I have 2 Coleman 508 stoves (Sportster II's).

These were the style of stoves having 2 valves. One valve is for the gas supply (on/off). the other valve is to adjust the flame and for cleaning. They were made in 1988 and 1989.

I bought new generators through OldTownYucca. They are original Coleman parts ( http://www.oldtownyucca.com/coleman/)

I replaced the generator on the 1989 stove. After replacement, I found I could not throttle the flame down for a very low simmer. Before the replacement, the stove was temperamental but controllable. The stove burns hot and clean but will not throttle down.

Anyone have a clue about what might be going on?

In the 2 photos, the 1989 stove (new generator) is on left and 1988 stove on right. Both have been throttled down to the lowest flame.

my best guess is that the tiny hook that connects the controling wire inside the generator is not attached to the lever..??..

WCD
my thoughts also. I checked that.

The controlling wire does pass in and out of the orifice when I work the lever. Also the flame will pick up when I move the lever to High. It will not get any lower than that shown in the picture.

I also tried exchanging the orifice on the new generator with that from the old. That had no effect

New to the site. nice to meet you all. try this guy out for stove repair.

John LeBlanc
philmontjohn@yahoo.com
http://www.lns.cornell.edu/~seb/philmont-coleman.html

he helped me out. hope he can help you.

Maybe the old generator is bad. I was told from Coleman that the stoves are made to boil water fast not to really simmer.

Rapid Runner
Welcome aboard
Thank you for the suggestion (and made on your first post too?)

John LeBlanc! There's a blast from the past!! Ol' Blue Canoe. I haven't heard of/from him in years.

Thanks.

I have been browsing for ideas for my next entry in May 2009. Soaking up useful information on gear and tactics, happened upon the thread and
got post happy.

That generator looks pretty simple i am sure you could Mod it to "throttle it down" fairly easy to make the amount of gas flowing to the burner to be less than normal.

Forgive me if I ask questions that might seem like the answer would be understood by all without the question being asked.

Do you have a fuel valve and a generator valve?

Do you have the fuel valve wide open and the generator valve turned down all the way?

Have you tried adjusting your fuel valve with your generator valve to get a "simmer"?

Full flame is not a problem on either stove. The simmer setting is. I use a "BakePacker" for omelets, breads, biscuits, and chocolate cake. With that cooking method I need the "simmer flame" to maintain a very low boil for 20-30 minutes.

For the above pictures, both stoves were fully heated up. Both stoves had the gas valve on full. Both stoves were adjusted to their lowest flame and the pictures were taken.

When turned to high both stoves will roar and the flames look the same (nice clean blue and uniform)

Can I turn down the main on/off valve? Yes. I tried that, but the setting is very "iffy" and it looks like the stove will die.

Modification of the generator? Maybe. I have another generator and I might try that this weekend.

I usually have to fiddle with the valves to get it so it does not have a pulse flame but i can usually get it to go pretty low

Any luck on the generator mod?

Over all, the Coleman stove system is full proof system that it uses pin(?) mechanism to open and close valve at the flame control end. Only problem with that is when you have 1 mm short of closing, your opening is just a bit too wide that your flame is too high to simmer. One thing you can do, I think is to tighten the nut at on/off end. I know it is a brass so you really have to be careful when tightening but by tightening the nut, you are actually shortening the inner wire, inside the generator, in turn closing the valve tighter when in simmer mode. As a result, you should be able to achieve the simmer flame.

Try tightening the nut little at a time and compare the flame sizes at simmer. Let us know how that works.