The Camping Forum

[docjohn]

I have a Camping Gaz stove called Super Grillogaz that is quite a few years old. The side rings work absolutely fine but when I go to light the grill in the middle, the gas flares up in a "whoof" and then goes out. This happens over and over again. (In fact I can't remember when I last had the grill working, certainly more than ten years ago!) Because the grill burner is below the stove top-plate, I can't see exactly where the gas nozzles are.

Does my problem sound like clogged nozzles? If so, I'll drill out the rivets holding the top-plate onto the body, lift out the innards and carefully poke around with a fine wire. I could even remove the rubber hose pipe and try blowing through with air (eg from a bicycle pump or foot pump). I can easily replace the rivets with self-tappers.

But if my problem sounds symptomatic of something irreparable, then I'll get a new stove. What's your verdict guys?

[nutgone]

Sounds like you're getting gas through, so I would guess the jet is fine.

My brother recently had problems with the grill on his trailer tent, quite different to yours, but could be a similar cause.

After the jet there should be a larger pipe going to the grill burner, this may or may not have holes in it to let more air in. This is where my brother had the trouble. His had no holes in, so he couldn't see into it. When he removed the grill burner there was a bit of fluff (looked like a small feather apparently) in this pipe.
Once removed the grill functioned perfectly.

It sounds to me like you know what you're doing, otherwise I would be advising you to take it to a shop.

These things really are very simple, & anyone with the most basic engineering know-how should have no problem in servicing it themselves.

Just try your best not to disturb any of the higher pressure connections (ie. jets, control valves, compression fittings etc) unless you really have to.
& if you really do have to, then make sure they are gas-tight when it's all back together, checking for leaks as you go, if it's not possible to check everywhere once it's all back together. (good old soapy water, strong mixture of washing-up liquid usually does the trick, with a small paint brush to apply)

Also, jets shouldn't really be poked with wire (although I've done it myself in the past).
If you can't get use of an air-line, a bicycle pump or foot pump (with adaptor for inflatables) should do. I know you can buy these "air-line in a can" thingys, but they are eye-wateringly expensive, especially as they're just a can of compressed air!

Good luck with it anyway. Let us know how you get on.

[docjohn]

Well, I've learned something new today!!

I'd already blown taken off the adapter from the flexible pipe and blown through with air from a car dashboard-driven air pump. Today (Saturday) I decided to dismantle the cooker and on looking closely, fiddling around, I discovered that the bottom plate could come off. Inside, all the pipework was accessible, and what's more, there were fold-out legs! In all my 15-20 years of owning the thing, I never once knew that the stove could be other that something you lay flat on the grass. (I expect I got it secondhand, I just can't remember, and there never was a owners' manual for me to see). Yes, I have seen other campers with cookers on legs but I assumed that they were using more up-to-date and fancier cookers than my ancient old thing.

I had assumed that because the top plate had a slotted area between the two burners, right in front of the grill knob, that this was indeed the grill with flames going upwards, just like the burners. In fact, the cooker came with a separate little grille on legs that straddled just the slatted area, which is what I would have used to support the toast, for example. I now saw that in fact the grill has flames going downwards because there, staring at me from the cooker bottom this morning, was a grill double burner.

So, no need to drill out the rivets on the top plate. I took off the burner pipes (they unscrewed) and unscrewed the jets (they're just behind the control knobs). I cleaned everything up, reassembled and checked again for air flow with the pump. I stood the cooker on its legs, hooked up the gas cylinder and lit the grill underneath, this time. Sadly, still no joy!

I noted that the jets for the burners have 78 stamped on them, ie, diameter of 0.78mm whilst the one for the grill has 57 stamped on it, a smaller 0.57mm. Perhaps the wrong jet was put on at the factory? The next thing to do is to replace the grill jet by a burner jet and try again. No time for that now, I'll do that next week, maybe.

All this palaver just to get a piece of toast during camping.........