Stove Instruction Sheet
Thank you for choosing an original, genuine CYLINDER STOVES proudly made in America. We think you will be well pleased with the equipment you have chosen. Listed below are some helpful hints and instructions that will help you get the most out of your stove.
UNPACKING – Take stove out of box, set on end so door is up. To open Door, loosen latch screw, turn wire handle up(towards top) and lift straight up (towards top) till bar clears hook. Do not use excessive force or you will bend wire handle. If latch is stuck, tap up gently on bottom of door to loosen. Sometimes during shipment door gets jammed shut. Unpacking order: Spark Arrestor, Stovepipe, Legs, Water heater, Grate, Warming Tray.
(You may not have all parts listed.)
SET UP – Screw legs into stove, then stand stove up on legs. The warming tray and water heater will fit on either side of stove. To attach warming tray, simply fit pins into pipe sleeves on side of stove. To attach water heater, hang the bent over lip of the hinge (at the top of the curve) on the clips welded to the side of the stove. Unscrew faucet from inside of water heater and install on outside. O ring goes on inside of water heater under the nut. Tighten nut by turning both the faucet and the nut. Tighten only hand tight. Before lighting fire, fill water heater. The nesting stovepipe is tapered and must be unstacked and reassembled. Stand it up with crimped end down, big end up. Remove smallest piece (marked #1) and put on stove (crimped end into hole.) Continue in this order for other pieces. Offset joints ½” to get best fit. Big end at top and small end at bottom may seem backwards, but this design keeps creosote inside the pipe. The spark arrestor fits into top section of pipe Approx. 1-2″ or until tight. Spark Arrestor is shipped flat. To use, form open end into a round shape so it will fit into stovepipe.
FIRST BURN, CURING YOUR STOVE – It is a good idea to set stove up outside for the first burn, because the paint and galvanized pipe will smoke and stink. If you want to do your first burn in your tent, allow a couple hours time before occupying so smoke will clear. It is best to leave water heater off while curing stove paint. Build an average size fire and load stove well. Set damper on door about 1/2 open and let burn. Stove should be cured after about 1 hour. Never allow stove to burn hot enough to turn red. This causes excessive stress and wear and will shorten stove life. Also over firing can cause warpage on the top or sides of stove. Never pour water, ice, snow, etc. on a hot stove this can warp it as well. Warping caused by misuse is not covered by warranty.
USING YOUR STOVE – When using stove for cooking and heating you can use almost anything that will burn. We have used everything from sagebrush and cow pies, to firewood and fuel oil. We also burn all of our camp garbage as well. Obviously some things will burn better than others. Green wood will not burn as good or put off as much heat as dry seasoned fire wood. (this is also true with cow pies!) Different types of firewood will give you different results. As a general rule, the heavier a piece of firewood, (must be DRY, not green) the more energy it will have. A piece of oak will burn longer than a piece of aspen. Try to avoid wood with a lot of pitch and sap in it, this creates creosote when burned and will cause a lot of residue buildup in your pipe, oven, and spark arrestor. It is okay to burn this type of wood, but be aware of the buildup problem. Creosote builds up most when stove is damped way down, like it will be overnight, and temperatures are not hot enough to burn everything before it goes up the pipe. By burning a good hot fire a couple times a day you will create enough heat to burn most of the creosote out (remember, DON‘T let stove turn red). Several things will effect how well your stove will work, such as – type of wood, size of wood, amount of wood, amount of ashes, (stove usually works better with a bed of ashes) amount of air, location of stovepipe where it exits tent in relation to prevailing winds, geographic location, altitude, even weather conditions such as wind, storms, change in pressure, etc. If you are having difficulty with your stove, experiment with different things until you find what works for your particular circumstances. Usually after a person has used their stove a few times they will become familiar with their stove enough to know how to make it work just right, like the amount of heat needed to cook different things, the best way to load stove at night, etc. For night time burning I like to load as big of pieces as possible, and then keep filling in empty spaces with smaller wood until stove is as full as possible (the more wood – the longer the fire will last). I shut damper on door till air openings are approx. 1/8″. I also shut stovepipe damper as needed.
