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This came up on the “Old Gear Still Using” thread, and I imagine many (most) of us still have old white-gas Coleman type stuff.
Correction, I have used that white-gas Coleman, to melt wax for Fire-in-a-cans. And I have fired up the little one-mantle Peak-1 lantern, and the old Svea and Optimus stoves. To clean out any lacquer, and to preserve the memories.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnTwTazfLWE
Yeah, 1973 is about right for some of that stuff.
Those gas stoves and lantern are still handy at home in long power outages. Or Zombie survival scenarios. I emptied them of any residual fuel and de-lacquered the tanks. Lacquer thinner, automotive fuel line cleaner or etc will clean any old gas varnish residue from the fuel tank and lines.
I don’t remember what cleaner & fuel mixture I used, first rinsing the tank and then burned to clean the lines and jets (lacquer thinner flush and a carb cleaner fuel mixture IIRC) but it worked as recommended and all of our old little-used stuff burned like new once cleaned and flushed.
This advice seems reasonable, especially for stoves and lanterns left long in storage (although I put ours away with cleaned and empty fuel tanks and lines)
This is for folks who use liquid gas fueled stoves - most especially Coleman stoves and lanterns.
Empty out your stove and lantern fuel tanks - don't save the fuel unless you filter it and put it in your lawn mower (which may give you lawn mower headaches later).
Pour in 1/4 of a tank or so of "HEET" (brand) or other alcohol based automotive fuel line cleaner. DO NOT use drug store alcohol because it contains water. Swirl the HEET around inside your stove/lantern and let it sit for 20 minutes, then empty the cleaner from your stove/lantern. You may be surprised at the solids bits and pieces that come out of the tank.
Add some more HEET, pump up the tank, and then open the valves so that the alcohol runs through the unit and out the portals in liquid form. Do not light it.
Pour out the remaining alcohol and add a mixture of liquid carburator cleaner and Coleman stove fuel. I use a blend of 20% carburetor cleaner to 80% Coleman Fuel, enough to fill the tank about 1/4 full. BTW, the carburator cleaner does include methyl alcohol.
Run this fuel mix in your stove/lantern, and burn it as you would normally if you were using the unit and run it until there is no fuel.
Then fill your lantern/stove with good, clean fuel and plan for your next camping trip.
It is common for stoves and lanterns to accumulate moisture inside the fuel tanks. When we pump morning air into the tanks or use them when it is very humid or raining, we pump moisture into the fuel tanks. Naturally, the pressure forces this moisture into water droplets that form in your fuel tank, and then drop to the bottom of your fuel tank.
In addition to the operational problems the water causes, it also sits in the bottom of your steel fuel tank causing it to rust. I have seen old stoves and lanterns with the bottoms rusted out FROM THE INSIDE. Now you know how that happens.
After awhile, you notice that your stove/lantern is hard to get going, spitting and getting ornery. If you follow the above advice, you can fix a lot of that problem and add a few decades to the life of your stove/lantern
Correction, I have used that white-gas Coleman, to melt wax for Fire-in-a-cans. And I have fired up the little one-mantle Peak-1 lantern, and the old Svea and Optimus stoves. To clean out any lacquer, and to preserve the memories.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnTwTazfLWE
Yeah, 1973 is about right for some of that stuff.
Those gas stoves and lantern are still handy at home in long power outages. Or Zombie survival scenarios. I emptied them of any residual fuel and de-lacquered the tanks. Lacquer thinner, automotive fuel line cleaner or etc will clean any old gas varnish residue from the fuel tank and lines.
I don’t remember what cleaner & fuel mixture I used, first rinsing the tank and then burned to clean the lines and jets (lacquer thinner flush and a carb cleaner fuel mixture IIRC) but it worked as recommended and all of our old little-used stuff burned like new once cleaned and flushed.
This advice seems reasonable, especially for stoves and lanterns left long in storage (although I put ours away with cleaned and empty fuel tanks and lines)
This is for folks who use liquid gas fueled stoves - most especially Coleman stoves and lanterns.
Empty out your stove and lantern fuel tanks - don't save the fuel unless you filter it and put it in your lawn mower (which may give you lawn mower headaches later).
Pour in 1/4 of a tank or so of "HEET" (brand) or other alcohol based automotive fuel line cleaner. DO NOT use drug store alcohol because it contains water. Swirl the HEET around inside your stove/lantern and let it sit for 20 minutes, then empty the cleaner from your stove/lantern. You may be surprised at the solids bits and pieces that come out of the tank.
Add some more HEET, pump up the tank, and then open the valves so that the alcohol runs through the unit and out the portals in liquid form. Do not light it.
Pour out the remaining alcohol and add a mixture of liquid carburator cleaner and Coleman stove fuel. I use a blend of 20% carburetor cleaner to 80% Coleman Fuel, enough to fill the tank about 1/4 full. BTW, the carburator cleaner does include methyl alcohol.
Run this fuel mix in your stove/lantern, and burn it as you would normally if you were using the unit and run it until there is no fuel.
Then fill your lantern/stove with good, clean fuel and plan for your next camping trip.
It is common for stoves and lanterns to accumulate moisture inside the fuel tanks. When we pump morning air into the tanks or use them when it is very humid or raining, we pump moisture into the fuel tanks. Naturally, the pressure forces this moisture into water droplets that form in your fuel tank, and then drop to the bottom of your fuel tank.
In addition to the operational problems the water causes, it also sits in the bottom of your steel fuel tank causing it to rust. I have seen old stoves and lanterns with the bottoms rusted out FROM THE INSIDE. Now you know how that happens.
After awhile, you notice that your stove/lantern is hard to get going, spitting and getting ornery. If you follow the above advice, you can fix a lot of that problem and add a few decades to the life of your stove/lantern
