153g Chinese remote canister stove problems and CAUTION

[Tony]

I must CAUTION users of this stove.

Having used my Chinese One Road Star Fire153g stove once in the field with good success, I decided that I would take it with me last weekend on a 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 this 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 have tested this stove before I left I would have been in some trouble as it was very cold and when I needed to cook and melt water for drinking, 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.

Blocked jet

IMG_5008.jpg (65.44 KiB) Viewed 6936 times

particles that came out of fuel line

IMG_5009.jpg (74.58 KiB) Viewed 6936 times

Tony

[Franco]

Hey, thanks Tony.
I did notice something strange when I used that on my second trip on the snow.
The stove on inverted canister mode switched itself off a couple of times the second or third time I used it on that trip.
Then I placed the canister the standard way up and close to the windshield (to put some heat on it) and it worked.
I will need to take a closer look at it.
I hope that you post this at BPL too as there are several people there that have that stove.
(BTW, I had no problem before with it at above zero temps )
Franco

[sthughes]

Hey, thanks Tony.
I did notice something strange when I used that on my second trip on the snow.
The stove on inverted canister mode switched itself off a couple of times the second or third time I used it on that trip.
Then I placed the canister the standard way up and close to the windshield (to put some heat on it) and it worked.
I will need to take a closer look at it.
I hope that you post this at BPL too as there are several people there that have that stove.
(BTW, I had no problem before with it at above zero temps )
Franco

Yeah I had the same problems when I used my so called "Moonfaker" (fake Kovea Moonwalker) a few weeks back in the snow. Might be a similar issue perhaps.

[Tony]

Hey, thanks Tony.
I did notice something strange when I used that on my second trip on the snow.
The stove on inverted canister mode switched itself off a couple of times the second or third time I used it on that trip.
Then I placed the canister the standard way up and close to the windshield (to put some heat on it) and it worked.
I will need to take a closer look at it.
I hope that you post this at BPL too as there are several people there that have that stove.
(BTW, I had no problem before with it at above zero temps )
Franco

Hi Franco,

I have just posted the warning on BPL.

Thanks for the info on your One Road stove, it will be interesting how many users have had problems.

Tony

Yeah I had the same problems when I used my so called "Moonfaker" (fake Kovea Moonwalker) a few weeks back in the snow. Might be a similar issue perhaps.

Hi sthuges,

My experience is that Kovea stoves are of the highest quality, I doubt Kovea use such poor quality fuel line.

Tony

[sthughes]

My experience is that Kovea stoves are of the highest quality, I doubt Kovea use such poor quality fuel line.
Tony

My stove is a CHEAP FAKE IMITATION of a Kovea Moonwalker. It is not an actual Kovea stove, it just looks almost identical. Real Kovea stoves are indeed top notch stuff from my experience.

[blacksheep]

as I have mention before on here, there are many stoves available all over the world but only once they have passed an (expensive) extensive approval process will they be for sale in an AU/NZ retail store. This is one area I strongly caution against saving a few dollars- it doesn't make sense (cents?).

I have seen so many products that look great on first glance....

[Maelgwn]

I have just been to the Main Range for 5 days and used it with the canister inverted sometimes and didn't have a problem with a blocked jet.

I have had the problem franco describes though.

I just pulled mine apart and it looks ok, there is some blackness around the jet but it doesn't seem to be blocked (as the stove still works). Is this still a concern?

[Franco]

This I think is the part in question


If it is I presume that the black powder Tony has found inside is in fact that stuff you see on top of that bolt.
Not that I have any idea of what that is...
Franco

[corvus]

Interesting Franco, who made the stove you use is it a knock off of a Reputable Manufacturer in China, who lets face it make a big percentage of our brand name "Outdoor" products or what
corvus

[rucksack]

Tony & Franco

Your Chinese One Road Star Fire153g is actually a Bulin BL100-B5, made in Zhejiang Province, next door to Shanghai.

http://www.cnbulin.com/en/showproduct.a ... lass_id=31

I would be extremely wary of inverting canisters and running this stove as if it was capable of operating in an inverted canister mode. This would certainly be well beyond the factory specifications for this stove, notwithstanding the existence of a pre-heating tube. I doubt that Bulin do, (or have done), any sustained bench or field testing of this stove, (or any of their stoves for that matter), and the quality of the fuel line on the BL100-B5 is probably indicative. Buying this kind of stove on-line (and re-branded, at that), puts you one too many steps away from any realistic redress. I work in China and I see these types of stoves all the time. In short: Fire Maple yes, Bulin no. And I have heard that exact mantra from some of the better outdoor shops here in Shanghai, who will not stock Bulin stoves. They tell me that they get too many complaints and too many returns, as the manufacturing quality is all over the place. If you walk into a reputable outdoor store in Shanghai, you will either find no Chinese stoves on sale, or only Fire Maple. That's a fairly good hint, I think.

rucksack

[Tony]

Many thanks for that information Rucksack, it is good to have the thumbs up on Chinese stoves.

For A$26 I thought it was worth a try, I am going to re-work my BL100-B5 to see if I can improve it.

Tony

[rucksack]

Yes, the price is tempting, but it's also often a clue too. Tony, I have no doubt at all that you can create a more than half way decent stove from the components of your Bulin BL100-5B. In fact, I would be surprsied if you couldn't, and I would be interested to see the result of your 'tinkering'.

Corvus has a couple of Fire Maple stoves, including an FMS-100T, which is a very decent remote gas stove indeed, but you don't find these for AUD$26, or anywhere near that sort of price. Bulin seem to be aiming for the lower end of the market, so their stoves are keenly priced (even here), but sometimes poorly made.

Optimus got into a lot of trouble when they outsourced their multifuel Nova and Nova+ stoves to a Chinese manufacturer a few years back. That exercise ended up with hose and connection problems (sound familiar?) and they had to do a complete recall last year. Not great for the brand, of course. As I have said in other posts, there are rising outdoor manufacturers here, (and Fire Maple is one of them in my view), who are turning out some very viable equipment, but there are others who are finding the step up from outsourcing manufacturing to be a difficult one, not least because of the required investment in R&D. Bulin do make a mean 2 egg carrier though, (their BL800-S2) - highly recommended for those who like to take their eggs with them!

rucksack