Hi, I'm Simon, first, I'm not an English speaking guy, so excuse my mistakes... I found your site by searching the name of the stove, because a neighbour gave me this old Primus #5, and I'd like to know how it works. What kind of fuel to you put in ? I've seen paraffin, but for me (French speaking Swiss) it doesn't mean anything.... besides paraffin wax.... I have a coleman fuel stove that I can fill with unleaded gasoline, can I put that in the primus as well ? I red the manual here Stove Lighting instructions but as there are no pictures, I'm afraid to do sth wrong. As I understood, I have to put some alcohol in the little lid seen on picture 2 and put it on fire, there is this little pipe attached on the side, (3) is this the one that will light the gas ? It says on the instructions that i have to let the alcohol burn till the end, but in that case how will the gas be lightened ? there is some kind of a wick inside the little pie in the wider part on the bottom, is that it ? I'm starting to clean it a little, as it was sitting in a cellar a long time. It doesn't have a number on the bottom, so I'll say it is from the 60s ? I send some pics of it, too bad that the top support is broken in many places. Thanks you in advance for your help, here are the pics
Oh and One more question, what is the diameter of the little part where the fuel goes through ? (Nipple?) It is plugged, and I don't want to put sth in too big. Thanks
Hello and Welcome to CCS @Simoncu Start by looking here - Hello, I am in France and I am looking for the correct petrol for my Optimus 8R. Your fuel is Kerosene/paraffin. You should also test and possibly change all rubber parts.
Hi @igh371 I reckon this is an old stove, pre 1900? Patent Primus No.5 on tank top. No lettering on base. Unusual filler cap marked Patent... etc. Limited photos but what do you think. Definitely not 1960s! Best Regards, George.
Certainly somewhere in the 10 years between 1898 and c.1908, but I don't think that there is any way of being more precise than that. I think the lack of tank base markings is misleading. All Primus stoves had one form of tank base marking or another, but it looks to me that some sort if repair has been made with the crucial central area very neatly patched over by a cover plate. And as for the filler cap that too is a complete unknown, possibly from another source altogether. Ian
Hi Simon: Your stove is an early one - pre-1911 (before they began to use an alphabetical dating code stamped under the tank). It is designed to run on kerosene. The central burner tube is not meant to be separated from the tank like that, and it would need to be re-soldered to avoid leaking when the stove is under pressure. Those early stoves had a screw thread that held the riser tube onto a matching thread on the tank, but it would have been sealed by a (very neat and small) soldered seal. It looks as though a round brass plate has been added to the underside of the tank. (or is that an optical illusion?). The odd thing is that most stoves from this date have a different kind of spirit cup, usually made integral with the riser tube. It looks as though some later changes have been made. The burner is much later than the stove, for example.
Welcome to CCS @Simoncu The wick material holds the last of the alcohol when the rest of the alcohol in the cup has burned away. A small flame will be burning at the top of the pipe for a short time. With the filler cap and bleed screw closed, start to pump pressure into the stove. The small flame at the top of the pipe will ignite the kerosene gas at the burner cap. The material in the wick is asbestos. The jet in the nipple should be 0.32mm diameter. So a wire smaller than 0.3mm will be fine. Steel Guitar strings make good prickers. To clean a blocked jet, first I heat the nipple to a dull red and drop into cold water (may repeat several times). Then use the wire to check the jet is clear. Soak the pump leather in light oil and massage gently. It may still be usable (picture 7). Nice stove by the way and Good luck
Mamy thanks for all your advices, I could put a 0.02mm wire into the nozzle, it went through, so hopefully it's clean now. I'll change the seal on the other hand of the pump, it's "cooked" and breaks apart, the pump leather seems ok, I oiled it and it looks ok. Still some heavy cleaning to do. What do you guys use ? It's VERY oxydated I have a formula with salt, vinegar and flour.. I don't know if it's working. I'll try it on the bottom of the stove first....
Purely numerically this is true, but only because the vast majority of stoves surviving from the first 20 years or so of Primus production are No.1 stoves. The silent burner No.5s and 4s, their 1897 predecessor the No.6, and even the No.0 which was available from as early as 1895, all had the separate detachable spirit rings from the start. So this type of spirit ring would be correct for @Simoncu's stove even if it were as early as 1898. Ian
