Fire-Maple FMS-300T problems

[DWR D]

I like this stove. But. I noticed that one of the folding pot supports no longer clears the clears the valve handle or even the rectangular block which the valve shaft comes out of. It used to clear both. Looking closer, it seems the upper nut, just below the burner and pot supports has come lose. Assuming that I can turn the burner/pot support assembly to where the one pot support clears the valve handle and rectangular block again, how do I keep the nut from coming lose again? I looked at the Loctite specs and they only go up to about 450F… while the butane/propane flame is more like 2 or 3,000F.

Also…. this stove does a lot of sputtering. Sometimes it comes on like a blow torch when first lit and then a few seconds later it is too weak. sometimes when I turn the valve to open more to get more flame, the flame goes down instead. Sometimes when I turn the valve down to get less flame, the flame goes up! Is this just a bad valve? Or dirty and needs cleaned? I have also considered that maybe some of this is due to leaving the canister out in the sun for an extended time before firing it up… greater pressure makes the valve act crazy??? Please advise.

Thanks,

DWR….

[Jon Fong / Flat Cat Gear]

The support arms are “keyed” to the upper stove body via the D shaped opening.  The upper section has not rotated.  Make sure that the nut is tightened firmly, it shouldn’t move after that.  If there is any rotation, it is probably coming from the lower section.

With the sputtering, it sounds like normal jet cleaning is needed.  My 2 cents.

[Roger Caffin]

Yeah, much dirt in there. Have you been using a Chinese canister?

Remove burner head, remove jet, clean jet w fine copper or brass wire. Do NOT damage the jet hole!!! Check it is clear by looking through it at the light, perhaps with a magnifying glass. Replace jet to finger tightness (ie, don’t rip the thread out), then replace burner head.

Then remove the needle valve and clean both it and the valve seat (cotton bud works well). You may need to remove a small pin from the stove body to get the needle valve out. The pin is a very annoying ‘safety’ feature to stop you from unscrewing the needle entirely while the stove is still attached to the canister, but I guess there are always idiots out there.

Add a smidgeon of silicone grease to the O-ring and replace the needle.

That stove should work well.

Cheers

[DWR D]

No Chinese canisters; only MSR.

Is there a videos on how to do this Roger?

thanks,

DWR…

[Roger Caffin]

Sorry: no videos. But it is not hard.
Cheers

[DWR D]

Come on Roger… how about you making some stove servicing videos and putting them up on YouTube??? That would be great.

DWR….

[Jon Fong / Flat Cat Gear]

try this

or

https://adventuresinstoving.blogspot.com/2013/02/gas-canister-stove-reliability.html

 

 

[Roger Caffin]

I was not greatly impressed with the Primus video – not sure why. But he makes some good points.

Hiking Jim’s static blogspot page (the URL) was however very good.

I have included below a link to the instruction manual for the V4 remote inverted canister stove I have been selling. While some of it is specific to the V4, a lot of it is fairly generic and may be of use. (I hope the link to Google Drive works.)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oay2KcB7rlCj-y0LX-UbmYN2IzbhCmwj/view?usp=sharing

There is an article on stove maintenance here at BPL:
https://backpackinglight.com/essential_stove_maintenance/

There used to be other stove articles of mine here, but some of them seem to have disappeared. Sad.

Cheers

[Jerry Adams]

Did you run your Fire-Maple in inverted mode?

It seems like that results in more clogs.  If the canister is upright, then only gas comes out and there are fewer clogs.

[DWR D]

No inverted mode. Though I guess it’s possible that at some time I might have screwed on the stove at a tilted angle or even maybe inverted. As far as external dust goes, I am exceedingly careful. When not in use, I put the stove in a clean plastic bag and the canister gets a cap put on. It’s a big hard to remember, but I think I remember the stove sputtering from the first time I lit it up… new. Maybe there are shavings from manufacturing in there?

DWR

[Jerry Adams]

It’s okay to invert the canister when you’re not running it

If you run the canister in inverted mode, which is good for cold temperatures, then sometimes stuff will leave the canister and go into the stove valve and other parts.  You just need to know how to clean it.

If you run the canister upright the chance of clogs is less.  But your example shows you can still get clogs.  Or whatever it is causing your stove to sputter.

[Roger Caffin]

Maybe there are shavings from manufacturing in there?
It happens. I KNOW!

Pick a good western brand of canister: they are (usually) cleaner. You see, the Chinese ones are made for upright stoves, so they don’t have to worry about dirt in the gas.

Poor flame is caused by dirt in the jet, but sputtering is caused by liquid fuel reaching the jet in inverted mode. You have to start with the canister upright so the stove warms up. Once the stove body and especially the pre-heat tube are warm they will vaporise the incoming fuel. This can take 10-20 seconds of running at low power.

Cheers

[DWR D]

Thanks Roger, but I’m not quite sure whey some of the responses are mentioning inverted use. The Fire Maple FMS-300T is obviously NOT an inverted stove.

DWR

[Roger Caffin]

No, it is not.
Perhaps the perception is that unless a distinction is made, then new users will not realise the implications.

Cheers

[Jon Fong / Flat Cat Gear]

I was wondering that my self.  It is possible that they mean to invert the stove for cleaning purposes.  If inverted and you open th ejet, liquid will be forced out the valve/jets.  It will probably expand as the liquid vaporizes.  I am not sure if it will clear our loose debris, but it is simple and easy process to see if it makes a difference.  My 2 cents.

[Roger Caffin]

I do something like that when assembling one of my remote inverted canister stoves. I remove the jet and then flush the whole system with an inverted canister, and yes, liquid fuel comes out. I only give it a second: no longer. That works very well.

But doing that with the jet in place? I suggest not. The high flow from the inverted canister is far more likely to lodge canister dirt in the jet.

Cheers

[DWR D]

So wondering… with all the mention of contaminants in canisters… what happens when you do a lot of combining partially empty canisters??? Seems like the contaminants from several canisters would accumulate into one with a higher concentration of them and much more likely to clog your stove. Comments please….

[Roger Caffin]

Well, yes, that is very possible. Or even likely.

When I transfer simple butane from fly-spray cans into screw-thread cans, I don’t bother doing anything special. I use an adapter from ebay. But straight butane only gets used at home or in the summer – upright.

However, when I move propane/butane mix into Powermax cans (they are very light), I use a proper in-line filter with lab-grade filter paper. Yes, MYOG stuff of course. I favour Campingaz 450 mL cans as a source. I monitor the destination weight while refilling: NEVER overfill.

Cheers

[Jerry Adams]

If you’re using the canister upright it doesn’t matter if there’s some contaminants, they’ll just stay there.

I refill the same canister at least 20 times from cheap butane cartridges and never have a problem.

I don’t think there’s much contaminants.  Maybe just occasionally.

If you run in inverted mode (which you’re not, I don’t know why we’re going there : ) then you’ll suck any contaminants into the stove.  There are quite a few inverted stove users on BPL and only occasional reports of clogging.

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