Optimus svea stove manual

When canisters become obsolete the stoves become obsolete too, unless one is willing to fabricate adapters, which of course add weight and complexity. Liquid gas stoves, like the Svea , run on White Gas and similar fuels that are readily available and much cheaper than canister fuels. In the picture above, I have replaced the chain that permanently secured the control key to the stove. I have found it easer to keep the key separate, but at the same time increases the danger of losing the key in the field.

The exception is when I go for an all day long hike in colder weather, where I bring it with the stove to make a cup of soup or coffee if I get the urge. For backpacking trips it is too small about 12 ounces to cook a meal and inconvenient to use as a drinking cup.

Same volume as the Svea, easier to drink out of, and it is a little lighter. I have a feeling my younger readers have never heard of a Sierra Cup. It was really a lightweight and innovative design. But it was too shallow and wide easy to tip over , The handle was more for clipping onto a belt than holding to drink, and cheap knock-offs would burn your lips. The Rocky Cup improved on these deficiencies. Probably mostly popularized by the famous backpacking author Colin Fletcher.

In those days we thought it was safe to drink directly from mountain streams, so keeping the cup on a belt made that easier to do. The Rocky Cup and Sierra Cup both hold 8 ounces. The Svea was first produced in In Optimus bought the company and soon replaced the with the R, which had a self-cleaning needle included in the design.

You can tell the difference because the original control shaft points down at approximately a 45 degree angle, also the key has a cutout on the end to loosen the packing nut on the housing. People who have used both models say the older ones work better, but I have never used the R series.

On my stoves, cleaning the jet requires the use of the pricker. To clean the Svea R, the flame adjusting key is turned all the way counter-clockwise, to push the cleaning needle into the jet. Today the Svea R is still sold by Optimus. They are no longer produced in Sweden and some users report they are not as well made as the original Swedish made units. Seems those who buy the newer models, and have never used the old Swedish made units, are happy with them.

Keep in mind this parts kit will not work with an original Svea stove. A few years ago, on the 40th anniversary of my first Svea , I disassembled both stoves to clean and polish them. No problems found except one of the wicks was deteriorating. I think that was due to being stored without fuel in the tank.

Now I store both stoves with a full tank of gas about 4 ounces. Every few years I replace the fuel tank cap gasket. Below are some pictures of the cap and gaskets. Once the stove burner is lit, the heat from the burner and connected fuel stem keeps the tank warm, which pressurizes the tank to continuously feed fuel to the burner.

The Svea instructions say to prime the stove with the windscreen in place. I find this difficult because you really need to use a wooden match to get to the priming bowl. When there is a breeze, or worse, it is truly windy, it is difficult to keep a match lit. Plus I prefer to use a BIC lighter to prime the stove.

The priming bowl needs to be filled with fuel and then lit to warm the fuel tank. You can use the gas in the tank, a flammable fuel in a separate contain such as alcohol , a solid fuel paste or something else.

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Please add " campsaver. Where do I go on line to find an operators manual for the old Svea ? Here are the four images of the Optimus C Hiker stove manual as lower-res jpgs. The Swedish-made Svea R is a great stove. The spindle key that comes with the vintage stoves has several cut-outs in the key. The purpose of the cut-outs is to lighten the spindle key, to allow the key to dissipate heat and to serve as useful tools for the stove in the field.

Here is a quick explanation of the functions of the tool cutouts in the spindle key. Svea R — Adjust spindle nut and tighten graphite packing. The spindle key that was bundled with Svea R stoves also had cutouts for this earlier version, the Svea The keys were used interchangeably during the years that both types of stoves were co-produced.

Svea R stove on right. Svea no R on the left. The spindle nut is smaller on the Svea , and the opening in the photo below is used to tighten or loosen the spindle nut. Usually used to tighten the nut as the graphite packing in the spindle wears with use. This part of the tool is for the spindle nut on the Svea no R.