Greetings, All, Just time for a quick question. I got side-tracked today, and while I was supposed to be cleaning out our trailer, I decided to mess with a Meva #1 with a silent burner. Now, this stove has an outer silent cap, but there is no inner cap. I tried to light it, using an Optimus inner cap, and though it tried to light normally, at first, it then "blew itself" into an odd mode!! The blue flame at the silent burner holes was replaced with a yellow flame that danced all around, but would not center itself in the silent burner holes!!! What gives, I wonder? I tried the stove with no inner cap, and also with a complete Optimus setup, using Optimus parts for both inner and outer caps. No go. Any suggestions? I'd like to get this guy up and running, but it doesn't seem to want to help me any! Thanks, for any suggestions. Take care, and God Bless! Every Good Wish, Doc Mark
I find that odd, Doc! I had taken my Meva #1 with me to work, so at lunch I could fry some tasty sausages. Funny thing thoug, I forgot the inner burner cap! I thought, great so much for lunch... I proceeded to light and prime it, no problem, it ran as if the inner cap was there! The burner jet may have been damaged, or most likely is becoming clogged with some sort of rubbish. I would take the entire burner off, and check for junk. Same with the stem on which the burner screws onto. The tank could contain some crud which partially clogs the burner when it is running. Since it ran fine for a while before spitting orange flame, it is likely dirt is the problem. I have not had any difficulty with mine as you mentioned, so that is all I can suggest. I hope that helps, and hope that the problem is simply dirt. They are a decent stove, I like mine. The only problem mine now has is a hairline fracture an inch bellow the filler cap/vent screw. Need some low temp brazing rod...
Hey, NC, Thanks for your thoughts on my Meva! Actually, it never really ran, but rather tried to start, normally, then kicked into the odd flame mode. For a few seconds, before I pumped it up, I had normal blue flames from the burner cap. As soon as I gave it a few healthy pumps, the blue flame went the way of the dodo bird!! I don't think it's gunk in the tank, as the tank is as clean as a whistle. I am wondering, however, about the rising tube. Have you ever taken yours off the stove, NC? I took mine off, and found that it has no obstruction, like a normal Optimus 45 rising tube has. Do you know what I mean? This one is just a big, open tube, without the narrowing down within it, like a 45 tube has. I'm going to remove the burner from that rising tube, and install it on a good 45 tube, to see if it works better. If that happens, then I will suspect that the rising tube on the Meva is not original and that someone in the past has replaced it, with whatever was lying about. We'll see.... Thanks, again, for your thoughts, NC! Much appreciated!!! Take care, and God Bless! Every Good Wish, Doc
Evening, All, Well, this darned Meva is causing more trouble than any stove I've ever had!! I spent quite a bit of time messing with it, again, when I should have been doing other things, and it is still messing up. I replaced the rising tube with a known good one from an Optimus 45: no help. Then, I took the burner apart, and replaced both the upper and lower seals, on the spirit cup: no help. Then, I replaced the fuel tank cap gasket, which was a little ways toward getting hard: no help. Then, I took the burner off of another, known good 45, and put that one on the fuel tank I'd be using: it worked just fine. Then, I reinstalled the burner in question, and double primed it: no help. Then, I realized that the paraffin level in the fuel tank was getting low, and topped it up: no help. I finally gave up, and had some dinner, while I watched one of our most favorite movies, "The Quiet Man", with John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara! This is one of the all time great classics, and though I've seen it many times, I still laugh at all the outstanding "moments" in this movie!! Barry Fitzgerald, and Victor McLaglen, are simply outstanding in their roles, as is everyone else!!! Ahhh, what a fine movie, with it's wonderful Irish snapshots!!! Now, that I've calmed down, after my movie fun, I've given this problem Meva a little more thought. I've checked everything that has come to mind. But, suddenly, NC's words came to mind, telling me to check the jet for damage! Hummmmm, could it be that simple?? Of course it could!!! The major symptom of this stove is that it seems to be getting way too much air, and not enough fuel. Hummmm, the jet "could" be the culprit. Well, tomorrow, I'll change out the jet, and if that doesn't work, I'm putting the burner on a stump, in the forest behind the house, and blasting it to hell with my most favorite .41 magnum revolver!!!!! Damn! This problem Meva has caused enough grief to drive me to PROPANE!!!! I'll report on any positive developments, tomorrow. If you don't hear anything, it means that this burner "sleeps with the fishes"!!!! 8) Take care, and God Bless! Every Good Wish, Doc Mark
Not to deprive you of your fun, or stress relief methods but: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Send the offending parts to NC! He may need the spares at some point in his life! I appreciate the thought about setting up an offending object and blasting it to smitherines... Which reminds me... My .177 high velocity has claimed the lives of two more red squirrel a few nights back! Buggers chew everything, get in the attic where a fire hazzard is possible... To top it all off, they have caused a decent man, excruciating pain... 8) Had a VCR that went on the blink... Mass produced rubbish, met an untimely fate: A nice solid shotgun blast from ten feet! Good Grief NC, you are crazy!! Ok seriousness for a minute here... Yes I understand what you mean Doc, concerning the riser tube. Although I have never owned a 45, I can picture the taper or restriction which you speak of, and the Meva has a straight large "pipe" for a riser tube. I have used my air compressor to blow out the burner assembly with the jet still attached(have no jet wrench...) and anything inside is removed. I would remove the jet if I had a wrench and clean it manually. A pricker works, but if the assembly is full of junk beyond sight, then it would reoccur quickly as new pieces became lodged. Kerosene is not really dirty when left, like gas so it is probably just the jet. Hope this helps Doc!
