The Repair Shop - Primus 96 repair

A pretty decent job putting a completely blown 96 with a missing leg back together. The burn suggests the hole in the lipstick burner needed attention but otherwise a good job. I'm quite sure we have forum members that could have done it even better.

 

@Robert Radcliffe
I am not sure I would risk using a stove that had been that badly damaged!
But great to see a stove on at last.
Looked like the burner bell had been replaced before the “explosion?”

 

Image get removed? I see nothing.
Duane

 

I definitely would like to see the before pictures.

 

definitely not worth risking it... take it from someone burnt by liquid fuel (gasoline...)
make it look nice "like new" just for show.

 

Google BBC Repair shop episode 6 series 14 about 38 minutes in I think?
The base was completely detatched looked more like a melt down rather than the “explosion” described? The NRV was blamed for the explosion due to wear of pip this would not have caused an explosion, the opposite I would have thought?

 

I take it the 'repair shop' is a TV program which recently featured a stove? (I only spent two years of my life in a house with a TV, and kept away from it then).

If so, now's the time to flog off No.96's as values spiral upwards, as large numbers of sheep men of a certain age- who have never considered owning a stove and would formally have considered this website nerdy- simply have to do a 'restorashun' on one because it's been on the telly.

Edit- nmp confirms it's a telly program. Sounds like clueless presenters.

 

Primus of the Optimus take-over period, so with Optimus (pump knob, burner bell) and Primus (legs, branded as Primus) features.

Finished job.




The soldering was suspect in my view and I’d not be confident of the integrity of the base seam when properly pressurised, which it wasn’t (one pump stroke only) for the ‘test’ firing.

I’d say so, yes.

The ‘test’ firing.

Very brief and with just one pump stroke. I suspect that once the heating of the burner from priming had dissipated, those fuel-rich flames wouldn’t maintain vapourisation.

 

The solder around the lower circumference of the tank appears to be there in the 'before' photos. How on earth did that get there?

I'm really struggling to understand the failure mode here. For the tank bottom to be blown out completely, rather than just in part, the solder would also need to be melted, so the stove must have been sitting in a pool of burning fuel. In which case why are two of the legs still attached?

Or was the stove messed about with post-accident but before the 'before' photo was taken?

Or was the damage done purposefully to make exciting TV?

 

The Repair Shop - Series 14: Episode 6 - BBC iPlayer

I cant look at this unless I live in the UK or get a VPN...But I think its the link you are talking about.

"Graeme’s dad’s old paraffin camping stove has put in the miles since it was purchased in 1957. It accompanied his parents on pre-kids cycling and camping trips, and later joined the whole family on walking adventures in the 1960s and 70s. But an explosion on a more recent trip has left the stove completely blown apart"

Sounds like gremlins to me...

 

Very clever of them, seeing as that pre-dates the Optimus takeover, and this style of stove, by half a decade....

 

I just think the random explosion is interesting....

I mean if you put a firecracker inside it... Maybe...

But these don't exactly build up crazy pressure haha @Blackdog

If so you better send me that radius you have .. God knows how much you're in danger even though it's unfired...

 

Just watched it.
So much wrong, in one part you clearly see to lots of pumps.
Filling it with water, via the burner hole.

Typical of the Repair shop.

 

Apparently this still image from the program on iPlayer (at 8:48) shows when the damage occurred:

 

As I say I reckon melt down not explosion!

 

Funny that somebody is casually taking a photo, and somebody else seems to be calmly contemplating burning liquid fuel being squirted about. Indoors, too...

@nmp How could the base be forced out without serious pressure and subsequent explosion? There is a seam holding it in place even if the solder were not there. Removing a tank bottom is incredibly difficult, as the few attempts documented on CCS show. And any meltdown big enough to melt all the solder around the dcircumference would also surely dislodge more than one leg.

My guess is that a fairly random string of footage has been cobbled together into a story which seems just real enough as long as it isn't questioned, which I believe is usual in entertainment programs.

Was there a scene showing the stove without it's tank bottom, or was the loose tank bottom in the above screenshots simply taken from a scrap stove to add to the drama?

 

What few pics I see actually posted as I can’t see OP’s pics, I don’t see any hazardous repairs, just solder by a leg and above the side edge. Might need to educate me.
Duane

 

@Blackdog
The base was right off and part of the turned over seam on the tank (not the loose base) seemed to have been split or come adrift.
As you say I dont think we are getting the full story.
The repairer had trouble getting the base back into the recess on the rest of the tank so I don’t see how it would have come apart of it’s own accord joint failure yes but not self removal!!
@hikerduane
One leg was completely missing lost,(they made a new one) one desoldered and badly put back as in picture base loose from tank and badly resoldered on (it looked like the Himalayas) all lumpy etc
I would not be firing it up!

 

So that flat, curly piece is the bottom? Just realizing what I’m seeing.
Duane

 

Are we sure that the bottom plate can be removed with feet in place? LOL

TV bullshit…