I remember seeing it as displayed on the shelf. My eyes caught it. It was priced at $35. That was back in 1975 or 76. It was an eyecandy, only an ugly version of it. Coleman Stove 502. $35 was a big money then. And I did not have a penny. Here, I am burning kero in it, although it is designed to burn Coleman white gas. The flame is pink, but it is burning cleanly. I will reveal how I managed to burn kero later.A couple years later, I was going to buy a 502, just for the sake of owning it, for the sake of the nostalgia! Then a buddy of mine dissuade me from buying it, and into buying Coleman suitcase stove, 425, saying the two-burner model would be much more useful. 425 became the stove number 1. I think it was 1979.
I used 425 for all the camping needs. I stopped using it, when it developed a yellow flame, I believe it was around 2003. That was a long, faithful 24 years of service, I would say. Since I did not know what caused the yellow flame, I decided to get rid of it, and, in the mean time, bought another, very used-looking 425 from eBay. Then it dawned upon me: why not find out how to fix it? Who says I am not a doldaigal? I should have thought of this before I attempted to buy the second one. But I will talk about it later.
In 1987, or somewhere around it, I have discovered on a store shelf, another one of Coleman stoves: Coleman Peak 1 400A. Ah, how it grabbed my attention. At $40, it was affordable! And it looked so slick, compared to a 502 (which, until this time, I did not own). A new and improved version, no doubt. 400 became my #2 stove.
Of course, I had to have it. It is a very good stove, its heat output is strong, and can boil a liter of water in a zip. I took it everywhere. One thing I did not like about it was the fume it generated after being shut down. By design, the stove carries the remnant of the fuel vapor under the burner, and it slowly escapes after shut off.
Another annoying habit of the 400 series is the tendency of the valve nut (one over that control lever that regulates fuel flow from simmer to light position) to loosen over time. Suddenly, it will spring a leak, and you have an extra candlelight under the burner. The user is instructed by the factory manual to tighten the nut. Over the period, the user will have to tighten it, as it leaks. Then one day, when the nut is fully seated, it will not leak no more.
There is one more: I would not call this a habit, but the matter of design. The generator tube ends up being clogged with carbon inside. When this happens, the generator does not vaporize fuel as expected to, and flame stays yellow. The remedy? Remove the generator and heat it up with a blow torch. This burns off whatever carbon deposit inside, and it is good as new.
But going back to the fume it generates. Because of this fume, it was not advisable to use the stove in the enclosed space. It had to be shut off outdoors, and left outside until the fume clears, away from the picnic table. So next time I saw this new thing, I thought it was wonderful: Primus Yellowstone Techno Trail.
It was so incredibly small (compared to Peak 1) and put up the respectable flame, comparable to the Peak 1. And it did not fume, when shutoff. Wow! So clean, I thought. So, Primus took the honorable #3 position in my collection.
Uh, that will be the one on the left in the picture. One on the right is called Primus Light Stove. Basically the same performance, but with a windscreen ring, which is worthless. Better to leave it at home and avoid nuisance of having to fumble with it.
From this point on, I confess, I was hooked. I started to buy stoves. When I had total of 4 stoves, I honestly stopped and asked myself, whether this was a rational thing to do. I mean, besides the drain in the budget, who needs more than 2 stoves (interestingly, I happened to own two stoves at the time: Coleman 425 and Peak 1), even 4?
Did you meet one drug addict who questions why he or she wants one more hit? No? Well, you are not going to see a stove addict who questions why he or she (actually, mostly he) needs another stove. The question is wrong. The correct question: Why do you want another stove? The answer: Cuz I wannit.
Now, some of you good readers might wonder, what was my #4 stove? Well, that would be my trusted Primus Omni Fuel. Yeah, when I paid for this, I thought I was losing my left arm. Hey, did you see a drug addict exercise logic of taking or not taking the next hit? Unlike the drug addicts, ahem, I rationally weighed the plus and minus of this massive expenditure, and the logic won: I bought it.
Well, actually, it is not the picture of Omni, but that of Multi Fuel EX. Multi EX is an improved version of Multi Fuel, but with the redesign that closely resembles that of Omni. The only serious difference from Omni is that it lacks the fuel control at the burner. That makes it a little more difficult to control the flame to simmer, but if you are mainly boiling water, it does not matter. If you want to cook rice or eggs, however, then you would want to have something like Omni or MSR's Dragonfly, as follows.