Morning, NC, and All, Well, NC, you sure know how to ruin a fella's day!!! Here I was, all psyched up and ready to shoot that darned burner, and now you ask me not to do that!! I had practiced all my lines, too!! "You feelin' lucky, Punk"? "Go ahead, make my day"! "You lookin' at me? Are you lookin' at ME"? 8) 8) 8) OK, instead, after posting my last note, yesterday evening, I went down into the Hobbit Hole, and took another look at the errant Meva. I do have an Optimus T-wrench that fits the smaller jets, as used in the Meva, and applied it to my problem child. Hey! The jet seemed a little loose in the hole!! Hummmm, this is getting interesting!! So, I tightened the jet, pricked it, primed as usual, and guess what (?) IT FIRED RIGHT UP!!!! (For about 1 minute.............) Then, it went right back to it's own special version of "underburning"!!! This morning, I'm going to change out the entire jet, and see if that works. If not, then I'm done with this burner, for now. It's getting my goat, and I'm losing my cool.....! I'm trying, hard, to make this silent burner work for my neighbor Virgil's Optimus 45! He did not want a roarer burner, and so I'm hoping to get this one working perfectly, so that he can have his 45 with a silent burner, instead! Truth be told, I would be VERY surprised if Virgil ever fires up this stove, at all, after I fire it up to show him how it's done!!! So, all this work may come to naught, even if I CAN make this burner work like it should!! OH, well....... I'll let you know how it all turns out. Thanks, again, NC, for the thoughts, and for the grins!! Take care, and God Bless! Every Good Wish, Doc Mark P.S. I have compared the burner of this Meva #1, with the burner from another Meva #1 that I have, and there is a small, but noticible difference in the burner design. Interesting.......
Hi Doc and fellow addicts. I have a few Meva stoves. They are interesting. I guess Doc was working with a Meva 1 , fixed legs, with a silent burner. Something like this: Some time ago I noticed that the upstand on a Meva silent burner ( on the right in these two images) was shorter than on any "normal" silent burner, and as a result a standard inner cap will not locate on this upstand. An inner can sit there but it is not located securely and is therefore prone to movement. If this happens it spoils the flame pattern. A Meva silent burner will burn quite happily without the inner burner cap but the flame pattern, although blue, is irregular, with the top-most "flamelets" longer than those in the bottom rows. I believe the inner cap is there to equalise the pressure between inner and outer caps, thereby resulting in an even flame pattern. I have no idea why Doc is having such problems but think it unlikely to be related to the upstand to the burner head. Meva made nice stoves, although they used thin hard-rolled brass sheet for their tanks and as a result they are prone to failure from stress-corrosion cracking. Regards, Kerophile.
