View Full Version : Svea 123r
Low-Gear
03-12-2011, 19:02
My brother gave me an old SVEA 123R stove, it lights up after a brief warmup, but then "chugs" or surges as it burns. I have never seen one of these stoves in use, so i'm not sure if this is normal. Any ideas?
Sort of a shushing sound?...normal.
Great old stove.
Well, first, does your brother like you?....
OK, I am guessing he does. There are several possible causes. Make sure that the fuel is new and clean. If the stove was stored full, some sediment and non volitile sludge may be keeping the wick from flowing smoothly. Rinse out the tank with new fuel and try again. It might take a few tries to get it clean.
Also, remove the jet and clean it in fuel. Be careful not to enlarge the hole by trying to clean it with a wire or needle-just let it soak and use a tooth brush bristle. Put it back in and try again.
Check the tank lid to be sure it is sealing.
You can get a repair kit that will come with parts and instructions. Someone here should have a link but you could just google it. I think Optimus may be the company now. Match your stove to the pictures and pay attention to the key angle-straight or angled-to get the right parts.
Good luck with your stove. grayfox
Slo-go'en
03-12-2011, 22:10
If by "chugs or surges", you mean it's spitting big balls of yellow fire, that means the burner stem isn't hot enough and/or there isn't enough preasure in the tank yet.
When this happens, it can take a few minutes for it to settle down to a nice steady blue flame. Putting a pot over it helps speed it up, but soots up the pot pretty good in the process. Working the value open and closed to sort of control the fire balls until it settles down usually works too.
You need to make sure you fill up the preheat cup at the bottom of the stem and it really helps to have the optional preasure pump for the fuel tank. Once you get the hang of it, the Svea 123 is a reliable, bullet proof stove.
Cleaning the needle value might help, but be real careful here as it is easy to damage.
Feral Bill
03-12-2011, 23:37
Also be sure to fill only about 2/3 full. The heated air provides steady preasure. Your brother did you a great favor.
Cold weather can have that effect too and make sure it is sitting on some type of insulation. I love the look of that old brass.
Monkeywrench
03-13-2011, 14:38
My brother gave me an old SVEA 123R stove, it lights up after a brief warmup, but then "chugs" or surges as it burns. I have never seen one of these stoves in use, so i'm not sure if this is normal. Any ideas?
My Svea always roared like a jet engine.
JaxHiker
03-13-2011, 16:54
Don't listen to these guys. Your brother hates you. Send the stove to me and I'll give it a proper disposal.
Tenderheart
03-13-2011, 18:21
Ah, the SVEA 123. That was my first stove. Roars like a jet engine. Do you have the little key and pot that came with it? Seems like I used a medicine dropper to put fuel in the burner cup to light and heat the burner.
litefoot 2000
Feral Bill
03-13-2011, 19:27
Ah, the SVEA 123. That was my first stove. Roars like a jet engine. Do you have the little key and pot that came with it? Seems like I used a medicine dropper to put fuel in the burner cup to light and heat the burner.
litefoot 2000
Medicine dropper is a good way to go. Get a plastic one.
Medicine dropper is a good way to go. Get a plastic one.
Or a straw/tube. Dip into your fuel bottle and put a finger over the end like you used do do playing with your cereal as a kid.
300winmag
03-13-2011, 23:48
Buy the companion small aluminum pump (& matching brass fuel cap) to avoid priming it by heating the bottom.
1. Pump it up
2. turn on the valve & then turn it of when the gas fills the "bowl" around the stem.
3. light the liquid white gas
4. let the flame burn until there's just enough left to ignite the vaporized gas as you turn on the valve.
5. Let the stove burn until the flame becomes steady and blue. then adjust to your preference.
That stove is VERY reliable. Used mine for 20 years and it still works fine. Now its' my "antique" and in retirement.
Chugging is normal as the stove approaches operating temperature. Unless you use the add-on pump, the only source of pressure for the fuel is its own expansion due to heating. To that end, the stove burns best when used to actually heat something (a pot on it to confine and reflect heat back at the gas tank is a key component). The chugging should decrease and turn into a fairly loud roar (it isn't company-friendly to fire one of these up at the crack of dawn, and it can sometimes be hard to hold a conversation near one as it heats up the coffee pot).
If it continues to surge, there may be other issues -- check the tank gasket (need to maintain pressure) and the jet (any dirt in there). There isn't much that can go wrong with these stoves (their dead-simple design is over a century old at this point), but they do require some operating knowledge (so, usually the failure is on the meat-puppet end of the operation -- more easily remedied than a device failure).
Your brother is a wonderful guy. Get him something nice.
If it sounds like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1qsBGTkVSk
(especially around the 17 second point) it's completely normal. The noise is caused by the gasoline hitting the bottom of the burner plate (which design, incedentally, is called a "roar" burner). This is how it mixes with the air and becomes a viable, volatile fuel.
The stove is reliable as a stone, and pretty easy to use (especially if you have the Sigg cookset (pot stand and pots nest securely). It's a bit heavier than the latest stoves and has a small fuel tank, but unless you're cooking gourmet food for four you should be able to cook what you need to on less than a full tank. They polish up beautifully, too.