@presscall yes its turned out good so far. That was the first and only spring to arrive as yet, so the rest will be surplus. I'm sure they'll come in handy - I'll have to see what 'springs' to mind! In the meantime, I'm finding actually lighting the paraffin in the spirit cup a pain in the neck. I seem to have greater success if I hold a match under the cup in order to pre-heat it and create some vapour and then lighting it from above. There must be a knack to it, but I'm learning. It's still way easier to use meths in the wick. Is there an easy way? Baz
The alcohol here is not the cleanest burning substance I’ve used. My kingdom for meths. With the result, I cheat and use a propane torch to preheat the stoves. No soot, no cleanup.
Line the cup with fibreglass rope - it then becomes a matter of lighting a wick as with a wick stove. John
Oh! It seems a bit fiddly even though I am using a wick! It is made out of strands from a fireproof rope - not sure if its fiberglass or something else, but its 'modern' and not asbestos. I must try harder! Baz
@Go Scout Mmm, maybe tease out a few ‘loose ends’ from the rope to make it more ‘woolly’ to trap beads of paraffin to ignite rather than a pool of fuel? John
@presscall thanks John, I'll give it a try tomorrow. Hopefully I'll have better luck tonight with the Scouts - they're fire lighting, learning about 'edible' plants (specialist chap coming to give a talk) and building emergency shelters using what they can find in the surrounding woods. I'd better volunteer to help with the shelter building! Baz
Ah, foraging, a subject close to my heart. Alas, I’m obliged to give wild mushrooms a wide berth though, since I’m no expert on recognition and they’re not something to be so-so about when it comes to being sure. John
Go to a store that sells wood stoves or pellet stoves, and get a couple feet of door gasket. Makes great priming cup wick. ....Arch
@Go Scout I've not used my Regal for a long while, and paraffin priming I would agree isn't an everyday method of choice. As mentioned some wicking is needed, a match might do it, and lowering the priming cowl too early can tend to put it out before it gets hot enough, needs lowering slowly I found. Quite fiddly but effective when working. Quite a lot of hairline cracking in my fount so not really a user.
@presscall @ArchMc That's exactly what I've been using Arch! 1m x 3mm and 1m x 6mm @£1.50 per metre including postage from a stove company advertising on Ebay. The top picture is of the wick I've been having problems with and the bottom one shows the 3mm and 6mm rope that I have. The 6mm rope easily unravels into 4 thinner strands and my troublesome wick is made up of 2 strands twisted together in 'rope' fashion. It sits very low and flat in the spirit cup groove and laying a well alight match on top doesn't get it going easily, if at all. I have just made another wick using a 'ring' of 3mm rope and a single untwisted strand taken from the 6mm one. Using a darning needle, I sewed the single strand in and out of the 3mm rope creating loops. Testing in the workshop revealed that my loopy wick lights easily (thanks John), although not without problems. It burns with a popping sort of motion - flares up/'pops'/dies down and carries on doing this cycle. I think that when it flares up, it uses up much of the available air supply causing it to pop and die down. It's certainly more usable and gets the job done. I might try experimenting a bit more by replacing the 3mm rope with a single strand taken from the 6mm rope and adding loops as before. Baz
The original wicks were tightly braided asbestos and quite dense. I have a few fragments and even a new old stock unfired wick has fallen apart. I have used a modern glassfibre round wick from a chinese ebay seller which, to my surprise, proved to be a well made and dense wick. Mike
Hi all, I have found this thread and Baz’s ‘gallery’ post very interesting and helpful. A friend gave me a Monitor Regal which had spent some time under water following flooding in 2007! It’s in pretty dire condition but I hope to resurrect it. Phil
Hi @Phil G4SPZ If you look beyond the patina of your stove, I don't think it'll be as bad as you might think. I would imagine that after replacing 'service' items and maybe a rusty, 'fallen-to-bits' spring in the syringe unit, it'll probably run fine. Do let us know how you get on and please don't hesitate to ask questions! Baz
Hi Baz, Oddly enough, the syringe seems to be in good working order. The main problem is the pump NRV which looks like a pile of corrosion down the pump tube at the moment. I propose to work on that first! I have some fibreglass wick on order for the igniter. Incidentally, I use a brass cleaning product called Priory Polishes No 1 for removing tarnish from the brass in antique clock movements. It is absolutely brilliant, and this evening I have used it to clean up a pair of Victorian candlesticks. I will try using it on the Monitor stove, as I reckon it will save me a lot of work. It is non-acidic and contains ammonia, but its action is very gentle on brass. Basically you just dunk the item to be cleaned into a 12.5% diluted solution for an hour, then wash in hot water with a soft bristle brush. Phil
Hi and thank for sharing how the syringe work, Very interesting. In the cup above, what the tube around the wick is for? Thank
@Phil G4SPZ , everyone here will tell you, using ammonia based polishes on stoves is a mistake! The ammonia reacts with the brass, causing cracking over time. Murph
