Ufesa Butane gas heater - Cooking, Garden & Home & Pets

Hi Chunkeyman/Colin

I am a qualified plumber/gas engineer in the UK, are you talking about the ignition flame? If so get a little piece of gas hose and just blow around the jets, it may be blocked with a bit of dust that is causing incomplete combustion of the gas which gives you the yellow flame. As it will only be a 3.5kw fire there will be very little CO but best to clear it to be on the safe side.

Regards

Colin B

Colin B's got it right.

As he says, the yellow flame indicates incomplete burning. If using a manual blow doesn't do the job, see if you can remove the jet and give it a good clean and polish (but make sure you don't abrade the hole itself - just a gentle polish to remove carbon or other dust particles. If you can't get at the jet, bung the heater in your car and use an airline at a petrol station.

Well done Colin B and of course Jim....I knew I could rely on someone having the knowledge required.

I will certainly try all suggestions starting with Colin B's as that seems the easiest solution then progress to the more difficult solutions if required!

Thanks both of you

regards

Colin

No problem, there's no reason why suggested action shouldn't work. Colin B

Follow up..... thought about what you both said then had a brilliant idea - a bike pump! Worked a treat and no yellow flame!

Thanks again

Colin

Thanks for some useful information guys. We have a somewhat older butane gas fire which is operating differently this winter than previously. Whenever we've been across previously and used the fire it has "flared up" first time or two we've used it, which we've always assumed was accumulated dust from not being used for many months. But this time, it is doing the same thing every time we use it. We've also never had any issues (so far as I can recall) with smell. But this year the fire is noticeably smelly - emitting gassy fumes.

I've taken the front off today and cleaned up the nozzle which the pilot light comes from, using the bike pump trick Colin refers to. Having done so I notice that the fire appears to work on some sort of material behind diagonal wires being ignited/heated by the pilot light. Is it worth hovering this material to eliminate dust? And might this help with the fumes?

We bought a new heater just before Christmas so I guess it wouldn't be a complete disaster if the expert opinion is to take the fire to the tip, but I'm hoping there's a solution!

Thanks in advance for any tips.

David

It's not unusual for these heaters to flare up in the first few minutes of use, but there certainly shouldn't be a smell once accumulated dust has burnt off.

I assume the cleaning worked and that you now have an all blue flame which stays steady (?).

If it were me, I'd move it somewhere sheltered outside and leave it burning for a while to see if a prolonged burn will clear it up. Before you light it outside, hold down the button to start the gas flow - without clicking the igniter - and keep it held down for say 20 seconds. That should hopefully purge any air in the system. Leave it a few minutes for the gas to disperse and then light it.

No problem with taking a vac to it.