I decided to have a go at a ‘traditional’ wick first to confirm things work before I start cutting rods. @presscall ‘s approach of using an electric drill to twist the wire core of the wick worked an absolute treat: Winding some stove rope around the core took more effort. I made two wicks of different thickness to gauge which worked better. This was the thicker one which turned out to be too much. It’s shown below on the left. I swapped wicks to confirm the behaviour was not specific to a particular burner. The sleeve appears to work great, there is no vapour leakage evident. Next step is to try brass rods. I’m hoping it will be easier to get consistent performance with them. -R
Using the better performing wick as a reference I replaced the wick on one side (right hand side, below) with brass rods. After a little trial and error, 14 rods looks to be about right. Being able to adjust the fuel flow by changing the number of rods is much simpler than winding a new wick. At full tilt: and simmer: For reference, I cut ~20cm lengths of 1.5mm rod, so just under 3m was used in total. First impressions are that the rodded burner runs a little better than the wicked one. I am going to run them side by side for a few days before deciding whether to replace the wick on the left with rods as well. 15 months after acquiring the stove it is finally back in service - another testament to the knowledge, expertise and willingness to help of numerous members. Thank you. -R
Thanks @alcina and @nmp After a few days of making teas and coffees I swapped the wick in the left burner for brass rods. The wick worked, but was a little slower to get started and didn’t appear to have quite the same control as the rods. Dinner yesterday was courtesy of this 36 (Stoves In Use-The Cooking Thread). I was impressed with how easily it handled it, even given that I was using cooking techniques that were suited to a spirit stove. -R
