Coleman Exponent 550B Multifuel stove

[Canadian Guy]

theres a notch on the kero nut IIRC i'll check quick...

Yeah,if you look at the brass nut that secures the generator to the valve assembly, the coleman fuel one is smooth and the kerosene one has a notch at it's mid point all the way around.

As far as a tool, mine came with a little wrench, but if yours is missing any open wrench like a small crescent wrench will do. just be very careful because the nut is made of brass and is therefore softer. Take care to not tear it up with an ill fitting wrench and take care to tighten it snug, but not strip it.

I never noticed the notch in the generator nut, thanks for the tip!

[Woods Walker]

Those woods look much like mine. Is that Beech and Hemlock in the background?

It could be Hemlock and Beach, they certainly are in the area. The forest where I live is fairly unique in Canada as it is referred to as "Carolinian forest" so it is unlike almost all the forest of Ontario (and Canada) especially when you head further north so there are some trees you would see more in Eastern United States. Unfortunately I didn't really take stock of what was around me that day when I made the video.

Beech holds on to their leaves well into winter. In fact I think there is a leaf behind the stove when still inside the metal box. Yea that forest looks much like the eastern USA. You coming down to the Dacks in a few weeks?

[Canadian Guy]

Beech holds on to their leaves well into winter. In fact I think there is a leaf behind the stove when still inside the metal box. Yea that forest looks much like the eastern USA. You coming down to the Dacks in a few weeks?

That does look like it could be a beech tree leaf. Hope to head on down, everything looks like a go and apparently there is snow there

[Flying Lead]

Got my Coleman feather 400. Looked great, had a little fuel left in it and pumped right up. Took it outside and lit it. Burned a few seconds and the jet started stopping up. Moved the lever to clean and bingo! The fitting started leaking, spraying fuel and setting the whole world on fire. The deck and stove were now rolling, but not the burner. Moved the stove out of the fire and cut it off and blew the fire out. I don't mind buying something that doesn't work quite right but shit people, tell somebody it needs a little TLC. After a quick trip to the shop and cleaning the generator and tightening the fitings it worked great. Nice little stove. Still thinking about his feedback.

[Canadian Guy]

Flying Lead- Good to hear you got the stove going, the nice thing with Coleman stoves is that you can take them apart and tinker with them to get them going. I've got one of the Coleman feather 400's as well, nice little stove.

[PackLemming]

I use an MSR Whisperlite however I was in the market for the Coleman as it boiled down to Fuel Options, obviously MSR won but this Stove you have is a very nice set, when full it is much more stable than the MSR multifuel.

[Orphancow]

are any of you familiar with the coleman 533 dual fuel stove? Seems like a great deal will run on unleaded gas and coleman fuel which i would assume is the same fuel msr has as well.

[Woods Walker]

are any of you familiar with the coleman 533 dual fuel stove? Seems like a great deal will run on unleaded gas and coleman fuel which i would assume is the same fuel msr has as well.

There is a coleman 533 in my photo. It works just fine. Near as I can tell Coleman fuel = MSR fuel as both are White gas.

[111t]

The 533 is the more "common man" type stove when compared to the 550b. The 550b is slightly more compact. I always chuckle at the dual fuel classification because other makers consider coleman fuel an gasoline to be the same class of fuel. You want to stick with the cleanest fuel for the best performance so in this case that would be coleman fuel/msr superfuel/crown camp fuel/ozark trail stove fuel. In general when a company says "multi-fuel" it means the stove burns gasoline and kerosene type fuels. The 'dual fuel' and 'multi fuel' designations can be confusing.

The kerosene capability is why there is a NSN for this stove as the ubiquitous military jp-8 fuel is basically kerosene. Logistically it's much better for the vehicles and stoves to be burning one type of fuel.

[Orphancow]

The 533 is the more "common man" type stove when compared to the 550b. The 550b is slightly more compact. I always chuckle at the dual fuel classification because other makers consider coleman fuel an gasoline to be the same class of fuel. You want to stick with the cleanest fuel for the best performance so in this case that would be coleman fuel/msr superfuel/crown camp fuel/ozark trail stove fuel. In general when a company says "multi-fuel" it means the stove burns gasoline and kerosene type fuels. The 'dual fuel' and 'multi fuel' designations can be confusing.

The kerosene capability is why there is a NSN for this stove as the ubiquitous military jp-8 fuel is basically kerosene. Logistically it's much better for the vehicles and stoves to be burning one type of fuel.

Gotcha I was just curious I was just on a small impulse buy trip at walmart the other day and I almost picked up the 533, which I still might. only 40 bucks.

[ForgeCorvus]

Me again

Right, I'm currently running the paraffin generator and getting some reasonable boil times.
However, I have a couple of different options for that fuel (Optimus 1S for a start), so I'd like to set it up to burn petrol........ Is there an easy way of draining the tank ?

[ForgeCorvus]

I'm back, this time with pics

Right, I found that you can drain the tank by removing the pump and pouring out through that hole.
I then rinsed it out with petrol and filled it using fresh petrol.

My boil-times aren't much better then with paraffin (Kerosine ), I have got it setup with the Coleman fuel/Gas generator. What could be wrong?

