is it like a 'carbonising' effect? What we used to call 'coking up' wrt a car engine? you know? When there'd be carbon deposits on the spark plugs etc? I'm just wondering if it has anything to do with how the air/fuel mix is created with these things?
I've had the same Coleman Alpine stove for something like 20 years and it's still going strong. My friend used to have a Trangia and yes it was great in the wind, but it seemed to boil a very small amount of water. It was great to have a cup of tea halfway up a mountain, but the 3 of us probably only has about 2cm of tea each. As for the dual-fuel I've heard that when run on petrol it can taint the taste of the food.
Just downlaoded the pictures, here is the generator tube split open.
Inside the main generator tube is a finer brass tube, this fine tube holds the pricking needle which clears the jet when the fuel lever is turned off. This fine tube is kept spaced from the larger outer tube by a brass spiral, most of which came off when cutting it open. If you look at the right end of the fine tube (the centre one) you will see that its covered in gunge, here is the detail;
Almost the whole of the tube is covered in gunge, and is the reason the stove stopped working. This part of the generator is at the coldest part of the tube, its the bit in the middle thats not directly over the flame. Other parts of the generator tube (the really hot bits) are fairly clean.
I have heard from elsewhere that when run on un-leaded the tubes tend to block when NOT run on full heat all the time, and for sure this was what I was doing to regulate the temp of my oven.
I also gather that heating the tube to red hot can clear them, I shall see.
Good point about running on full heat Stuart. As I said earlier I've not had a problem, but thinking about it, the cooker has nearly always been used on full heat (plus the WD40 treatment). Another point is that when I first light the burners I always turn them up full and let them burn for about thirty seconds or so to heat up the flame guard. During this warm up I have also noticed flecks of yellow flame and tiny sparks. Perhaps if there is any residue then this is it being dislodged by the heat and burnt off.
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Topic: Trangia or not?
