I’d to restore the box, which had been painted a mid-green gloss at some point. The stove only required a new non-return valve seal. The methylated spirit container is an old ‘3-in-one’ oil bottle. The Parasene is a quirky concept - fixed legs, 2-pint stove sized silent burner factory-fitted. I explored the practicality of the stove (another one I have) in THIS backpack trip. More of the box. Although the outer surfaces were painted in the gloss green, the inside retained the original Olive Drab. That and the businesslike catch (very robust and a locking catch at that), together with the canvas webbing handle made it clear it was army issue. A bit of research and I discovered this set of photos of a box of spare valves for a WWII British Army No.19 wireless set. My restored example, less the valves of course. The Parasene’s and spirit bottle are a perfect fit. The locking action of the box catch, pressing the tab down with a thumb to release the catch. Comparison sizing of the Parasene with an Optimus 96. Pumps. The dainty trivet of the Parasene has distorted under the heat of the oversized burner. Not surprising, since the stove puts out some heat. The eagle-eyed familiar with this type of stove may have noticed that the safety release valve on the filler cap has a wire loop sticking out of it. My adaptation, reversible should I want to. The oversized burner on a half-pint tank results in the tank becoming uncomfortably hot to handle in use. With no air-screw incorporated the only way to release pressure is to grip the (hot) tank filler cap to unscrew it. My adaptation was to silbraze a lifting lever on the SRV cup to release pressure easily. Comparison with the standard arrangment. ... and in action. My other Parasene is undergoing a repair at the moment. As I’ve mentioned, the fuel tank gets exceptionally hot in use and the hot kerosene resulted in a shortened life for the non-return valve seal. Attempting to remove the NRV resulted in a phenomenon sadly quite common in British paraffin stoves - the end cap of the pump sheared off. Pump tube removed from the tank. Cause of the failure, poor quality soldering. The inside rim of the pump tube and the mating surface of the end cap must not have been adequately prepped - there’s no solder on the surfaces and the thinnest rim of solder is all that was securing the cap in place. I’ll soon have that sorted. John
I bought one of these little stoves on eBay earlier this month and put it in storage for later use. After reading your experiences I think I'll leave it there. Ben
Interesting and unique design, thanks for posting John. Nice box restoration. Are the letters painted or stickers? Either way nicely done. Jerry @presscall
Stick on viny letters Jerry. As near a match to the original size and font that I could get. I see your point, Ben, but if you’re able to do running repairs on these old classics, using them reveals their full ‘character’ - ok, faults/weaknesses! John
@presscall nice storage box John. Reminds me of my very first stove, an SVEA 121 that came into my possession inside an ‘army’ box. Found out that my box stored spare lead acid batteries for Lucas daylight signal lights, hence the ‘paxolin’ lid liner to stop the battery terminals from shorting out. The box dates from about 1940, whilst the stove is much later. Earlier this year, I acquired a very cheap second SVEA 121 just before I attended the War & Peace show at the Hop Farm in Kent. At the show, I came across the very same box, albeit in better condition than my first (so I had to buy it) and thus I have not restored the second one. I find that I can get all sorts of things in the box, including an additional 300ml tin of paraffin which sort of doubles the fuel capacity of the outfit. Great for keeping in the back of the car or campervan. Talking of boxes, the ‘Frankenstove’ box that I made for my frankenstove Primus #10 was also made a little larger to accommodate extra fuel. You may recall that my Primus 10 has recently been reinstated as a proper #10 having had a complete 4140 silent burner installed upon it. The storage box can hold 4x 500ml tins of paraffin, a 100ml bottle of meths, a customised aluminium windshield that slots into the base and many other essentials for operating it outdoors. I have also made a mobile self-contained ‘pumping station’ housed in a nice blue box. All the fuel that is pumped passes through a motorbike fuel filter. I built it because a) I was bored one day b) I’m always filling and emptying stoves and lamps, and this seemed like a novel way of doing it! I’ll leave you with the following picture (left to right) a Primus 96 that I had on my bench from yesterday which I lit because I felt like it. 2x SVEA 121 – I thought what the hell, fire them up. A Burmos 21, a recent acquisition that is currently being fettled. I had to unsolder and remove the pump tube in order to swap out the whole NRV assembly, which resulted in the nearest leg falling off. However, it’s back together again and currently operational, even though there are a couple of minor issues still to sort. Happy new year everybody, may you fettle 'til your hearts content! Baz
@Go Scout Those WD boxes are excellent Baz and a great result with the Burmos 21, sorting its NRV woes. ‘Paxolin’, ‘Bakelite’ - classic plastics, dare I say? John
Interesting. I have never heard of those "valves" you mention. They look like old time vacuum radio tubes to me...or is it just a different nomenclature as opposed to North American terminology?
Great stove and beautiful box restoration, John. As always, your post and photos are a textbook example of how a project should be presented. If you've no interest in the valves, you might see what they'd fetch on eBay, searching by part number. We receive the occasional lot of them at work and sometimes they fetch surprising prices. That Parasene makes me grin, it's the quintessential hotrod - large engine crammed into a small car. Or in this case a large burner crammed into a small stove.
Thanks for your kind comments @Marc The valves didn’t actually come with my box. The photos of the box with valves were from an internet source. John
@presscall , Hi, John, Yet another outstanding thread by yourself, Sir!! Your Parasene is a fine looking stove, and it's also very cool that you shared another one that had been found in a box of spare valves!! By the way, having been a musician for 30 years, I'm quite familiar with the British term "valves". Back in the day, some of the Brit groups used "valve amps", or in US jargon, "tube amps". Such amps have a fine reputation for sounding very sweet, and when called for, offering a special distortion that many guitar players love!! Have you added a heat shield to either of your Parasene half-pint stoves? Might be something to consider, if you've not already tried that. I love the look of the small stove, with a silent burner, in any case. And, when you've done what needs be done to them, they look great, and seem to work great, too! Thanks for sharing this great little stove, and for offering some "head's-up" tips on keeping them running safely, and productively! Take care, and God Bless! Every Good Wish, Mark
Hi Mark As always, thanks for your comments. Ah yes, ‘valve amps’, I remember those and TV’s and ‘wireless’ sets. No, I’ve not Mark. One would help, sure, but I wonder whether one would help much because I believe the heat is mostly by conduction given the cramped dimensions and short conductive path through the metal. Radiant heat contributes to the issue of course. A positive, as a Primus/Optimus 96 will, the Parasene burner starts itself on the priming flame without pumping. Unexpectedly for a silent burner, it does so without flicking into underburn. Quite a delightful thing to watch. It starts with a simmering flame and just a few pumps gets it up to speed. John
@presscall Hi wondering if you can help me I have a stove tank on route from the Tilley man. It has the filler cap but is missing the whole pump rod, cap (that screws into the pump tube) and knob assembly and the burner. I plan to use a silent burner but am a little stumped at present re the pump cap. Do you know the thread size and type of the pump cap, I think if I can replace that crafting the pump rod and knob (whilst a challenge for my abilities) should be possible. Also do you have any thoughts/suggestions of where to start with creating a replacement? Cheers Julian
@Julian Cushworth Sorry, I’ve no idea of the thread size/thread form but the cap has male threads unlike the female ones that are usual for a pump tube cap. If I’d no existing component with matching threads to canibalise (I don’t) I’d probably think on the lines of a Coleman pump cap concept … … as with a Russian ‘Prim’ … with a cap not screwed on (or in) but secured by a wire clip through matching holes in the cap and close to the outer circumference of the pump tube. John