SILENT BURNERS .. havnt yet met one i trust .. on a good day theyre o.k (no more than, ok) good days are few & far between . reckon all silents are designed by beelzebub.. & figure hes a warped sense of humour . a silent on petrol is the devils own device . id offer assistance ,but my attempts at understanding the requirements for a good burn on a silent , through its pressure range, are non conclusive .. to say the least .. what works for one , differs from the next ..... beastly devices . pros & cons.. pro ........... silent & pretty. silent ,because you cant get it lit. con .......... its a silent burner. a humane service could offer silent burner exchange for a nice roarer ... like a needle exchange for i.v drug users ... & rid the planet of these nonsenses. through much of s.e asia & india i didnt see one silent burner & certainly non running petrol .these people need their stoves to work & cant usually afford the 1/4 liter of meths required to pre heat the monster mass burner head . silents why bother .?? get the stove complete , drain the tank , polish it & put it on your display shelf as an "also ran" piece of backwards technology ...or use in the kitchen ( no wind ) & pre heat with a blowtorch . the above doesnt apply to coleman type silents( i consider the coleman as a silent ... but a strange one , in as much as it works fine ) wot ..... me ... controversial ...?? nick
Not over here, we've known that for decades !!! 60 million stoves and counting !!! and most of them still around,judging by the swap meets/car boot sales
Hi BNK, This is for you. It is a Meva 1, collapsible roarer. It is paraffin ( kerosene) powered as I will have nothing to do with the Devil's fluid! Unlike the silent-burners this one will stand a side draught. Regards, Kerophile. Best Regards,
,,,,,,,,,, meva ... great stove ... fill the primer cup with meths . fill the annulus on tank with meths light both , wait a while , close pressure valve & it self lights 8) dont know what the depression is for ?? do you think a bit of intentional design?? i.e .. its not there by accident . btw ... excellent pics , real quality ..thanks .. keep em coming. nick
Hi, I reckon the depression on the Top of a Meva tank is there just to stiffen up the top of the tank. Meva stoves are light by comparison with "Proper" two pint stoves. They use thinner gauge hard rolled brass sheet to make their tanks and I don't think they bothered with a proper anneal afterwards. As I said before I have seen cracking in several of their tanks, usually on the side-walls. Pity about that as the Meva 1's were fairly late stoves and had some nice design features. Regards, Kerophile
My #1 has the short spout above the burner, so the inner cap does not sit upon it well, and will slide off. They are lovely stoves, as evident by the pictures Kerophile has posted. Mine suffers from the hairline fracture on the side of the tank. Eventually will obtain some low temperature brazing rod so as to hide the fracture and return the stove to normal use. Here is mine with the pot support and three posts removed: It is the collapsible silent burner type! I experience the same difficulties with wind, whether using a silent or roarer burner. I like the sound of the Meva 2140 roarer... Sounds like a lion purring... kinda! but I love silent burners so I can hear the birds chirp and brooks babble nearby... So, Mr. Brassnipplekey... wanna dance??? Just fooling... Who am I to object to someone being confrontational What are you laughing at Doc?? Thems fighten woirds! As a matter of fact, I am feeling very lucky, so please make my day! You and me, your .41, me my .222 at 100 paces! 200yards, I would have an unfair advantage. I like Clint Eastwoods movies too! Dirty Harry. Brandishing the .44 mag in the goblins face... "CLICK" "Go ahead, make my day"... "I'll be bach" Gov. Schwartzenagger! Ok, seriously, I do hope that your fun was not spoiled! Where will we ever find a launcher for errant burners?? have to modify an existing skeet thrower! Environmentally friendly method... Recycle the clay pidgeon err, brass burner after each use. Now who is going to retrieve it??? Those are some fine looking Mevas, Kerophile... Don't polish them too much or they will crack like mine did after I endured the fight of removing the layered filth. It does, work but will ooze kero, and frequently needs to be pumped. I realized the pipe upon which the inner cap is aligned is a half inch! If one could find a pipe with suitable inner diameter he could extend the pipe to accomodate the inner cap. It is easier to shorten a pipe joiner for half inch, and add the extension above, which would achieve the desired end. I hope it works out for you Doc! Have a stress free day!
Hi NC, I would like to be there when you try to braze the cracks. A friend once did this for me on a cracked Vapalux font. We ended up chasing the cracks as they propagated in front of our eyes. The strain associated with thermal expansion on heating the tank was sufficient to set them running! Good Luck anyway. I am glad you confirmed my observations about the inner tube on the Meva silent burner. As you say they must have had an inner cap with a deeper tube, or projections to engage the upstand on the burner. I never over-polish stoves. I am a Materials Scientist / Engineer by training and after I get a stove operating I clean it up, polish it once, and then apply an Indestructible Clear Lacquer to keep the finish and protect the surface. One day I will reveal the secret of GSR ( George's Stove Restorer). The easy way to remove tarnish without introducing scratches or cause cracking of susceptible tanks. Until then, keep collecting! Regards, Kerophile.
