blocked stove - how to fix?

[TC Cocky]

G'day,

have had trouble getting any gas through our stove top in our aussie swag. Finally got around to pulling things apart and found it all gummed up with black sludge, almost like mud really. What causes this? and has anyone had the same thing happen to them? Have had a go at clenaing it out with air and water but can still only get flow through to the first burner. The grill tries but the second burner's a no go. Whats the best way to fix this? Soapy water or blow air through it? Or am i up for a new cooktop?

We don't tend to use the gas much, we prefer to cook over coals but its a pain in the backside when the options there but not working.

Cheers in advance.

[Kit_e_kat9]

Hi,

I'd try soaking them in a mix of boiling water, vinegar and bi-carb soda ... maybe even add some borax.  Go 50/50 on the vinegar and water ... teaspoon each borax bicarb.  See how that goes.  Vinegar is a great all round green cleaner and the bicarb will fizz things along, borax is great for removing grease off bbq's.

Kit_e

P.S.  We always clean the stove gas tops and anything else that comes off easily each trip.  It MAY be cooking build up?

[TC Cocky]

Thanks kitekat,

should of been clearer, the burners themselves are fine, but the sludge seems to all through the lines. I wonder if a mate who borrowed it didn't purge the lines when he was finished and its a combination of condensed gas and dust?  It might be related to cooking but we don't tend to use it much, maybe twice or three times a year.

But might try the bicarb and vinegar before the next trip. Its all due for a bit of a clean up.

Ta

[buildermidwife]

The cooktop in our jayco hawk would not work a few months ago .
We discovered the loop of pipe on top of the gas bottle was blocked .
I straightened the loop out and pushed wire through it and
what looked like black dirt came out . No idea how it got there .
In the months leading up to this we had been using the gas bottle on our home barbecue
and the pipe on the camper was left open but pointing down .
Always leave the bottle connected now
Cheers Paul .

[Jon]

Black slimey sludge can be residue from bad gas refills. If this is the case, some kero should see it gone.
Probably need to change the jets too.

[Tim - Stratford]

TC - we had a similar problem in our old Kimberley Kamper. I presumed it was bad gas but could have been due to the plumbing setup. The regulator was below the top of the gas cylinder and joined by flexible gas hose. I had the regulator changed over and got a pig tail gas line put in between the cylinder and regulator - this solved the problem. Some chatter on different forums suggested liquid gas was settling in the regulator leaving a sludge - others suggested the flexible hose was deteriorating - either way it was fixed with the pigtail.

As for unblocking the lines I turned all valves on and used compressed air - worked ok.


Tim.

[HEM19X]

Black slimey sludge can be residue from bad gas refills. If this is the case, some kero should see it gone.
Probably need to change the jets too.

Bad gas in not a rare thing, almost all refills will have crap in them. Just try putting you hand over the outlet, turn the gas on for a few seconds & see what  is on you hand...

Hem

[Wandering Tassie]

If it is in the jets try soaking them in metho.

Trevor

[TC Cocky]

Cheers everyone,

will go and have a 'play' and give some of those things a go.

[MarkGU]

gday all. 

i had trouble once with our 3 burner gas stove's jets blocking up. the thing i found to get them really clean was soak all the jets and brass fittings in Acetone ( nail polish remover) . it bought them up like new and no more dramas with the jets 

[hgmonaro]

this was a known problem a few years ago in the caravanning sites.  One (BOC/CNC/???) of the gas companies put out a flyer about it (probably googelable).  From memory it wa sdeemed a reaction between the gas and the flexible hoses.  I replaced my regulator a couple of times before I changed to brass lines instead of the flexible hoses.  So far so good!