap gasket, so I took it outside, primed and fired it up. I will let the photos speak for themselves. (One note, I do not seem to have a knack for flame shots, but, do know, this stove was roaring.) Ken in NC
Good one Ken! Did you make him an offer or did he make one for you? I'm no expert on flame shot pics but what works pretty good for me is to shoot the stove at dusk (or with minimal lamp light) and put the camera on a tripod so the there's no blur when the shutter stays open longer. The right amount of light allows you to see the stove and still see the flame brightly. Cheers, Jerry
Hi Ken, great stove! I like my 11 more than my later 111's, seems to me it is more powerful! All mine run on kerosene/paraffin, for this type of stove the safest fuel. Enjoy yours! All the best, Wim
Thanks all, I have been looking for this model of stoves for a while. My wife bought my first one for me, a birthday last year. I bought an unfired a few months ago, and this one is a fine user. I do not mean that in any bad way. I also use kerosene/paraffin in these old stoves. I know white gas is an option with the Campingo and the 11, but they are even older than I am, so safety is an important detail, I will err to caution. One detail that may help someone reading this later. I found the jet to be about .013". A .0125" pricker will go, a .0135" pricker will not.
Ken, you have given the pricker size in inches and there is no problem with that. The standard size jet for most kerosene stoves is 0.32mm or 0.126". Your trial and error measurements have come up with approximately 0.013", which matches well. I have measured many prickers from Primus, Optimus and others and have found that their sizes vary by very small amounts.
I pulled a bunch of prickers out of my parts bin. I measured. 007, .009, .010, .011, .0125, .0135. I'm an inch kinda guy. All my tools are inch, I was a machinist in USA. The .010 is an MSR pricker and that doesn't make sense. I read that all their jets are bigger than that.
