As is often the case, checking for info on another post, I decided to go ahead and teardown my 323. As previously discussed elsewhere on the site, it is nearly identical in operation to the Coleman single burners. The pump uses an o-ring instead of a leather.(may have to upgrade that) The Quicklite valve is very interesting. Removing 5 easily accessible screws and compression nut gets you to here: The Burner: The generator with control valve. Interestingly, this can't be removed without cutting the compression sleeve off. The Quicklite valve is a very interesting design. Notice the schrader valve on in the right port. Off position: Light position. The beveled barrel depresses the schrader valve, introducing air into the generator from the top of the tank along with fuel: Run position. The schrader valve is released, shutting off the air to the generator: Reassembled and lighting: 15 second later, in the run position: Replaced the seal where the large nut attaches to the Quicklite valve, as it was leaking there. I attempted to remove the quicklite valve with soft jaw pliers(aka "sweet lips" to you US Army mechanics) but it wasn't cooperating. It's working fine, so left it alone. I'm not positive that it's even threaded, but I didn't want to risk damaging it to find out. This stove is infinitely adjustable from the photo above to a VERY low simmer. Mike
Mike, thanks for taking the time and effort to doccument your stripdown another very helpful post. Malcolm.
No problem. It was an easy teardown that I'd been meaning to do for some time. Gotta be careful on these as spare parts are nearly if not totally impossible to find. I re-read my posts and wasnt' to clear on a major point. There are two schrader valves in there. One for fuel/air and one for fuel only. As the bevel rod slides across, from off to light, it opens the fuel/air valve. Going to run it closes the fuel/air valve and opens the fuel only valve. Lots of folks knock these stoves(323/324) pretty hard. Mine always lights and cooks and simmers well. I know it won't run for hours without refueling and if I use an oversize pot on high, the knobs will probably melt. Knowing that, I avoid those situations. That said, it won't make my top ten list either. Mike
my favorite knuckle burner!..to tell the truth i only got one to go with a orange tent,pack,canteen and a some other 1970's "wilderness orange" gear.
The problem with such stoves (323) are the schrader valves: the original ones will last long, but once the rubber seal in them is hardened, the stove have a fine tendency to fireball while preheating. The today commonly avauilable schrader valves, the ones you get at your tire shop, have a seal that will last 2 or 3 hours in whitw gasoline, few minutes in automotive petrol, if you are lucky. I had to change the schrader valves seal on mine 323, using tygon microtubung, and it works ok now. Please, NEVER light a 323 indoor, or near something that may catch fire: the schrader valves failure is unpredictable, and at Optimus Sweden they told me thar failure was the reason sor discontinuing the model (replaced by the 324, that in some way was even more dangerous). Have fun
Orsoorso, I had exactly the same experience with a couple of coleman easilite products that use schrader valves. Thought it would be a good idea to replace them. They worked great for about 2 minutes. Wrong type of rubber in the ones I got. Mistakenly thought they were all nitrile. Not so much. Put the old ones back in and they're still running strong. Mike
I've got one of these but it's been mislaid for years. Oddly enough, I came across it earlier today whilst looking for something else. Having seen this, I'll give it a look at and see whether I can increase my confidence in it. It did work at one of the Newark Meets, but I can't say I was that impressed. It did come with partially melted control knobs...
Apologies for digging up such an old thread. Can anyone confirm the Schrader valve pin lengths? @SKLColorado has a tear down showing different sized valve cores? This 323 design is odd to begin with but having two different sized schraders takes it to the next level. I am in process of rebuilding my own 323 and came with equal sized valve cores. But both leak badly. The "torpedo slider " appears to operate the valves correctly in off, light and run positions if I use a pair of sacrificial cores. Anyways if there is another source who can confirm their valve sizes or offer up a parts diagram showing the part numbers of the valves, that would be great. John
@JohnL Sorry John, I’ve only an Optimus 324 and though of similar size and format they couldn’t be more different in their working parts. John
@Harder D. Soerensen its funny, the parts diagram does not show the two valve cores at all!! You would think that a consumable part like that would be there, but no! Thanks for that diagram, but the search continues. Cheers
Well not without at least some justification, the 323? Rider model was recalled very soon after it debuted, my camping buddy had one. Can't recall the specific design defect contributing to the Unpleasantness, the result was lots of flame where it oughtten not to be, he was not a "happy camper" that day and returned it for refund.
