Optimus 157 paraffin stove, " Batspis"

I record here verbatim Mike " the Stove" s answer to an e-mail request for help in fixing, or should I say basic maintainance of our much loved paraffin stove. Namely replacing the graphite packing around the control spindle and reassembling the needle valve etc. for the oven burner. Now if you were born circa 1938 this would really be grist to your mill, but for me it's a bit more complicated. There are no instruction books  around for this particular model of stove, built in Scandinavia, I believe Denmark " Batspis" literally means boat stove in Danish. So I am forced to rely on that wonder of the age, the Internet. Thank God people like Mike exist.

 Hello again, 

1). Place the control knob on the spindle with an obvious mark at the top, (or mark the knob with a dot of paint).

2).Turn the control knob so the dot is now at the bottom.

3). Carefully push the point of the cleaning needle into the end of a matchstick.

4). Position the needle in the hole in the burner, ensuring the rack on the needle faces the right way to engage in the spindle.

5). Gently rest a finger on top of the matchstick and return the control knob to off and the dot is back to the top. The needle will wind down into the hole in the burner.

6). Before reassembly check that the stove is turning off by putting four or five strokes on the pump. Watch at the hole in the burner, no fuel should 'well' up.

7). Replace nipple and burner caps, stove is ready to pre-heat and use.

If fuel wells up at (6) above, (stove turned off, needle only fitted), the needle is still one tooth too low causing the needle to foul the bottom of the burner before the tapered spindle has shut off the fuel.

Release pressure wind out needle and retime from (3) above.

 

Regards,

Mike 'the Stove'
e-mail spares@base-camp.co.ukwww.base-camp.co.uk
The largest U.K. supplier of spares for
kerosene stoves & lanterns.
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 Needless to say, those carefully described instructions saw the burner working beautifully and Lynne celebrated by creating a lovely shepherds pie.

Which got me to thinking.................

Our Stove suits me because I hate gas on a boat, it is a risky and dangerous fuel and the only reason it has become so universal is because it's convenient. Which is not to say it's safe which it isn't. Gas is heavier than air and will inevitably sink into the bilges and be an explosion hazard.

However as well as being safer our 25 year old cooker has another trick up its sleeve, it's repairable. Hence, and thanks to Mike, we have a small box, full of even smaller parts like the aforementioned graphite packing, along with washers ( fibre and aluminium ) circlips, needle valves, nipple jets, burner caps etc. necessary tools like nipple spanners and prickers, which even now have Lynne in hysterics!

In some way it also reminds me of catch 22, and the character of Orr who built a little stove with impossibly small parts so Yossarian would be warm in his tent while Orr was paddling his liferaft to Sweden.

Getting back to reality, with Mike " the stove" s help I am now more confident in stripping and rebuilding our cooker. It's very satisfying to repair something, I feel I have moved on from being a " user", however still have some way to go before I can claim to be an "enthusiast", I'm somewhere along that line though. Still a long way from Mikes "guru" status!