Hi, I just got a Villiers Inferno off Ebay, however when I looked at the control rod the pricker was missing from the end. I assume its been broken off. As the pricker and the control rod are one piece, does this mean it's game over and I won't be able to get it going? Cheers, Joe
I don't know, but, does it look like this one? https://classiccampstoves.com/threads/villiers-inferno-restoration.20900/
Hi, That's the one. Unfortunately the pricker is just a narrow spike at the end of the rod. So I don't see how it can be fixed. Cheers, Joe
I fixed a couple of Turner stove prickers, so I believe that it can be done. Someone more knowledgeable about this stove will reply soon enough. Ken in NC
@JoeyO Next opportunity I get - after work tomorrow - I'll take a look at my Inferno to remind myself of the details. Chances are you could get by without a pricker if you cleaned out the vapouriser (generator) tube thoroughly by getting it up to red heat to decoke it - off the stove of course - and tapping it to dislodge the debris or an airline ideally. Make sure too that the inside of the fuel tank is flushed out to remove any sediment. Without a pricker it would only take a speck of dirt to block the tip and dismantling it to clear it each time would become tiresome. Hopefully there'll be a way to install a pricker. I'll get back to you with my thoughts when I've studied mine. John
Hi John, Ken, Thanks for your help, I've uploaded some photos of the pricker. Also the cap which the bicycle pump uses, it doesn't seem to have a NRV pip. Does anyone know where I can get pips, washers etc. So, John you reckon it will work OK without the pricker apart from it would need to be pricked manually? At least I should be able to get it going then. It would be a bit a pain to clean the jet though as the tank etc. is clamped in place in normal operation. So far the rest of it looks OK, I'll take some more photos when I get a chance. Thanks again for your help. Cheers, Joe
@JoeyO Hi Joe Photo of the pricker and jet tip. The remaining stub of pricker wire in the end of the pricker rod makes drilling a hole of the small diameter required to instal a new one all but impossible. A micro-drill can't be expected to drill out the wire stub and would simply go off-centre and snap off. The way I'd go about it would be to cut a short (3/8 inch) length of the rod tip off and silbraze a length of micro-bore brass tubing of equivalent diameter as the pricker rod to the tip, trimming it down to arrive at the original finished length of the rod. I'd then insert a length of pricker wire in the tubing and crimp the tip to hold it - attempting to silbraze pricker wire just results in incinerating it. I don't know if your skills/tools make that possible but I'd be willing to do it for you if not. Not a big job, no charge. Try and fire up the stove as it is meanwhile to see if any other jobs lie in wait. Last we spoke, Ian (igh371) was having difficulty getting his Villiers going - issues with the mixture controls resulting in persistent fuel flooding it seemed. I suspect the tiny air jet may have been blocked. The NRV doesn't have a 'pip' or spring. It's a steel ball moving up (to seal) driven upwards by air pressure in the tank and down (to allow air in) on the pump stroke. The screw-in pump nipple is loosened slightly during pumping to allow air through then is screwed shut when the tank is sufficiently pressurised to ensure that there's no air/fuel vapour seepage through the steel ball valve (a worthwhile safety feature on a gasoline stove) The nitrile seal on the valve simply seals the cap/NRV assembly to the fuel filler riser. John
@JoeyO I've had a re-think about your NRV. I know my Inferno is an early production model. Your NRV has a screwdriver slot that mine hasn't I see. I wonder if a later model used a spring and cork pip arrangement instead of the steel ball. Worth taking a screwdriver to the slot to undo it and find out.
