Blakes Lavac stoves

C

CTurnbull

New Member
Joined
7 Jul 2006
Messages
3
Visit site
We just had a Blakes Lavac kero stove installed on our boat and have had difficulty getting it to burn clean. The fuel was from a new, sealed can and the preheat was for 2 minutes with a torch. Both burners burn dirty but occassionally go blue with only small bursts of yellow. Are there any users who have a system down that works?
 
I have found that mine will burn yellow if the fuel pressure is too low. Pump the tank right up to the red line and then try again. Two minutes sounds like loads of time with a gas torch. Using a gas torch I find 30-45 seconds is usually plenty. It will take two minutes on meths, but not nearly as long using a torch.
Hope this helps.
/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
Yes, mine has been fine for the last 20 years.

I agree with Tritonofnor's diagnosis; two minutes should be ample preheat time and you may have insufficient pressure - tank gauge should be on the red line.

Silly question, I'm sure, but you are sure that the fuel is regular paraffin?

I say this because many years ago I inadvertently put diesel in mine...the symptoms were as you describe!
 
When using the torch do you heat the under side and top side of the burner? Also, do you leave the plate on over the flame during the preheat? I'll make sure the pressure is up in the red as well. Thanks.
 
The fuel used was kerosene out of a new and unopened can. I did manage to get it to burn clean after filling the cup with alcohol which burned and preheated for about 6 minutes. If you use alcohol, how much of the cup do you fill? Also, do you preheat with the burner plate on?
 
I don't use a torch; I use meths, and I fill the cup under the burner (or almost fill it, if the boat is jumping about a bit at sea).

I leave the simmering plate off, but shove the kettle or whatever over the meths flame to use the heat.

The reason why I gave up with the torch idea (after trying it) is that I must have a low attention span; I get bored waving a gas torch at something. I can light the meths, shove the kettle on and get on with something until the meths almost burns out.

It's often better to let the meths burn out, then use a second match or lighter.
 
I too leave the simmering plates off during preheat. I use both meths and a gas torch at different times. With the gas torch I heat the burner base as close to the fuel inlet as I can. Using meths I fill the pans but they don't take 6 minutes to burn down... do you have the felt pads in the preheat pans?
The only other problem I have had came from dirty fuel which blocked the restrictor jets in the fuel line below the burners. I removed the burner heads and cleared the restrictor jets using a pricker wire from an old picnic stove.
 
I believe the newer burners are of a different, much heavier, design and take a lot longer to heat up than the older, lighter type that most of us are familiar with. With the new type you have to fill the cup completely with meths and ensure the wadding is in place to prevent the meths from boiling off.
 
Where do you get the wadding for the cups? I have an 030 model and none of the 3 cups have wadding and I would like to get some. If this wadding is home made then what material should I be using?

Like most seem to I leave the plates off whilst pre-heating, and use the flame to heat the kettle.
 
My older version works OK without the wadding in place. I can highly recommend Blakes mail order spares service though for anything you may need
 
Is there a new new version? I recall the brick shaped things that replaced the original types, 4-5 years ago or so, but I thought those had been withdrawn?

(From which you will gather that, after 30-odd years of using these stoves, I have a box full of burner bits - dead, almost dead and only kinda dead, and tend to cobble one together when needed!)
 
Well, with the cooker about to be worked on, and a Baby Blake that I would like to re-furb, I think I too might be starting on the road to a collection of boxes full of items in various states of repair.
 
My thoughts on the newer version are from the instruction book I bought about three years ago. I bought my stove second hand less instructions and the new book I bought mentions the newer burner design that needs a longer pre-heat.
 
The bronze ball from the base of the discharge pump of a Baby that has not been overhauled since the 1980's makes an ideal weight for a heaving line...

The bronze bolts that hold the thing together will need replacing at least once a century...

Blakes have never managed to develop an effective and durable seal for the pump shafts, but the assortment of spares that come with the standard kit provide an insight into how three generations of engineers have viewed the problem...put a micrometer on your pump shafts and if they have "necked" replace them...a Cunning Plan, for which I'm obliged to a former President of the CA, is to replace the shafts in 316 stainless steel, which wears down much more slowly.

If you are thinking of replacing the screw down valve at the outlet of the inlet pump you may care to note that I just have... and it's £79! I suppose that I should think of this as £1.50 a year over the life of the fitting...
 
A kindred spirit!

I bought a secondhand good stove with a tatty tank from Wyatts in West Mersea, £100, then a tatty stove with a good tank at Essex Boat Jumble, £50 and sold the scruffy stove and tank for £150. Who says Taylors' stoves are expensive!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top