I bought this stove in 1960 for £1 and since then I have always thought of it as my £1 stove. It was bought as a back up to the two Optimus 80s that I had at that time. They constantly needed new burners through using leaded petrol. I only used this stove once and that was in the winter. I was that impressed with the stove that I went out and bought another 80! It took a long time to boil water in the cold weather. As you can see it has not had any attention after its single use. I worked on the principle that I could always have two stoves working at any time. If one failed in use I still had the other to last until I got home and repaired the defunct one. I think that it was about then that I learned to clean the blocked burners which stopped my standing order for replacement 80 burners The "safety valve" was very high tech. At the left of the assembled photo you will see a washer. This is made of thin lead. If the stove overheated the lead melted and released the pressure. If it got too pressurized the lead washer burst at the hole and released the pressure Regards Bryan
Thanks for explaining the pressure release system. I have knock-off of the Stesco but there was no washer in the cap, and my solution was pretty rinky dink.
Hi Itchy The lead washer is very thin 0.038" or 0.97 mm. I have no idea how effective it was. It may have needed both heat to melt AND pressure to blow the molten lead through the small hole. I would not have liked to be near the stove if it blew as there was probably a good chance of being hit by a slug of hot lead Regards Bryan
I had a Stesco (I think my father originally bought it for our one and only camping trip which ended after the first night of torrential rain). I used it for years and it never failed. The wind chimney (back left in the photo) worked perfectly and it needed no pumping or priming, just pull out the cork bung and light it. It came with me on surfari in the late 60s and early 70s, but eventually the can it came in rusted away, and the spray-hole wore too wide for safety. People were shocked that it used petrol, but like so many gadgets of the first half of the 20th century, if you used it with care and respect, it was fine.
I wonder…..since the “spray hole”/jet/orifice wore too large for use with white gas, could maybe alcohol be used now instead. I just bought a Stesco Hiker, so I’m not sure if it has any wicking like “normal” alcohol coil jet stoves. I have not tried to peer into the tank to see how/if the fuel is picked up by a wick or if it just pulls vapors off the top of the tank. SVEA 123/123R’s have wicks, so? Any “stovies” out there that can shed light on this?
@Yellowstone Johnny there is indeed a wick in these nifty little stoves. Unfortunately it can't be accessed to replace it. Regards John
@Jeopardy Thanks for the info. Another question, is there some sort of seal/washer inside the fill cap besides the lead burst disc? The cap on this Stesco, when fueled and tightened, has the “wings” at “up/down” rather than “left/right” so the stove will not fit well in the tin (if) one wanted to carry the stove fueled with the coil corked. It seems to me that having a Viton washer between the lead burst disc and fount would fix the cap orientation issue, but may make it a safety hazard since the lead burst disc would be insulated from the fount thus possibly taking more heat/pressure to activate it. Lets be honest, this stoves overpressure “safety” is kinda sketchy to begin with.