Hi John, Brilliant, thank you, some great info there. Silbrazeing etc. is beyond my capabilities and I would appreciate help in the future but as you say it's best to see if I can get it going first. My NRV type device looks a bit different than yours, its got a screwdriver slot in the bottom, but at least now I know its a ball bearing that I need to get. Do you know the dimensions? Although I suppose wider than the spring and narrower than the tube is probably good enough. I'll get a ball bearing and let you know how I get on. Cheers, Joe
Hi John, I've opened up the NRV, i'ts the 2 objects on the right of my last photo, there's a spring inside but nothing else. Cheers, Joe
So you have, I didn't scroll to that picture. I can't decide whether it's a steel ball that's missing (it would have to be a close fit in the bore for the spring to engage with it and not slide right over it) or a seal of some other kind. I doubt a steel ball, one of the required diameter would compress the spring to the extent of almost being coil-bound. I'm more inclined towards a brass disc close-fitting in the bore that the spring would press down on. The seal wouldn't have to be perfect because the screw-in air pump nipple seals off the NRV and the sprung-loaded seal only has to prevent total loss of pressurised air between pump strokes. There's the charm and at the same time the frustration of old stoves, there were often detailed changes during a production run and only rarely were schematic diagrams of the construction produced, much less updated ones charting the variations. I know of none for the Inferno. John
I cut out a disc of nitrile rubber to act as a pip, and also another one for the cap washer. Surprisingly it pressurised fine and when tested under water the "P" control switched on and off the bubbles from the end of the generator. Unfortunately there is a leak where the "P" control rod is held in place by a nut. I'm not sure how you seal this, tightening the nut didn't make much difference. Any ideas? Cheers, Joe
That's a result with the filler cap/NRV then! The nitrile disc you cut might need backing with a thin disc of metal to prevent the spring chewing it up over time. The packing nuts on both controls compress graphite seals that allow free movement of the control while creating a seal. CCS member Terry (Trojandog) sells sheets of graphite-impregnated foil that you cut a strip off and roll around the spindle before tightening down the packing nut on the roll of graphite. You'll need to extract the remains of the graphite that's in there first of course - dental pick, fine jeweller's screwdriver, that sort of thing.
Hi John, @presscall I got some graphite and sealed the control rod. Then I had no flow of petrol, which turned out to be a blocked orifice in the manifold under the blanking nut on the top. Then I tried to light it, unfortunately the jet from the vaporiser keeps blocking, and I actually seem to get the best aerosol type spray when I insert the pricker (from a Primus 210 I think). I'm wondering if the presence of the pricker helps make the aerosol? Any more suggestions? Thanks again. Cheers, Joe
@JoeyO Hi Joe. Getting there! I think what you're describing is the nature of things when an old stove has fuel run through it for the first time in ages - some tiny bits of sediment and debris from tank and inside of generator that prior cleaning hasn't got rid of that head for the jet and require much use of the pricker to get the stove running, only you've no in-built pricker wire. One other thing, what form of graphite did you use? Powdered graphite's a no-no, it'll behave like those bits of sediment I've described. John
@presscall Hi John, I used a used some graphite cut from a piece from a 111 service kit. In an effort to get rid of some of the debris I had my first attempt at decoking which seemed to go quite well. I tried lighting the stove and it worked, a bit, with a tall yellow flame. I switched it off, gave it a lot more pumps and tried again and it worked really well, briefly, then a leak developed where the generator screws into the tank and the stove lived up to its name and became an inferno as the leak ignited. I swiftly turned it off and while I was fumbling with the split pin on my fire extinguisher the flames died out. At the moment there is a fibre type seal on the tank, what is the best type to replace it with? I assume it has to be fairly compressible as you rotate the generator to screw it in, and you have to stop with the vaporiser at 90 deg to the tank, facing the burner. Thanks for your help so far, I think I'm slowly moving in the right direction. How did your refurb on the case of your Inferno go by the way, I haven't seen photos of that. Cheers, Joe
@JoeyO Sounds promising and glad you dodged the flames. A fibre seal on that valve-to-tank joint isn't right. The threads (on mine at least, best check on your later production model) are tapered and all that's required to get the generator tube projecting at right-angles to the tank is a smear of thread jointing - I use a blue Loctite - and you should find it can be tightened (spanner, leather shims to avoid scoring the valve) to a decent torque whilst pointing the right way. If your threads don't taper, I've had success with lead washers (plus thread lock) in such applications - Turley & Williams springs to mind. The case crinkle painting went ok. A job still to do is to create a couple of decals to complete the job. John
