Chinese One Road Star Fire153g remote stove WARNING

[Tony Beasley]

I must caution users of this stove.

Having used my Chinese One Road, Star Fire, 153g remote canister stove once in the field with good success, I decided that I would take it with me last weekend on a back country three day snowshoe trip to the Australian High country, for some reason just before I left I decided to give the stove a test in my garage, the stove started up all right but after a few seconds the flame died to just a small pilot light size, what the hell was going on, so after trying another canister I started to pulled the stove apart, when I removed the jet some black powder fell out of the jet base, on closer inspection I noticed the sintered bronze filter was blocked with some black powder. I was guessing that the fuel line is made from rubber or something similar as it is very flexible for a fuel line and that operating the stove in liquid gas configuration in cold conditions caused the inside of the fuel line to disintegrate.

If I had not tested this stove before I left I would have been in some trouble as it was very cold and I needed to cook and melt snow for drinking and cooking water, it was evening and I was a full days walking from the nearest exit point.

I packed my trusty old Coleman Extreme stove which performed as usual, except on one very cold morning I could not get a strong flame going, I had to warm the canister a bit with my hands.

I have just pulled the fuel line off and as expected it “is” made from a black rubbery type material, I have manage to clean the particles out of the stove and it is now working normal but I will replace the fuel line with Cole Parmer PFA tubing which I know is capable of handling cold liquid gas.

Another minor problem with the One Road stove was that in liquid gas mode it took a long time for the stove to die after it was turned off, as I guessed this is because the fuel line does not have a piece of o-ring cord inside to reduce the volume.

While I like the stove and will persist with it, as I have the knowledge and equipment to modify this stove, I would not recommend this stove until the company changes the fuel line to one that can handle cold liquid gas.

Tony

Blocked jet

Particles from fuel line

[Bob Gross]

Tony, where did you purchase that stove?

–B.G.–

[Tony Beasley]

Hi Bob,

>Tony, where did you purchase that stove?

I purchased my stove off e-bay, US$27.50

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Camping-Backpacking-Gas-powered-Stove-Butane-Burner-/130448000460?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1e5f4e85cc

Tony

[Stuart R]

I don't think Chinese manufacturers worry to much about quality or liability; the Chinese consumer market is fairly new and not very discerning.

On my Fire Maple/Monatak Gnat stove the flame is bigger on one side of the burner than the other because the jet is either not perfectly aligned or partially blocked, and the tolerance on the canister thread is not great.

[Pierre Descoteaux]

Thank you so very for posting this!!! It seems like very important info since some of the BPL community (myself included) did purchase a similar product… Now, my real question is… Is this the stove Huzefa sold via this site?
http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=47657&skip_to_post=405811#405811
Cheers
Pierre

[Tony Beasley]

Hi Pierre,

>Now, my real question is… Is this the stove Huzefa sold via this site?
http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=47657&skip_to_post=405811#405811

Yes, I think it is.

Tony

[Franco Darioli]

I had some problems with mine using the canister upside down on snow.
It worked fine at home on several trials with the canister the standard way up and inverted, but the second or third time I inverted the canister on snow the flame went out.
I lit the flame again , it sort of worked (made some funny noises) then the flame went out again. After that I then turned the canister the right way up again and put it next to but on the outside of the windscreen. That worked well and was able to cook and melt water. Temps were between =2 c and -5/7c (sitting on top of compressed snow)
I did express some doubts before (on another thread) using it in cold conditions, now I have a better idea of why.
This is how my fuel jet looks . So I suspect that the powder Tony has is the crumbled version of the stuff I have on top of mine.

that is if if the "fuel jet" is from here :

Franco

[Ken Thompson]

Looks like a case of you got what you paid for. Seemed awfully cheap in comparison to some other choices out there. Too bad.

[Hikin’ Jim]

The Chinese manufacturers seem to play fast and loose with the quality of some of their components. I wonder if it's simply a matter of them not having enough years of experience in the business to know what to look out for.

Whatever the case may be, I'm glad to know that this stove is one to pass by. Thanks for the warning.

HJ

[Tony Beasley]

Hi Ken and HJ,

We do get what we pay for, but as I am a MYOG canister stovie I thought this stove at US$27.50 was worth buying even just for the parts, I am going to replace the fuel line with some better quality fuel line and run some more tests, I certainly at least for a while will not be taking this stove bushwalking without a backup, I usually take a backup with me when testing my MYOG stoves as I have had a few disasters in the field with my stoves.

I posted this same warning on the Bushwalk.com forum and there has been a very interesting reply from an Aussie in China who has an interest in Chinese gear, his posts are worth a read http://bushwalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=7535

Tony

[Hikin’ Jim]

Tony:

Thanks for that link to bushwalk.com. That's a very interesting thing to know that even Chinese shops won't stock Bulin stoves.

HJ

[Tony Beasley]

Hi HJ,

There is a very interesting post that is worth a read about cheap Chinese gear, on Blogpackinglight http://blogpackinglight.wordpress.com/2011/06/30/the-end-of-cheap-gear/

Tony

[Hikin’ Jim]

It's a brave new world out there. The entire west (maybe Australia is in better shape?) is teetering on the brink of something bigger than we've ever seen and even high growth China is having problems? Yipes!

HJ

[Paul McLaughlin]

Well, that's a disappointment. I bought one of these, not so much because it was the cheapest, but because it was the lightest. And from my limited testing, which I posted here a while back, it seemed to be a pretty fuel efficient unit as well. I'd have a go at replacing the fuel line (I found some sources for the PFA tubing online) but the compression fittings I have found seem to be pretty expensive.

[Nick Gatel]

Gosh, I am not surprised. They sound too good to be true.

[Tony Beasley]

>Gosh, I am not surprised. They sound too good to be true.

Hi Nik,

The interesting thing is that while the fuel line might be suspect, the rest of the stove appears quite well made and to someone like me who likes to fiddle with stoves, it is good value.

Tony

[Scott Nelson]

I bought one of these here at BPL, like many others, specifically for cold weather. I wonder if someone could create illustrated instructions and materials list to replace this fuel line with something that will work better. If this could be done with an eye toward using common tools, I know a bunch of us would appreciate it. Thanks, Scott

[Pierre Descoteaux]

I second this idea. I really want to make it work but I lack the know how!

[Ken K]

I bought mine mostly for the ability to use larger pots (cooking for 5+) and the weight. The ability to use it in colder climates was a bonus. Good to know ahead of time that I shouldn't use it as such.

I'm also interested in the fix… I've got four of them to do!

[Bob Gross]

Instead of complaining, why don't you guys send them back to the guy who sold them to you?

–B.G.–

[Ken K]

>> Instead of complaining, why don't you guys send them back to the guy who sold them to you?

Because, like someone already posted… We got what we paid for. When you buy cheap from a foreign shipper, you accept some level of risk. I think we just need to take our $35 lessons.

Further, in my case, at least, the stove hasn't actually failed. It functions fine for my intended purpose (so far). I'm disappointed, but not complaining. I just appreciate the heads up from others who have had issues.

Given the sellers resistance to refunding other peoples orders, I'm guessing returning and expecting a refund is probably not in the cards. In all fairness, I doubt the seller knew of the issue when he put together the sale, either.

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