Good morning everyone,

I bought the stove this fall for my winter excursions this year. I used it in the fall a few times to get the hang of it first white gas stove since I used my dads old school monster from the 80's. After I figured it out in the fall I used it on a -12 F trip with great success, took it on another group trip where it was the back up and never had to be used. then I got it out on one last winter trip before the rain started 2 weekends ago around 0-5 F and it wouldn't start. I kinda improvised a little while I was in the field, I took the pump out of the fuel bottle a few times and lit the stove on fire manually to try and heat it up thinking the line might have been frozen with no success.

This weekend I messed around with it again at home and it fought me a little but lit up after a few tries. I then threw the stove, fuel bottle, and pump in the freezer for a few hours and it lit right up after doing the normal fill the bottom cup with fuel lite it on fire and open the pump right before it goes out. I know the freezer isn't as cold as what I would normally see in the winter, but...

Any idea why it wouldn't start 2 weekends ago?

Is frozen frozen weither it is 30 F, 0 F, or -20 F?

What do you do in the field if you can't get the stove to start?

Thanks for the help.

You can rule out temperature having anything to do with it--white gas stoves work fine at colder temps. Was fuel coming out of the jet at the normal rate? Are you certain that there was adequate pressure in the fuel bottle? From what you report the most significant diagnostic indicator may be that the stove functioned than malfunctioned on another occasion and than functioned again. The jet can become clogged with carbon deposits over time, limiting the amount of fuel making it to the burner. There is a mobile needle beneath the jet that easily cleans out the jet when the stove is turned upside down and back several times or shaken up and down hence the name "shaker jet". This process is not always adequate and it may be necessary to clean the jet with the tool that comes with the stove. My guess is that the jet was cleaned by movement of the shaker jet while you were fiddling with the stove.

A yellow flame is a cooler flame and yields more carbon deposits than the hotter blue flame you see when the stove is opertaing after priming. To minimize this carbon build up I blown the stove out (like a candle) after I turn the fuel off when I'm shutting it down. Of course, the yellow flame and carbon build up are inevitable since you have to go through the priming process to begin with.

Also, I use white gas stoves at a little higher pressure than normal to insure adequate fuel delivery.

Most MSR problems resolve easily once you isolate the cause. The symptoms are typically either (1) no fuel flow at all, or (2) no fuel pressure.

(1) No fuel flow can be caused by debris right at the shaker jet. That can be cleaned by shaking the needle in the jet, or poking your own needle down into the jet. In a bad case, the debris plug is lower down, but it is typically still somewhere below the burner. The debris could be carbon that has gone down from the jet, or it could be debris that has come through the fuel line. Once I had plastic that had come through the fuel line and then melted underneath the burner.

(2) Fuel pressure problems can be tricky. You might get just a bit of fuel flow and you get a yellow flame, but not the blue flame that you expect. First, make sure that the fuel pump is oriented with the liquid line and pressure line correct. Second, make sure that the pump leather gasket on the plunger is good. I always squirt a few drops of oil on it before each trip. Once I had to lube it in the field, and that is why I carry Chapstick. Fuel pressure can also be too high, so the burner works but it blows itself out. Also, a few people try to fill their fuel bottle to the last drop, and without a head space in the bottle, things don't work so good.

--B.G.--

Hi Jeremy,

Little to add to what's been said already--they're good rundowns of what can go wrong with a WG stove and how to sleuth it out. I will mention bad fuel/fuel contamination--both of which I've experienced. Water will sink to the bottom and be picked up first by the fuel tube, so a small amount can kill attempts to light the stove. The fuel itself can separate--into what components I cannot say but when it happens it burns poorly, if at all.

I'll second it's easy to over-pressurize the Simmerlite. If it's very cold, this could interfere with getting the fuel to vaporize since heat is being lost at a good clip already. Cold alone won't prevent the stove from operating but it does make achieving good vaporization a little harder.

I wouldn't trust a stove that doesn't fire up easily at normal temperatures to be reliable in sub-zero weather.

Good luck,

Rick

Edited by halfturbo on 04/04/2011 14:08:13 MDT.

Thanks for the responses everyone. All of that makes sense. It sounds like I had a carbon cloge. I will have to wait until next year before I play with it again, but I intend to give it a good cleaning and oil before I put it away for the summer.

Hi Jeremy

Required reading - our tech article on Essential Stove Maintenance. It covers everything you asked and more.

Cheers