[pete_79]

I'm hoping there is some knowledgeable gas people hanging around here because Google university is failing me on this one.

I've been have a few issues with different parts of my gas camping gear over the years and tried many things to pin point the cause. After the latest trip this weekend I think I can narrow it down to the 2kg Primus gas bottle.

Problems I've had over the last 5 years or so;
* The gas lantern needs constant attention. With the bottle fully open I set the lantern to the right brightness and within 10-15 minutes it needs to be turned up, then up again and again and again.
- I bought a new jet the same size as the original, that didn't make any difference. So I bought a new bigger jet, still no better.
* I could never get a consistent flame on my old cast iron 2 ring burner. It worked fine when connected to the big BBQ bottle at home, but was always a hassle when I used it out bush.
- I swapped the camping regulator with the BBQ regulator, that made no difference.
- I bought a new nose and regulator, still no better.

So after trying all of those fixes I packed away the gas lantern and bought some LED lights then shelved the cast iron burner and bought a new gas stove.
Now the brand new gas stove is playing up, which makes me say it must be the gas bottle.
- It has a nice strong flame for a minute or 2, then dies down to almost nothing, with the bottle and the valve on the burner fully opened it takes 20 minutes to boil a cup of water.
- It has random moments were it spits out a white mist when you first open the burner valve and when ignited it makes a massive yellow/orange flame and has to be shut down quickly.
- After the big yellow/orange flames I turn off the bottle, purge the line and start again. Usually It will light normally after that, but the flame is very unstable and pulses up and down.

These are 'random' faults, the stove can work fine for a couple of trips then it will just decide to be a real pain (like this weekend).

Any thoughts?
Is there any way to purge/clean the main valve on the bottle?

[striker99]

How old is the gas bottle? You say have been having issues for 5 years...they are generally designed to last a max of 10 years?

I had a similar issue with a 220 gram gas canister where no gas would seem to flow even though the cannister was full...it was an older one... (3-4 years old) but they are disposable so presumably not made as well?

[shakes]

Have you tried the gear with a different bottle to rule it out? this is your first stop. Borrow one off a mate, if no mate. Buy one.

Do you test the connections for leaks each time?

Where and what are you refilling the bottle up with?

[pete_79]

striker99 wrote:

How old is the gas bottle? You say have been having issues for 5 years...they are generally designed to last a max of 10 years?

It's still got a couple more years of life till it hits the 10 year cut off.
I bought the lantern, cast iron burner and bottle all within a year or so of each other and have always had some type of trouble. I always assumed the bottle was the least likely to have issues.

shakes wrote:

Have you tried the gear with a different bottle to rule it out? this is your first stop. Borrow one off a mate, if no mate. Buy one.

Do you test the connections for leaks each time?

Where and what are you refilling the bottle up with?

The first time I had troubles with the new stove I swapped bottles with a mate, mine worked on his stove and his bottle worked on my stove. We swapped bottles back and mine worked fine again, so I figured it must have been a bit of dust in the line or something.

The bottle has been filled at all sorts of hardware stores and service stations over the years. Sometime the operators do a great job, but one recent one the guy had no idea and froze the whole setup, lines, fittings and my bottle where covered in ice.

The big orange/yellow flame has me thinking there must be something with the air/fuel mixture and maybe a leak or air getting sucked in somewhere, but I'm pretty sure my connections are done properly each time.

[shakes]

Pour hot water over the cylinder then you can feel the gas level.

If it's mostly full, run your lantern. Use soapy water to test all connections

[Chop]

Time to go LED for camp lighting!

[Wanderer]

I had similar problems with my camp stove I would pull out the jets clean them in Shellite put them back sometimes they would work sometimes not. Cleaning the "jet hole"with a moustache hair also worked, If your desperate!
I Finally found that inside the jet itself is a fine mesh screen, and this can block the orifice , take out the little filters and give that ago.
As gas is released from the bottle , the temp drops due to the expansion of the gas as the pressure decreases, without a regulator this may cause the lantern brightness to reduce, this has always been a pain along with stuffed mantels I'm glad someone invented LED camp lights.

[pete_79]

Wanderer wrote:

I had similar problems with my camp stove I would pull out the jets clean them in Shellite put them back sometimes they would work sometimes not. Cleaning the "jet hole"with a moustache hair also worked, If your desperate!
I Finally found that inside the jet itself is a fine mesh screen, and this can block the orifice , take out the little filters and give that ago.
As gas is released from the bottle , the temp drops due to the expansion of the gas as the pressure decreases, without a regulator this may cause the lantern brightness to reduce, this has always been a pain along with stuffed mantels I'm glad someone invented LED camp lights.

I think you're right with the temp/pressure drop on the lantern, I ran it off one of those long poles straight on the bottle with no reg. The light would go dim even with a brand new clean jet fitted. And yes, we ditched the lantern for LEDs a couple of years ago too.


While searching for answers the other day I did find something interesting to try; someone suggested tipping the bottle on it's side and cracking the valve to see how full it was.
I thought it was worth a shot. I guessed my bottle was about half full, so I started by tipping it to 45 degrees, cracked the valve and just gas came out. Then I laid the bottle on it's side and cracked the valve again, just gas came out again, but there was a slight mist of liquid. As I tipped it just over 90 degrees it was a constant mist of liquid, so my guess of about half full was right.

What this also showed be was there must have been something wrong with the bottle (or valve on the bottle) as it was this liquid mist that was coming out of the burner and making the big yellow/orange flame. The bottle was sitting on flat level ground and hadn't been moved in 24 hours, so I guess there is something wrong inside.

I double checked the date on my bottle yesterday and it actually only has about 10 months left till it hits the 10 years, so I just grabbed a new one yesterday. Hopefully that's the end of the troubles.