Hello to the CCS forum..I'm from Paraguay, South America and sorry for my English. And sorry if this post its too long. I would like to know if you can help me please. I bought one month ago an Optimus Polaris stove. And I'm not an expert in this stove things, its my first stove. In my country I cant find the Coleman white gas, but I read in your forum that the kerosene its good too for this multifuel stove, and I went to the airport to buy jet A1, because I read that the red dyed kerosene its no good. I follow the instructions for prime before (I use alcohol) and the 20 pumps. But I'm not an expert and I don't know if the red flames its correct. I see your "Post your flame shots here" section and all your flames its a beautiful blue. I don't care a lot for the color but I want to know if there is a problem with my stove. Because when I use the propane butane canister, the flame its blue and noisier and I think its hotter because the plate on the top of the stove its very red. I attach 2 pictures. Sorry for the inconvenience. I read a lot in your forum you are very good people and friendly. Ah one more question, I also read that you burn the Coleman fuel to clean the fuel hose and the stove, and I would like to know if I use the propane-butane canister inverted the liquid will clean too the hose and the stove because in my dear country we didn't find the white gas. Thanks and sorry again if this topic don't match.
@buenti Welcome to CCS. Your English is excellent. Blue flames are attractive for sure but more importantly are a characteristic of correct combustion, so worth aiming for - and the bottom of pots don’t get sooty as with yellow/orange flames. A recent post by @hikerduane HERE showed that the fuel has to be exactly the right stuff and though Jet A1 should be ok it’s the fuel I’d suspect. I don’t own a Polaris, just an old Nova, but @teckguy_58 has had a lot of experience with one, so what thoughts Norman? Again, welcome to CCS and my compliments on a great first post. John
Welcome to CCS. Your English is better than many native speakers, and HUGELY better than the few words of Spanish I know. Have no worries there. I have no input on the stove itself, but I burn jet A in all of my stuff and it works fine. With that in mind, jet A has also been the only fuel I've gotten that's been contaminated and caused issues. Can you get a small sample of kerosene from another source, for testing? Have you tried gasoline?
Welcome, and as said, your English is just fine, and much better than my Spanish. "Jet A1" is different than "Jet A". Jet A1 has deicing agents added to Jet A. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jet_fuel#Differences_between_Jet_A_and_Jet_A-1 If you can get Jet A that may be a better fuel than Jet A1. I do not know this stove, but is there a different jet for kerosene than for canister fuel? Ken in NC
Orange flame when using kerosene is normal stoves on that use the same jet for white gas and kerosene.
@buenti Hello and welcome to CCS. The Polaris stove is an excellent stove because it can run on many different fuels. According to Optimus the Polaris will run on these fuel types: White Gas, Kerosene, Diesel and Jet Fuel, Butane, Propane, Isobutane. When I use the fuel bottle with pump I pump it up between 40 and 60 pumps. Naphtha is a solvent and will work for your stove. There is also the Military Standard TT-N-95 Type II Naphtha Solvent. Here in the USA we have Hardware Stores and in the paint section you can find solvents with Naphtha this will also work for your stove. The solvent should flow like water and be clear. If you need to clean your fuel line Naphtha will work but do not use Acetone because it will damage the buna or viton seals. You can run the stove on unleaded auto fuel, but I don't recommend it due to all of the additives in the fuel which over time will plug your jet and the fuel line where it goes into the jet. I do know a few who have no problems with auto fuel but they add carburetor cleaner to the auto fuel. The use of Kerosene or Diesel for your stove will work but one needs to do a double or triple prime with Denatured Alcohol to get the stove up to operating temperatures. Kerosene and Diesel have to be vaporized before the fuel will burn. Once these fuels vaporize the stove will run very good with a nice blue flame. Personally for me I'd stay away from Diesel because of the impurities in the fuel. This is just a suggestion when using Kerosene, once the preheat is done start the stove at a little more then a simmer and let the stove heat up for a few more minutes before opening it all the way. White Gas or Naphtha because it is a solvent. Propane-Butane aren't solvents so they won't work for cleaning the fuel line and stove. Propane-Butane due to the higher pressure can dislodge an obstruction in the fuel line. I have both the Polaris and the Nova and both run very well on Kerosene. Here are some pictures of my Polaris running on Kerosene. I purchased this stove used and it came with BernieDawg PolarDawg silent cap. Here it is running on Coleman fuel/Naphtha. Remember to do a double prime when using Kerosene and when lighting the stove start it at a simmer or low and let it heat up just a bit more before going to the high setting. I hope this information will help. Cheers, Norman Hola y bienvenidos a CCS. La estufa Polaris es una excelente estufa porque puede funcionar con muchos combustibles diferentes. Según Optimus, la Polaris funcionará con estos tipos de combustible: gas blanco, queroseno, diesel y combustible para aviones, butano, propano e isobutano. Cuando uso la botella de combustible con bomba, la bombeo entre 40 y 60 bombas. La nafta es un solvente y funcionará para su estufa. También está el solvente de nafta Tipo II Military Standard TT-N-95. Aquí en los EE. UU. Tenemos ferreterías y en la sección de pintura puedes encontrar solventes con nafta, esto también funcionará para tu estufa. El disolvente debe fluir como el agua y ser transparente. Si necesita limpiar su línea de combustible, la nafta funcionará, pero no use acetona porque dañará los sellos buna o viton. Puede hacer funcionar la estufa con combustible automático sin plomo, pero no lo recomiendo debido a todos los aditivos en el combustible que con el tiempo conectarán su chorro y