Hi all, The cleaning needle on my new to me No 12 was broken so from experience i fitted a new replacement and a new nipple from Basecamp, not the cheaper alternatives, i refitted, holding it in place using the rubber on the end of a pencil, opened the valve and after four clicks closed the valve and fitted the nipple, it seemed to operate fine although the needle did protrude a fair way, tried again with five clicks, still the same so ran the stove, everything was working fine then it went a little tight and the flame stayed the same even in the cleaning position so checked and the pricker has bent/snapped, any ideas to what i could be doing wrong please, i have one spare needle left, Thanks.
I've fitted the new needle and another nipple and operated it unlit around thirty times in a row, the needle still protrudes a fair bit which i don't think you can change unless shortening it but it feels smoother and worked fine, time for some fire!
No its not working, works fine when unlit but as soon as it gets hot something must be expanding and if you try to clean the nipple the control knob won't turn that far/is hitting a stop, i didn't push it this time so hopefully the needle has survived, any thoughts on what it could be are most welcome, Thanks.
Hi @MarkG, I am concerned when you say the needle protrudes a “fair way” out of the jet. This should not be the case. How cleaning needles work: The regulated burner cut-away will show you the inner workings of a regulated burner so you may see how it works: Regulated burner cutaway The closed position is achieved with the regulator knob turned fully clock-wise. The "cleaning needle fully up" position occurs with the regulator knob fully anti-clockwise. The maximum stove power position on a regulated burner of this type is mid-way between the closed and needle fully up positions. There is only about 1/4 to one-third of a turn between these two positions. You should never use the needle of a regulated burner as a throttle because you will get rapid erosion of the needle. If you have fuel leaking out of the jet when the regulator knob is fully clockwise, the cleaning needle is preventing the needle valve from fully closing. You need to remove the jet and cleaning needle and then re-set the cleaning needle to 3 or 4 "clicks" before re-inserting the jet. You can safely use the stove without the cleaning needle while you are thinking about what is going wrong..... Hope this helps, Best Regards, Kerophile.
Thanks @kerophile Yes the control knob will only turn a quarter turn or so, it will run at low and high "power" fine and yes the control valve is fully closing so that the flame shuts off when running and there is no fuel leaking from the jet, the control spindle looks to be in good condition as far as i can see and so far i have tried 4 and five clicks from the fully closed position (i will try three but have a feeling its not going to make a difference but hopefully i am wrong!) with the same results, there is a possibility that the previous new needle has fallen inside the burner as it is missing from the rack but everything works perfectly when cold and these are the same symptoms as when i fitted the previous needle and jet, i'm not sure why the needle is protruding so much, it looks to be showing around 4mm when in the cleaning position but i thought it was the rack/needle itself that acted as the stopper, height adjustment, the needles do look a little long but i have used them on a few No12's now (if they are the same, its been a while) without issue.
Hi, it would be a good idea to check if the lost needle is sitting under the rack drive. I did find a dead needle in one of my No.12 stoves, and it seems that is could obstruct the new needle from its full movement range.
I did see that earlier when having a read through the various posts but didn't think to check at the time i just took it for granted as Basecamp are pretty good, i will see what these are a bit later as long as i haven't damaged it again, i wonder if the shoulder or main body is expanding from the heat and catching somewhere to stop it from raising, Thanks.
Yes, i will have to remove the burner and see if i can tap it out if its there but these are still the same symptoms as before it snapped off and it works perfectly when cold/unlit.
The Netherlands Army removed the internal cleaning needle from their Heinze Geniol stoves and issued the stoves with external cleaning pricker wires....... Best Regards, Kerophile.
@kerophile I haven't measured quite as accurately as you but it looks as though the total length is around 16 mm, the needle is 2.6mm (i was being a bit optimistic with my 4mm protrusion then!) and the shoulder around 2.78 and there are six teeth but i'll need to check that again in case i'm wrong, i have removed the valve spindle and under a jewellers loupe i can see a few small gouges between a couple of the spindles, would that be enough to stop the full travel of the control knob/cleaning needle, maybe that damage was caused when i broke the first needle and i couldn't operate the cleaning needle once cooled again. Looks like a new valve spindle is needed.