BREAKDOWN & PACKING – If fire is out, but stove is still to hot to touch when you want to pack up, take stovepipe, tray, and water heater off with gloves, and carry stove outside tent. Open the door and dump ashes out. Stove will cool quickly once it is empty. Take stovepipe apart and stack in reverse order of assembly. Do not force pipe. (It is not fun trying to unstack a jammed pipe.) Clean inside of pipe by using smaller size pipe and scraping inside of larger pipe. If pipe is to dirty to stack, you may have to stack pieces 1-3-5 together, and 2-4 together. Take faucet off water heater and put it back on, on the inside. This way it won’t get damaged. Tip stove on it’s end and unscrew legs. Put tray in first, flat against the top. Next is the grate, it goes on the bottom, then water heater and stovepipe go in the middle. Put the spark arrestor where ever it will fit. Put legs inside stovepipe, be sure threads are up so that they don’t get damaged by dropping them. Shut door and secure latch. Tighten screw on latch hook to secure latch for transporting.
ADJUSTMENTS- Use your stove awhile, become familiar with it’s function and adjustments. If you find that when you shut the damper completely, the fire doesn’t go out or slow down as much as you would like, then you may want to seal the door. The heat from burning relieves various stress in the metal and welded parts and the door may not fit as tight as it should. To seal the door you will need some high temperature automotive silicone, some cleaning solvent, and some oil. Clean 1/2″ all the way around the inside edge of the door, apply a small bead of silicone around the door, equal to the amount of gap where needed. Put a film of oil on the stove doorframe, where the silicone will fit. When the silicone has formed a skin but is still soft, close door and shut latch. The oil prevents the silicone from bonding to the stove. When it dries it should seal all leaks.
WATER HEATER USE – Assemble the faucet and nut, faucet with large flat washer on the outside and nut inside. Instead of tightening the nut from the inside, hold the nut after it is on and tighten the faucet from the outside until it fits snug and is pointed down. Always keep water heater full. If you take some hot water out, put some cold in. This way you won’t run out of hot water. If water level is allowed to run low and you have a hot fire going, you run the risk of warping the back of the water heater. The thin stainless steel cannot take the high temperature like the stove can. Also, the excess heat will sometimes cause the lid to pop open part way if the water heater is only half full. To solve this, fill it up with water or put a weight on it to hold it down if it still occurs. If the water heater is on the side of the stove towards the wall of the tent, more heat will be directed in to the tent. If it is on the side towards the inside of the tent, the heat will be directed out. If you are not going to be using the water heater you may want to take it off so you don’t boil your water away and create a lot of steam and humidity.
STOVEPIPE TIPS – If your going to use a stovepipe damper, you may want to set up the stove in your tent so you can see where to put it. (The higher the better, the pipe will give off more heat below the damper.) Usually the best place to put it is about 3″ from the top of the second section of pipe. This way you can remove it without having to stick your arm clear down the pipe. To install damper, drill two 1/4″ holes in pipe, making sure they are exactly opposite each other (centered in pipe.) Compress spring on damper, twist and remove damper handle. Hold damper inside pipe and insert damper handle into hole and through damper and out other hole. If your tent ring is tight on the stovepipe, you may have a problem with the wind flapping your tent and pulling the pipe off of the stove. To fix this you can lift up the roof of your tent similar to what the wind would do and mark the pipe. Drill a hole through the pipe to accommodate a long bolt or nail, etc. Reinstall pipe and lift tent up enough to insert the pin through the pipe. Let tent rest on the pin and it wont be able to pull up on the pipe when the wind blows. This also creates a high point, and water will run around your pipe hole instead of into it. If using an elbow, it must be used at he bottom of the #1 pipe (crimped end) as this is the same standard size as the elbow. All joints in between bottom and top of pipe are odd sizes and will not fit. Top of pipe will be 1″ bigger than bottom and is standard size. If your stovepipe hole is in the sidewall or door, the best set-up is an adjustable elbow right at the stove, then go straight out at approx. 45 degree angle. This is quite sturdy and will give you the best draft. You may want to support pipe near the end to take leaning weight off the tent. Two sticks tied together to form a bipod works well, the pipe is not hot enough to cause a fire hazard that far out. The spark arrestor has holes small enough to catch all the sparks, yet has enough surface area so that it won’t plug up unless it is used for an extended period of time. If it plugs up, you can take it down and clean it if the stove is not being used. If the stove is going, you can use a long stick and bang the sides of the spark arrestor and knock off most buildup.