My flame is NO LONGER Coleman Green

[Toytaco2]

Hello All,

I have a Coleman Speedmaster 500 stove that I picked up a year or so ago. I'm don't think it was ever used over a couple of times before I got it. However, I don't think its ever burned properly because I got to looking at a few of these stoves on one of the Coleman enthusiast's web sites and all of those stoves show a very dark blue flame. My other Coleman stoves have this same dark blue flame. The 500, though, has a green flame and the flame tips when burning full out are an orange-yellow color. I've taken the stove completely apart and all parts look to be in pristine condition. Even the notorious check valve came out easily with a large screw driver. I'm getting ready to reassemble it, but thought I'd ask my fellow Coleman lover's - What would you suggest I do to get the burner going properly. I gotta have that hot dark blue burn to be happy. You know how it is, I can't leave it alone till I get it right.

Here's a before and after pic, but, of course its torn all apart again now.

Thanks,

[doug hodder]

So it's nice and clean through out, tank, gennie, valve? When you light it, are you using the light and burn lever correctly? Did you try putting more pressure to it when it was running? Doug

[Ratkity]

My flames are only green with envy

Hugs,
Ratkity

[Toytaco2]

Doug, yes to all your questions. I have a copy of the the original instructions for lighting the stove and I'm pretty sure I've done everything correctly. I pumped up the pressure after everything was going good and the intensity of the flame did increase, it just never settled down to that classic blue flame. The burn is not terrible, but its just not quite like I know it should be. I used a flexible shaft flash light to peer down in the tank and it looks a lot better than I do considering were both 60 years old. I'm going to give it the BB and solvent treatment again tomorrow for good measure before I reassemble it all. I don't think it will accomplish much, but, I might as well do it since its already torn down.

The generator looks good and from what I've read, they're pretty bullet-proof anyway. I cleaned and polished it up inside and out. The inner shaft had a few burrs on it up near the valve wheel end and I cleaned them up with automotive sand paper. I'm not sure what else to do at this point.

Mike

[eamarquardt]

Copper will give a flame a green color. If the tank is brass (copper and zinc) there might be some corrosion in there that has tainted the fuel resulting in a green flame. Maybe a gentle acid wash would clear it up.

Cheers,

Gus

[doug hodder]

Ok...so what I do at this point....get it running...without the grate on top. Once it's going, crank the valve full tilt under good pressure...and then tap the gennie lightly with a wrench and see if it changes any. Sometimes it will fluctuate a bunch...it might shoot some sparks from crud coming out....If it does that and does fluctuate when you tap it...there's some crud in it, the generator can dump some scale once you get them running when it goes through a heat cycle. You got the burner plates all stacked correctly too? There's not too much that can go wrong on them, so it may just take some fiddling with it to determine what's up. Manifold is nice and clean also? I know that doesn't sound like much help....but I always end up clowning around with stuff to make it finally run in the end. Sometimes a couple of good heat cycles will make them "tame" down. None of this is "certified" as correct Coleman maintenance...but it's just what I do. Doug

[Wolffarmer]

Wow, nice looking 500. I have a 500 that has been used and abused. The grate is a bit bent and not all that level. Last time I adjusted it I just used the cast iron frying pan to pound down a high spot.



Doesn't rock nearly as much now that I got it's attention

Randy

[Joamon]

Randy thats funny.
Doug, I did the same thing with one of my lanterns. I kept findling with it and after a couple of cycles it now is one of my best lighters.
I saw a 500 this weekend. What should one of those go for?

Keith

[Wolffarmer]

i Would say a good 500 $30 a 500A $25

Randy

[Toytaco2]

OK, I disassembled everything, cleaned it up all over again and put it all back together today. I did manage to get some extra crud out of the tank which surprised me. For those who suspect the gennie, here's a couple of pics to show its condition.





Here's a pic of the burn on high. I let it burn for a good 30 minutes on high and pumped up the pressure several times. Doug, I even rapped on the gennie during the burn as you suggested with no changes noticed.



It does seem to produce a good hot burn, however, since below is the result of a pint of water in just two minutes on high:



What about that so called high temp paint. I painted the cast iron burner with it. Could that be causing some of the orange color in the flame? I guess I can live with this, but, it still doesn't seem right to me.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

Mike

[Wolffarmer]

Cool, I see you got one with the wind shields. Those are sure needed if you do any cooking outside with it. Unless you like to heat up the great outdoors more than needed.

Randy

[campmaster-k]

OK, I disassembled everything, cleaned it up all over again and put it all back together today. I did manage to get some extra crud out of the tank which surprised me. For those who suspect the gennie, here's a couple of pics to show its condition.





Here's a pic of the burn on high. I let it burn for a good 30 minutes on high and pumped up the pressure several times. Doug, I even rapped on the gennie during the burn as you suggested with no changes noticed.



It does seem to produce a good hot burn, however, since below is the result of a pint of water in just two minutes on high:



What about that so called high temp paint. I painted the cast iron burner with it. Could that be causing some of the orange color in the flame? I guess I can live with this, but, it still doesn't seem right to me.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

Mike

The high temp does cause the flames to burn in funny colors. I have seen this on my stuff.

[doug hodder]

So crack open the aux burner on that suitcase stove and check the colors then. It may be that you're running it a bit too "full tilt". I've used the Rustoleum VHT paints and not had them run orange. Did you also take the burner plates apart and hit them with a stainless brush? No paint on them. My AGM 57 will burp occasionally and over fuel on the burn and turn kinda orange but it settles down. Once restored...in my opinion, it seems that each item has it's own "sweet spot" while running since they have been used sometimes a lot and the parts are worn or maybe with a slight bend in it. A generator with a slight bend to it will fluctuate when cranking the valve etc... As long as it's not sooting up the bottom of your pans...I'd run them for a while. Doug

[Toytaco2]

OK, I know some you will have a different experience than me, but here goes. I used a wire brush on my Dremel tool to remove all the Hi Temp (Rustoleum) paint from the burner assembly on my Coleman 500 stove... and no more green with orange flames. Here a before pic followed by today's photo after the removal. There's still some Hi Temp paint left on the grate, but, I'll be cleaning that off too. I'm not saying I'll never use it again on stove rebuilds, but, I'll avoid it on the burners if at all possible.

[doug hodder]

So did you have paint on the stack of plates? I've never had one run that orange or green with just paint on the exterior. You don't want any paint at all on the stack of burner plates. Glad to see that you're happy with the burn now. Doug