One good thing about the liquid fuel stove is that you do not need to worry about low pressure of the canister, or the cold temperature that lowers the output of the stove. You can virtually run the stove dry at full pressure, if you wanted to. In addition, all Omni, Multi, and Dragonfly can run on kerosene, by changing the jet to an appropriate one. Optimus Nova is another good stove, but it runs rich, and you will smell the fume. Try to run it inside the enclosed space, and you will know what I am talking about. Nova will continously produce fume, as long as it is lit. It all has to do with having only one jet to handle all grades of fuel. You won't, and you shouldn't, have such a problem with Primus and MSR stoves listed above.
I am not going to tell how many stoves I ended up with, but I do not plan to check into rehab any time soon, either. There are still others that need to fall into my hands. It's a never-ending quest. It satisfies my greed in a small way, yet makes me thirst for more. Isn't greed fun?
In 1987, or somewhere around it, I have discovered on a store shelf, another one of Coleman stoves: Coleman Peak 1 400A. Ah, how it grabbed my attention. At $40, it was affordable! And it looked so slick, compared to a 502 (which, until this time, I did not own). A new and improved version, no doubt. 400 became my #2 stove.
Of course, I had to have it. It is a very good stove, its heat output is strong, and can boil a liter of water in a zip. I took it everywhere. One thing I did not like about it was the fume it generated after being shut down. By design, the stove carries the remnant of the fuel vapor under the burner, and it slowly escapes after shut off.
Another annoying habit of the 400 series is the tendency of the valve nut (one over that control lever that regulates fuel flow from simmer to light position) to loosen over time. Suddenly, it will spring a leak, and you have an extra candlelight under the burner. The user is instructed by the factory manual to tighten the nut. Over the period, the user will have to tighten it, as it leaks. Then one day, when the nut is fully seated, it will not leak no more.
There is one more: I would not call this a habit, but the matter of design. The generator tube ends up being clogged with carbon inside. When this happens, the generator does not vaporize fuel as expected to, and flame stays yellow. The remedy? Remove the generator and heat it up with a blow torch. This burns off whatever carbon deposit inside, and it is good as new.
But going back to the fume it generates. Because of this fume, it was not advisable to use the stove in the enclosed space. It had to be shut off outdoors, and left outside until the fume clears, away from the picnic table. So next time I saw this new thing, I thought it was wonderful: Primus Yellowstone Techno Trail.
It was so incredibly small (compared to Peak 1) and put up the respectable flame, comparable to the Peak 1. And it did not fume, when shutoff. Wow! So clean, I thought. So, Primus took the honorable #3 position in my collection. Uh, that will be the one on the left in the picture. One on the right is called Primus Light Stove. Basically the same performance, but with a windscreen ring, which is worthless. Better to leave it at home and avoid nuisance of having to fumble with it.
From this point on, I confess, I was hooked. I started to buy stoves. When I had total of 4 stoves, I honestly stopped and asked myself, whether this was a rational thing to do. I mean, besides the drain in the budget, who needs more than 2 stoves (interestingly, I happened to own two stoves at the time: Coleman 425 and Peak 1), even 4?
Did you meet one drug addict who questions why he or she wants one more hit? No? Well, you are not going to see a stove addict who questions why he or she (actually, mostly he) needs another stove. The question is wrong. The correct question: Why do you want another stove? The answer: Cuz I wannit.
Now, some of you good readers might wonder, what was my #4 stove? Well, that would be my trusted Primus Omni Fuel. Yeah, when I paid for this, I thought I was losing my left arm. Hey, did you see a drug addict exercise logic of taking or not taking the next hit? Unlike the drug addicts, ahem, I rationally weighed the plus and minus of this massive expenditure, and the logic won: I bought it.
Well, actually, it is not the picture of Omni, but that of Multi Fuel EX. Multi EX is an improved version of Multi Fuel, but with the redesign that closely resembles that of Omni. The only serious difference from Omni is that it lacks the fuel control at the burner. That makes it a little more difficult to control the flame to simmer, but if you are mainly boiling water, it does not matter. If you want to cook rice or eggs, however, then you would want to have something like Omni or MSR's Dragonfly, as follows.
One good thing about the liquid fuel stove is that you do not need to worry about low pressure of the canister, or the cold temperature that lowers the output of the stove. You can virtually run the stove dry at full pressure, if you wanted to. In addition, all Omni, Multi, and Dragonfly can run on kerosene, by changing the jet to an appropriate one. Optimus Nova is another good stove, but it runs rich, and you will smell the fume. Try to run it inside the enclosed space, and you will know what I am talking about. Nova will continously produce fume, as long as it is lit. It all has to do with having only one jet to handle all grades of fuel. You won't, and you shouldn't, have such a problem with Primus and MSR stoves listed above.
I am not going to tell how many stoves I ended up with, but I do not plan to check into rehab any time soon, either. There are still others that need to fall into my hands. It's a never-ending quest. It satisfies my greed in a small way, yet makes me thirst for more. Isn't greed fun?
