I am new to vintage stoves and my experience with camp stoves is limited to the 2 burner Coleman propane stove that almost every car camper on the planet owns. I recently acquired an Optimus 8r. I understand the basics of how it works and it does appear to work properly. Fairly clean. When I first received it the spirit cup was loose and leaking. I hand tightened it and everything seemed fine. I tested lighting it a few more times and all seemed good. I got it just as we were leaving for vacation so I packed it up with my other camping equipment and we drove away. 48 hours later we arrived at our destination and I unpacked the container and it clearly smelled of fuel. It had been upright during the trip. I had been traveling through Florida and the inside of the car probably reached some high temperatures so I'm thinking the heat had pressurized the stove. Is that something that happens? Should I not be storing fuel inside the stove? I'm going to need to use this on a trip in about a month so I'm hesitant to take it apart in case I mess it up and can't get it back to the working condition it's in now. This forum is great but I'm new to the format and just learning to navigate it so I'm not finding much with a search. Thanks a ton, Jenny
Shouldn't smell. Drain what fuel you can easily get out. Take stove, put it in fridge or freezer for a few minutes with cap loose, tighten cap and submerge in warm water. You will see bubble, probably from the cap gasket, common. Fettlebox (see ad this site) will have the gasket.
G'day Jenny, it's also possible that the seat on the shutoff valve has been damaged and is leaking. The dunk test will let you know if bubbles keep coming from the jet orifice.
Welcome. Ha, I do not, and never have had, a Coleman propane 2 burner. You have been given sound advice. If you see bubbles in the dunk test, return here and say where and others will be clear about what you need to do. I see no problem with you fixing this before the trip. (If it is a worn spindle, then it may take a little more effort to fix it.) Ken in NC
I pulled it out and went to empty the remaining gas. There was none. So this is a problem because it had been half full. I took the whole thing out of the box, took the tank off and took the larger pieces apart (the things I was able to do without tools). Checked the wick and it looks good. Cleaned up the box a bit with some soap and water. I'll have to get into town to replace the gas and buy some supplies so that will have to wait until Sunday. So I said we were leaving for vacation. We have a teeny cottage in the woods and we stay about a month. I attempted the leak test. We don't have hot water so I had to fill the sink with cold and run water through the coffee pot. It looked ok bt sight but it needed another 1/2 inch of water once I got started so it didn't fully cover the stove at the tank. Bubbles poured out the nozzle (where the needle sits). I turned the stove in the water to get the tank fully underwater and no bubbles. Turned it to the other side, still pouring out the nozzle. Where does that leave me?
On these stoves turning the key one direction shuts off the fuel, turning it all the way on the self cleaning needle should rise from the fuel jet. It easy to shut off the stove with the cleaning needle exposed but once cooled might leak. Make sure the stove is in the off position (No needle showing) and try the dunk test again. If it still leaks it probably is a dirty or worn spindle. CW
Oh geez. I did the leak test again. No leaks. Just someone who didn't know how to turn it off. You all are really nice. Thanks for not calling me a moron. Lol
