I just took a delivery of a secondhand MSR XGK EX that was stated to have been only used for a few days. Almost new condition. By the dates on the aluminum block and the pump it is less than a year old. On receipt, I immediately noticed that the burner bell is out of round quite noticeably. The flame is uneven as a result. Even more disturbing, there is a fuel leak at the jet. There is a flame around the jet for several minutes after priming as the stove gets fully hot. The jet is screwed in tight so it is not a matter of it being loose. Are these common occurrences with this stove? To me it looks like somebody monkeyed with it and bent the bell trying to work at the jet. I test burned it twice, letting it cool between the burns, and the same thing happened both times. I primed with alcohol. Two pictures of the flame at the jet, one early after priming and one after a few minutes just before going away. Burning Coleman fuel. As it gets fully hot it must expand and seal whatever Gap is leaking.
Is ther jet tight. Remove it and have a good look at the thread of the jet and hole. Should be able to straighten the bell but fix the jet first
The jet was very tight last night. This morning it came out easily. The threads on the jet and in the stove base look fine to me. I blew everything out with compressed gas and reassembled it. I straightened the bell some as well. It is not perfect, but it is better than it was. I just test burned it in daylight and I did not see any flame coming out the side of the jet. So far so good. I'll test it again later when it is dark to confirm. The seller has been in communication with me, and he has been quite accommodating. He took pictures of the five other of these stoves that he has, and the majority have bells that are not perfectly round. I find that interesting. I had a Dragonfly that I got in 1999, and its bell was perfectly round.
Backpacking stove, likely deformed from being in a pack and not stored very well. Some are not thoughtful about one of the most important pieces of gear. Duane
@Chumango As an example, the newer Primus Omni-fuel had a spring-loaded flame plate that would deform the burner bell when it got hot. I have over the years witnessed a few out of round burners that were caused by overly tight flame spreaders that would loosen when hot and then the owner would tighten it some and then it would loosen again, eventually deforming the burner. Yours is the worst that I've ever seen. It would take heating it red hot and using some sort of mandrel to slowly coax it back into shape. Good luck in whatever decide.
Maybe the seller bought returned stoves, or rental stoves. REI recently started renting, and selling used rental equipment.
I find I frequently get flames around the base of my XGK which I got new. It is very strange as it is the only stove I have ever had where it seems that it is almost impossible to keep the jet from loosening which I find annoying. I'd say broken as designed...and also the jets are very soft compared to the Dragonfly which seem to use a much harder material and I managed to damage one jet this way. The bell being out of round is annoying but probably won't affect the burn very much. Maybe the first owner took the stove out on a horse trek...
According to the seller, this stove was one of about eight that he obtained that were used by an international youth group on a single outing. As such, I suppose they were inexperienced users. Beyond that, there's no way to know what they did with the stoves. In addition to the out of round burner bell and the fuel leak, which was corrected by removing the jet and blowing it and the stove out, the fuel line cable also has a couple of loose strands of wire that were poking out. The seller had two other remaining stoves that also have this. I have never seen this issue with MSR stoves.
Those wires sticking out happened to mine also. The cable is very stiff so most people (me) will pull it with pliers and this is what you get. You can just try to snip them off if you can.
Howdy, @Chumango, I own “more than a few MSR stoves, including every model of the X-GK family, including 5 XGK EX models, and have never had one that looks like yours. To me, it appears that your stove might have been mistreated by a former owner, who did not understand how to take care of it. If it was mine, I’d return it to the seller, and get your money back. If you look around, especially in Military Surplus stores, you may be able to find some unused Military versions of the XGK-EX for less than $100. Buying one new does away with dealing with a mistreated stove, and you will have one that will offer you decades of faithful service. Just my ‘tuppence…. But, from my experience, which is fairly vast, your XGK-EX should be 100% reliable, with none of the issues you have described. Good luck, and God Bless! Every Good Wish, Doc