Also, I'm getting a lot of yellow flame and sooting of my pots. See Pics


Priming


After ten minutes


After just boiling a pint of water

Is this normal ?

I'm firing it up according to the instructions on the tank

Besides oiling the pump, what other maintenance should I be doing

[TacAir]

I'm back, this time with pics

Right, I found that you can drain the tank by removing the pump and pouring out through that hole.
I then rinsed it out with petrol and filled it using fresh petrol.

My boil-times aren't much better then with paraffin (Kerosine ), I have got it setup with the Coleman fuel/Gas generator. What could be wrong?

Also, I'm getting a lot of yellow flame and sooting of my pots. See Pics


Priming


After ten minutes


After just boiling a pint of water

Is this normal ?

I'm firing it up according to the instructions on the tank

Besides oiling the pump, what other maintenance should I be doing

This Coleman stove isn't what you have, but is setup about the the same.
The red fuel control (feed control seen in the photo with the red knob) may be open too 'wide' that is to say, with the massive flare, you are allowing too much petrol to flow in the preheat cycle. Don't put your pot on the stove until you have blue flame..

After allowing the generator to heat, have you pumped up the tank a second time? Low pressure = low output.

A bit of oil on the pump is fine. If the generator gets fouled, indicated by yellow, sooty flames, you may need to clean it
Step by step directions for generator cleaning**here**


Each stove has it's own personality, based on amount to use, i suppose.


One of my stoves is a bit older

But with a bit of care, works just fine.

The directions are fine, but a bit of tinkering to fine the sweet spot is not unusual.


(Fake edit - Classic Camp Stoves is a good site for information on all things Coleman - spritburner.com)

[majorhavoc]

Now that you've got it set up to run on petrol, I'm assuming your Exponent runs pretty much like my old Coleman Peak1 did. The priming stage is always a little tricky because it's easy to flood the burner plate with too much liquid fuel and you get those frightening flare ups. Try pumping the tank a little less than the instructions call for, and go really easy when you open the valve to charge the burner for the priming burn. Close it completely off as soon as you see fuel coming out of the aerator ports. Then light it up. Just as the priming burn is dying down, slowly open up the fuel valve again.

Every stove seems to have its own personality (which will also change over time as the generator and other parts get partially clogged with impurities). You need to experiment with the priming procedure to figure out which works best for your stove.

FYI: Sooting of your pots is practically unavoidable. If it makes you feel better they're supposedly more thermo-dynamically efficient once they get good and black.

[ForgeCorvus]

Tac, Yes I'm doing the second pumping. I've tried from 25 to 50 strokes to prime, then 15 to 30 after lighting (in 5 stroke increments). The fuel control goes from 'Off' to 'Full' and then has to be turned further to turn the flame down.

Havoc, It is a Peak 1, are you saying I should open the fuel briefly then shut it off again. Light up, leave to burn and heat the generator then open the fuel a second time

So, clean the generator and then play with it to see what it likes ?

At least I know that the fuel control mount isn't loose in its hole any more

Also I'm assuming that you should pack or transport the stove after relieving the pressure (which I do only when the stove is cool to the touch)

[majorhavoc]

Havoc, It is a Peak 1, are you saying I should open the fuel briefly then shut it off again. Light up, leave to burn and heat the generator then open the fuel a second time

Yes, this. Pump, open fuel valve and prime with a small amount of fuel, shut off fuel, light, and only reopen the fuel valve when the prime has almost gone out. Run it on low until the generator gets good and hot and then you'll get a good clean burn. Otherwise, if you leave the fuel valve open while you're burning the prime, the pressurized tank is just dumping more and more liquid fuel onto the burner plate. Those yellow flames towering 18 inches above your stove do nothing except scare the crap out of your mates.

PS: my Peak1 was an older model than yours. Not dual fuel, more complicated controls and heavier. Same "lunar landing module" design however. I've long since replaced it with an MSR Whisperlite, which is nice and light. But in the time it takes me to set up the MSR, I'd be washing up from the meal I could cook with the Peak1. That old Coleman was also the best simmering stove I ever had.

ETA: unless you're using contaminated fuel, you shouldn't need to clean out the generator for a long time. One maintenance trick I learned with the Peak1: If you're having trouble pressurizing the tank and you don't have any lubricating oil to squirt in that little hole on the pump unit, remove entire pump assembly (mine was held in place with a little metal wire bail shaped like a "C") and lubricate the plunger with whatever you have handy: vasoline, sunscreen, cooking oil, I used a little motor oil off my car's dipstick once. (Peanut gallery: I said my car's dipstick, now get your minds out of the gutter)! Anything will work. Erm, even the "oil" off your "dipstick").

[OpelBlitz]

I always wanted the Exponent stove, back when I was using a Brunton tabletop which was far too large for anything besides glamping. I've since phased it out for the 533 though, and it's nice (But not as nice as this model). My biggest gripe is my inability to get the darn thing to simmer. Flame control's terrible on mine -- seems to be an all-or-nothing ordeal. Still though, it runs nicely if I'm just boiling water.