la línea de combustible a donde va al chorro. Conozco a algunos que no tienen problemas con el autocombustible, pero agregan el limpiador del carburador al autocombustible. El uso de queroseno o diesel para su estufa funcionará, pero se necesita hacer una doble o triple prima con alcohol desnaturalizado para que la estufa alcance la temperatura de funcionamiento. El queroseno y el diesel deben vaporizarse antes de que se queme el combustible. Una vez que estos combustibles se vaporicen, la estufa funcionará muy bien con una llama azul agradable. Personalmente, me mantendría alejado de Diesel por las impurezas del combustible. Esta es solo una sugerencia cuando se usa queroseno, una vez que se precalienta, encienda la estufa a fuego lento un poco más y deje que la estufa se caliente por unos minutos más antes de abrirla completamente. Gas blanco o nafta porque es un solvente. Propano-butano no son solventes, por lo que no funcionarán para limpiar la línea de combustible y la estufa. Propano-butano debido a la presión más alta puede desalojar una obstrucción en la línea de combustible. Tengo tanto la Polaris como la Nova y ambas funcionan muy bien con Kerosene. Aquí hay algunas fotos de mi Polaris corriendo en Kerosene. Compré esta estufa utilizada y vino con tapa silenciosa BernieDawg PolarDawg. Recuerde hacer una doble aplicación cuando use queroseno y cuando encienda la estufa, hágalo a fuego lento o bajo y deje que se caliente un poco más antes de ir a la configuración alta. Espero que esta información sea de ayuda. Saludos, Norman
Wow! you are very kind people, very kind with people who you dont know, thanks mister John, mister Marc, mister Geeves, mister Ken, mister Yellow dog and mister Norman for the replies and the welcome. In the truck of the airport said jet a1, next time i will ask if they have the Jet A only, but i dont think so.. yes the stove only use one jet, tomorrow i will try again with more pumps.. like 40 or 60.. and tell you the results.. sorry i still dont know how to answer for each one i promise i will learn jaja. I will also look for solvents with petroleum distillate i have a friend who has a paint store.. i really dont care a lot of the color of the flame, while the stove cooks me the food im happy, but im afraid that im doing something wrong with my stove and broke or shorten the life of the stove. Thanks again for your help
Also, Norman suggested that you prime 2 or even 3 times with alcohol, and then open the valve slowly, and do not open fully until the burner is hot. Ken in NC
Yes mister Ken, i will try that way too.. because when i start is like the stove spit the fire. its a bit difficult to learn this science jaja. Thanks for the tip
@snwcmpr, I was referring to white gas ( white spirit). Also I was not responding to your comment. The message I was trying to convery was... -The Polaris burns all fuels with the same jet. - white spirit, the jet will be slightly undersized, it will burn cleanly. - kerosene, the jet is oversized, it will not burn perfectly. (a silent cap improves this as shown in Norman's photo). More pumping won't help much as the problem is over supply of fuel. I say problem but in reality it is not a problem, it is just the way it works. - gas, burns clean because it is gas. The quality of your fuel makes a big difference but the perfect blue flame is not important with this stove. On other, similar stoves, which use fuel specific jets, such as optimus omnifuel you get a cleaner burn. With a silent cap you may need more than one prime, but as you don't have one that is not necessary. That said the priming process can be improved by adding extra material to the priming pad, under the burner. I use a bit of fibre glass roofing insulation. I prime with alcohol. I have several optimus Nova stoves that I only use with kerosene. None produce a perfect blue flame.
Hi, you might make a wick for the spirit cup of your stove: https://classiccampstoves.com/threads/making-up-some-spirit-cup-wicks.31218/ Best Regards, Kerophile.
Hola buenti, when not operating on butane or butane+propane canisters I use Jet-A1 in both of my Polaris stoves so no problem there, it's just a question of pre-heating it enough for that aviation fuel. Or for any kerosene fuel for that matter. I use around 30 pump strokes to an over-half filled fuel bottle. Just now, when I tried it with only one preheat (of roughly 15 millilitres) and the flame plate - I got a similar flame pattern to yours (picture below). Restarting it when warm with an extra pre-heating it gave a better simmer pattern but still with yellow tops when really increasing the throttle towards a full flat-out running. This will soot the kettel bottom for sure... Then I stopped the test, put the flame plate to the side - and put the PolarDawg2 in place. Pre-heated with another splash of pure ethanol and lit it up. Same Polaris stove, same Jet-A1 fuel, same 30 pump strokes of pressure - but a vastly better burn without any yellow in the flame (second picture). So my recommendation to any and all Polaris user burning any form of kerosene fuel is: fit the PolarDawg2 (and forget those 40 extra grams You carry around)! It makes it a different stove altogether... /Odd
Thanks again mister yellowdog, if your optimus stoves didnt produce a perfect blue im calm that i dont do anything wrong. I think the quality of the fuel its good because i dont think the planes use bad jet a1 (but in my country nothing surprises me anymore). Mister kerophile thanks for that info, I will made something similar in my stove too. Thats its interesting for prime better and it help to the stove. And thanks Mister odd. I read some post in a sweden forum that you wrote. To adapt this stove to a trangia. I wanna do that but first i want to learn the correct way to use the stove. I think my first mistake was i use a little alcohol for priming. I use a syringe of 5ml. Then I use twice for double priming but its no enought. I will buy the silent cap following your recomendation. But as I told you i dont care a lot the color of the flame my main concern was to use correctly the stove and dont break. You help me a lot. Im newbie and your passion for the stove world caught me too. Thanks again for helping people who domt have the knowledge that you have about the stoves
