Camping Stove Maintenance: Longer Life And Better Performance.

9 Camping Stove Maintenance Tips.

These camping stove maintenance ideas will help make your camp stove last longer, perform better and be more efficient.

What would happen if you never changed or added oil to your new car?

At first it would be fine, but in relatively quick fashion the performance would suffer and eventually the engine would die. If you compare this to someone with the same car that does routine care, there would be a huge difference. The well-maintained car will run for hundreds of thousands of miles or more. The same idea applies to camping stove maintenance. Save yourself some time and money with these quick ideas...

1. Avoid stove clogs by using white gas instead of dirty burning fuels like unleaded gasoline if you have a choice. Gasoline is notorious for burning dirty and it will clog your burner and generator more quickly which can require replacement. Also store your stove in a sealable plastic bin or tie a dry plastic bag around the fuel lines, etc. to keep dust and bugs from clogging the fuel lines.

2. Don't store fuel for long periods of time in your stove. Standing fuel will gum up the fuel pick-up and coat other parts it comes in contact with, with varnish. This can eventually restrict fuel delivery so much that the stove won't work properly if at all. Instead simply empty the fuel from your stove's fuel tank back into the original fuel tin.

3. Oil the pump cup on the stove's plunger with lightweight machine oil every 6 months, or more often if needed. The oil helps to seal the pump against the inside of the compression tube so that it can be pressurized to deliver fuel to the burner. If the pump doesn't work the stove won't light.

4. Clean up food spills as soon as possible. Besides attracting unwanted wildlife, spills that fall near the manifolds or other working parts can quickly clog your stove.

5. Keep fuel clean by pouring it through a screened funnel or if need be, a coffee filter. This simple camping stove care idea will prevent contaminants from clogging the fuel tubes, generator and burner manifolds(s) saving you the trouble of having to tear it apart later.

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6. Clean your stove with warm water and mild soap. Once you've washed your stove, rinse it thoroughly and turn it upside down to let the water drain out. After it has drip-dried for a couple of minutes, thoroughly dry the entire stove. Be careful to get all the water out of the burner manifold, generator and fuel tubing if it somehow found its way inside. Otherwise standing water might cause rust which can disrupt the flow of gas and create problems later.

7. As with most camping gear and hiking equipment, it's a good idea to do thorough end-of-season cleaning and camping stove maintenance to prepare it for storage. That way any food that may have fallen onto your camping stove won't have all winter to sit around and corrode it.

8. Camping stove maintenance can help to increase your stove's performance if it seems to be going down hill. If the flame seems weak, or it's taking longer and longer to cook your food it might just need a good cleaning.

Fuel lines, jets and needle valves collect deposits that eventually slow or clog your stove. You can use a cleaning cable, or sometimes a pipe cleaner, to clean the fuel lines.

9. Bring a camping stove maintenance and repair kit with you in case you need it. Sometimes a simple fix like cleaning a manifold or replacing an o-ring can save a trip.

Also have a look at the camping stoves guide.