after you light it and it starts to "lift" put a wet cloth on font and see. If you are pricking it and then fuel starts dribbling out.......I think jet is plugging. My Stesco is at work, but I do believe it has just a lead washer for a seal. Will look tomorrow.
Agreed, pricking, and leaking, means clogged jet. Whatever is clogging the jet is continuing to do so. Need to flush it?? Somehow? Is the cap still tight, it could be residual pressure that is causing the leak. My Taykit has a plug to close off the jet to prevent leaking. I say that to say that the leak does not prove the wick is working. Try without the cap and see if the jet leaks after pricking.
@Peregrinans what happens if you fit the windshield? I suspect it would get worse but stranger things happen at sea. At the moment it is over pressuring and once you get the flame lifting off from the jet as it is doing the heating of the top of the coil is reduced and it goes out. With the shield in place the thermal feedback will increase and move the vapour transition further down the tubes and it might settle down. Regards John
I don't have a Stesco, but do have several Taykits. On those the gap between coils should be .045" and they are very sensitive about that. They also like a good pre-heat, I use denatured alcohol (meths). They sometimes require a second pre-heat.
Apologies for the delay in responding...chores and work started calling. Weekends are for hobbies, weekdays are for working to afford the hobbies... I did try it on Saturday night with the shield. It didn't seem to affect the flame progression but it did cause something new to happen - it started relighting itself with a very small flame. Hard to describe but is settled down into a pattern of almost going out and then relighting. That seems to fit with the idea that the slightly increased pressure in the coil from the little bit of extra heat from the shield kept the coil pressure just barely high enough to reignite. I think you are right, something is off about the thermal feedback...and maybe, like other suggested, there is some blockage in the coils or jet that is affecting the pressure drop between the tank and the jet. I could tell that when I tried to prick and relight, it would only relight once I inverted the stove and let the fuel back into the coil. I could hear the fuel vaporizing as it hit the hot coil. Once the coils were cooled by the fuel in the tank, it would relight with a strong flame - only to go out again in a few minutes. I played with the gap on Sunday and the operation does seem to be sensitive to the gap. I very gently tried closing the gap just slightly and now the stove, even without a windshield, seems to settle in a pattern where it fires up, then almost goes out, then starts relighting when the flame front goes below the top of the coil, resulting in a small flame that heats the upper coil. The tiny flame then cycles between being above the top coil and below the top coil. It now settles in to a "pulsing" flame at extremely low output, just a tiny candle flame that bounces up and down. I'll try to get a video of it posted in a few days if anyone is interested. I think that the heat from the flame is heating the coil but the coil is not conducting heat into the tank to pressurize the tank, so once the coil is "dry" and hot there is not enough pressure at the jet. I'm going to see if I can figure out a way to measure how the temperature and pressure cycle as it operates...this little device is now a science project instead of a stove . If I learn anything more I'll be sure to post it up. I really appreciate all the feedback - even if I never get it working I'll be learning a lot about flame propagation. Thanks!
Really doubt if some sort of thermal feedback is your issue, pretty simple stove. Things that go wrong on stoves, wick, jet, pressure leak.
Try putting a temporary gasket in the fuel cap. The Taykits are also very sensitive to any loss if pressure and the cap gaskets are almost always in need or replacing.
To bring closure to an old thread- as the now happy owner of this unit the addition of an o-ring to the cap solved the issue. I was doing a dunk test just because and found a very slight leak at the cap. I would guess that some use and tightening would wear the lead to seal but the o-ring will stay for now. It was great meeting Kieth and taking a few stoves off his hands, I should have brought more money tho! Video of now running Stesco https://youtube.com/shorts/2fW5rV8Flwc?si=jpnb5W0jUHzEnV8O
