The two-legged Companion I recently received now had a complete set of appendages! I used the large hose clamp (jubilee clamp) method to hold the leg in place and keep it steady whilst I heated with a pencil butane torch. Fitted a new pump cup and punched out a new 22mm diameter viton cap washer. Popped a couple of new burner washers in above and below the Companion SVEA pattern marked spirit cup. I noted what seems to be a little gauze inset pushed a bout 20 mm into the riser tube. Flushed it with carb cleaner and left it be. I'm not sure if the borrowed Primus silent burner caps are quite the right fit for this stove as the flame pattern wasn't as clean as a I usually see on the Primus? It started nicely but then showed a more visible flame halo around the burner and blue flamelets just above each of the eight burner bell holes. A bit of yellow flame too after a few minutes burning. (Maybe the burner needs to be retightened?) This is my first Companion. The tank embossing is cruder than the Primus stoves and the SVEA shield is quite deeply stamped - almost to the point of distorting the tank shape. I also note the brass used also seems to be less yellow and more silver than on the Primus equivalent. I still like it a lot!!! I'll find a trivet and put this one into the tea making roster!
for the leg repair! On the flame shot - assume you pricked the jet and it had no effect? That looks like a partial blockage to me.
@JonD Jet was cleaned but ended up replacing it with a new one. Tried retightening the burner, even replaced the pip in the NRV but don't think that was a problem. Seems to fire up ok then start to under-burn almost immediately. I was fiddling with a radius roarer at the same time and didn't have enough kerosene to try it out so emptied the uncooperative Companion into to it instead. I'll come back to it but it did seem to be not flowing enough vapour to provide s decent burn. Blocked burner tubes maybe?
@Funfundfunfzig - was sure you would have pricked it. In that case your burner blockage theory seems a good one. It certainly appears to have low vapour velocity so perhaps when burner gets properly hot it closes up and strangles itself. I always wanted to try the heating + air approach because I don't much like the idea of quenching a burner. Good luck whichever you try.
I'm with you on the blocked tube prognosis. It's almost like the gas was turned too low even though the tank was well pressurised. I've used a very brutal method with an oxy-acetylene torch to unplug the preheat tubes in early VW inlet manifolds - play a stream of gas into the manifold with a cutting torch and give it a shot of oxygen to burn out the carbon. Works a treat if you're game. I think the heat and pressurise with air method should be relatively safe in comparison. Cheers Steve
I'm game. So far only used "the kit" on removing stuck 96 burner bells. It could be turned to that except 02 tank is now empty. It coaxed a slow charcoal BBQ or two since then...!
The thin brass tubing on a burner would be a lot more delicate than an steel on an inlet manifold so I'm going to go heat and air first and see how that works!
I had an excuse to fire up the Primus 632 blow torch to clear the burner on the companion stove. No clouds of soot or sparks from the burner but a steady stream of white smoke that soon cleared after a few good shots of compressed air. Having cleared its sinuses I also blew air threw the tank to clean the little gauze mesh in the riser tube that looked quite grungy. (See earlier post for a picture!) I learnt you should completely drain the tank because last few mililitres of fuel get blown out of the riser in a paraffinic shower when you stick an air duster nozzle into the air release screw hole. Refitted the burner with two brand new washers. The result was a nice clean flame with no hint of yellow and that sweet silent burner hiss! The SVEA crest gives these stoves some extra medieval character!
Hi, you should be able to produce bigger flamelets on your silent burner with higher tank pressure. If you cannot get a bigger flame pattern, I think it would be worthwhile to grip the mesh plug/filter in the burner tube, pull it out, and either clean it or replace it. If not there could still be flow restriction in the system. Best Regards, Kerophile.
@kerophile The mesh plug (actually more a disc) was one of a couple of things I wasn't expecting to see in the riser tube. The inner burner thread also appears to run the entire length - I imagine to help secure said mesh. Is this mesh plug common to these type of stoves or unique to the Companion models? I don't recall seeing one in the No.5 Primus. I'll run it some more and try pumping up the pressure as I only gave it a few strokes to start it burning. The mesh looked much cleaner after my kerosene shower.
I thought it might have been a lump of debris at the beginning but realised it was brass mesh and probably meant to be there when I poked it with a screwdriver. I wasn't sure if it served as a filter or somehow aided vapourisation?
Some of the bigger stoves have them as well as the lipstick stoves (such as the Primus 100). But I've never seen a 1 or 5 with a mesh insert - ever.
