Hey everyone, My neighbor just gave me an Optimus 324. It is still in the box but it has been used. It has gas in it. I don't know how long it has been it there. After some searching I found the instrustion on how to fire it up. So, I presurized the thing and turn the regulator and lit the thing. Well, it seemed to loose it presure and the flame would go out after about 3seconds. After a few more pumps, I noticed the presure cap would release excess presure along with a little fuel. This did not concern me. However, after pumping it up some more I start to see gas leaking from what appears to be the nipple. Well I took the regulator screw off and reinserted it. Still nothing. Do you think the stove wont stay lit becuse there is know presure to keep it going or is it clogged or should I try new gas. I have read that I can try to run a guitar string thought it to see if that will do the trick. I will try something like that tonight. I want to use it this year and would like to get it running. Or should I just keep it and buy something new. Any and all advice is appreciated. Thank you in advance. Aaron
don't matter what model of what company, pressure loss in the 1st 3 sec.s? Fuel cap gasket. If you didn't get spares w/ the stiove, go to your local hard ware store. nitrite or other wise fuel resistant rubber flat washers to replace it.
Thank you hobowonkanobe! You may be my only hope i wil replace the gas cap gastket along with the pump gasket and hopefully I will be cookin with gas
QBURT--watch you fingers..i got a Rider just to add to my Coleman pile and it only took one use to see that the HOT burner is VERY close to the controls ..
Thanks Dave! I will keep that in mind...if I ever get it started I am going to home depot today to see if I can find these nitrile rubber gastkets. I hope they have them. I would really like to see this stove fire. I know this stove is not a thing of beauty but it just may have started me on something new. I have seen some really beautiful stove in the last week and hopefully and get some sort of collection going myself. I saw a Feild and Stream a while ago and it had a narticle about a guy and his colmen lanterns that I though was cool. I think I will start looking around. Those old brass optimus 100's are awesome!!!! Thanks for the advise....
A friend of mine tossed out his Rider as he kept overheating the pressure relief valve. That's probably why the stove wasn't on the market long. That said, I would love to find a 323 and a 324 someday just because.
The quiklighter I can see getting really hot because it is right under the flame and I guess it make scense that the fuel cap would get hot to because it is brass. I guess I should get some nitrile gloves too Does the tank get hot as well???
I replace the fuel cap gasket and I got a sustainable fuel. Thank you! However I did have to pump it every minute or so to keep the flame going. Is this normal or should it burn for a while before it has to be pumped? I have some pictures if anyone wants to help me post them.
Hey, Qbert, Hummm..... Sounds like you are having some problems with your Optimus. I have two of them, and both work just as they should. Yes, they DO get pretty hot, in operation, and this is normal for the 324. But, you shouldn't have to keep pumping, or at least not too often, when they are working. I'll have to play with mine again. But, I believe that you may still have a leak going. Have you tried swapping the entire fuel cap with one that comes from a known good stove? If not, give this a try, and see if that cures your problem. If so, I'd just replace the entire fuel cap, and call it good. Take care, and God Bless! Every Good Wish, Doc
Thanks for the reply Doc I appreciate it! I read the direction again and maybe my problem is that I was leaving the quiklight open. I am going to play with it tonight so I will keep my fingers crossed. This is my first stove (but not my last ) so I don't have any kind of spare parts and would have know idea which other caps would work. Would the o-ring in the pump have anything to do with it?
Hey, Qbert, The fuel cap would have to be from another Optimus stove, most of the time. You may have diagnosed your own problem, however, with leaving the Quiklite open. I can't get to my directions, nor my stoves, right now, as I'm away from home. But, when I get back, I'll check and get back to you. Where in Nevada do you live? We have some CCS Stovies in NV, and I also pass through the Las Vegas area in a month, or so. Maybe I, or one of our other NV friends, like Ed, up in Reno, can help you then. Let us know how your experiment goes tonight, and we can go from there. Good luck!! Take care, and God Bless! Every Good Wish, Doc P.S. I am not sure if your gasket on the pump rod is working correctly, especially if you went to Home Depot to get it. Most of the time, only auto repair places have real Nitrile rubber gaskets. If you can get to a Harbor Freight, they have a full set of them, for under $10! You might have an NRV gasket leak, but I doubt it. Anway, let me know how tonight goes, and we can talk then.
This is my first atempt to post a picture so I hope I got the right one from the Host. Sorry if it not. Kind of scary As you can see it is in great shape. No worries on the gasket Doc, I got a neopren rubber washer from True Value on the way home. Home Depot did not have any fuel resitence rubberwasher. I did not replace the pump rod o-ring but that will be my next troulbe shooting item to take care of. After that it is in the trash for sure I live in Dayton. It is about 30minutes from Reno [/img]
what's that? Early '70s? Looks to be in graet shape. those "o" rings are the cheapest repair you'll ever do, if that's ALL you have to do, count yer self amonst the lucky.
Early 70's huh HOBO? There is no date on it anywhere. It has the orginal box but I had the print the direction from another web site. At first I almost did not take it because I thought it was to heavy but now I think I am glad I did. (this could turn into a big hobbie and other activites may suffer ) These stove are really cool and I hope to learn alot more about them.
Unimportant indeed HOBO, but I would like to know some history about the stove other than it was discoed in the 80's or 90's. I plan on using for a while on some backcountry hike for at least this year.
i am having the same problem ... will not stay light. It appears to lose pressure. Did yours even get repaired? Was it simply the washers? I bought some fire gel to see if that would help it warm up but it didn't. I can only get a blue flame for about 1 minute before it sputters and goes out. Any help is appreciated.
Thank you for the reply...ended up renting a back up for last weekend's outing. Now I am back into repair mode. I drained the fuel, pumped it up and doused it. No bubbles. None to mention. I thought I saw a couple from the pump valve, then I thought there may be air behind the plunger with it in so I pulled it out and a couple more bubbles then nothing. i moved the fast start lever all the way forward and back again, still nothing. I thought I saw a bubble from the key valve with the "fast start" open but if it was it was a very slow leak because I watched for another three to four minutes and nothing more. Of course it bubbled when I opened the key value ... but I would expect that... it is supposed to let gas out. But nothing again once closed. I will have to reread the directions again. It shouldn't be that hard. I've used a similar coleman (said to have been a knock off of this Optimus) all through Scouts with my boys. I welcome any other ideas. Jeff
