Cleaning petrol stove.

[WelshBloke]

I really wasn’t sure what forum to put this in but I thought that this might be the forum with the closest content!


I've got an old Coleman duel fuel stove thats run on unleaded petrol for about 15 years now. The generator bit has blocked up with a hard carbon lacquer and I've replaced that and it runs really well now. It has a lot of old petrol that sits in it over the winter which I get isn’t the best thing to do but it’s a PITA to empty.

My question is is there an easy way to clean that deposit off the old generator? The new ones only cost about £20 and seem to last about 15 years but it seems a shame to throw the old one away if I can clean it.

 

[herm0016]

a bit of carburetor cleaner or intake cleaner from an autoparts store should do the trick. you could soak it in fresh gas also.

 

[WelshBloke]

a bit of carburetor cleaner or intake cleaner from an autoparts store should do the trick. you could soak it in fresh gas also.

Clean petrol didn't do anything. I'll definitely try the carb cleaner though!

Cheers.

 

[lxskllr]

Going forward, try adding Sta-bil to your fuel if it's gonna be sitting around. Also, instead of gasoline, you might want to try Aspen4 alkylate fuel. Expensive, but for a stove, the cost would be trivial. It keeps longer, burns cleaner, and has fewer harmful emissions. I keep Aspen2(2stroke) fuel around for my saws in case I run out of corn free gas before I get a chance to restock.

 

[WelshBloke]

I used to use Coleman fuel but that's £12 a litre now! It's cheaper to use unleaded and buy a new generator when it gums up. I'm not comfortable treating equipment like that but it's kinda the logical thing to do I guess.
I'm not sure that Aspen4 alkylate fuel is available here but I'll look into it.

 

[herm0016]

i think he just means fuel in a gallon can for things like lawn equipment. available under several brands in the US and does not contain ethanol. most of our standard fuel is between 10% and 15%. in Europe I believe it is usually 5% ethanol. though, it is usually around $20 usd per gallon, so similar to your Colman fuel.

 

[lxskllr]

Aspen is a little different than standard canned fuel. It's purer, with fewer harmful chemicals. For 2stroke stuff, it's the same as Stihl Motomix, but cheaper. The hierarchy would be corn gas-corn free gas-standard canned fuel(SEF et al)-alkylate.

Should be available in the EU. It's popular in Scandinavia. It's my understanding their pump gas sucks.