Primus Himalaya Omnifuel

[Jenna]

extract from (unfinished) editorial on it....

Background: the Primus Himalaya Omnifuel is the modern day stove marketed by camping stove gurus Primus of Sweden. The Omnifuel can trace its roots back some 50+ years to some of the very first alpine and expedition stoves.. it was a Primus Himalaya that New Zealander Edmund Hillary, and the Nepalese Sherpa Tenzing Norgay carried with them in May 1953 when they became the very first to reach the summit of Mount Everest on the Nepal-Tibet border.

The Himalaya Omnifuel has evolved over the years with little or no concessions to fashion or economy, its just as robust and reliable as ever. Designed around a compact folding design using quality material the Omnifuel offers the user peace of mind reliability, simplicity in use and ease maintenance.










That's all well and good but how does it perform, whats the glitches and can it justify that £120 price tag I hear you shout!.. well to cut a long story short I think any stove be it MSR, Optimus, Brunton or the Primus Himalaya Omnifuel is hard to justify at that sort of money for everyday camping especially when there are stoves out there that can do what all these do and cost you less... the question you need to ask though is do they do it as well?!

So lets have a look at what you get for your bucks.

First look at the Omnifuel and you can see the quality, the pot stand is nicely machined from stainless steel, the burner cup is well finished with a nice rolled edge and not just stamped out like on the cheaper clones, the burner is well designed and assembled with quality brass fittings, even the simple folded steel simmer valve handle is simplicity and function to ninth degree... this stove could have came from the Ikea design skool for I know!



The stove is made up from 3 groups:





The burner, the simmer valve and stove feet/pot stand.
The Omnifuel has two valves, the simmer valve is designed to fine tune the burn which it does quite well (something a lot of the class contenders and clones cant wave their sweaty paws in the air too!), the simmer valve also has a secondary filter built in to the brass fitting which is always a bonus when taking your fuel from a secondary source like a bike fuel tank. I did have two minds over the burner cup and feet assemblythough , its adequate but I could see that its possible the feet could bukkle the base of the burner cup even on a slight uneven surface.. not a major issue in its self but over a long period of time and constant use that could become an issue that concerns me.





The transfer tube and gas valve,
A substantial brass nut connects the transfer tube to the burner with my only gripe being that the service tool /spanner that comes with the stove is a little tight fit on this nut, not a problem but the last thing I would want is to damage the stove by having to force the spanner on it!.

The link tube itself is a good quality stainless braided hose with I suspect a PTFE Teflon liner, if your used to an Omnifuel clone then it will feel like its not designed to bend but as you will also know the cheap feed tubes on clones are a major problem and if a little loss in flexability is the trade off for reliability then I for one am happy to make that trade.

The Omnifuel has an industry standard screw thread gas can adapter fitted to the pump end of the link tube, it also has a main fuel valve here too which saves you having to use the simmer valve and frying both your food and fingers when the burner is at full throttle...



The pump and tank,
For anything to survive the ravages of time it need to be updated... just ask Take That! the Omnifuel is no different. Primus back in 2008 revamped the stove with the main change coming in the form of the new ErgoPump. Pre 2008 the pump was a chunky lump of machined aluminum and later units are predominantly plastic.

Being the old stick in the mud I am I have issues with plastic pumps (as do a lots of MSR, Optimus and other plastic pump stove owners) as they can in harsh environments fail quite easily, they also seem to have a high failure rate due to material fractures at low temps so rather and freeze my cute butt off I sourced an old spec made in good 'ol shiny aloominum one for this test. Pump body materials aside the the design is again good and simple, Primus have for long time championed the use of leather washers and again if you have owned a Coleman and left the petrol in it you will know that you always wrap your precious bits in leather... rubber is for tap washers and kinky catsuits... meoooow!



The pump assembly has a flexible tube 'fuel pick up system', so one way up the pump pressurizes and the other way up it depressurizes. Primus have even put idot words on the pump so cant go wrong... what nice chaps.

Operation is idiot proof, hey I'm blonde and even I can use it!

Liquid fuels: To run the stove first turn off both fuel taps, next pressurize the fuel bottle with around 20 pumps for a full fuel bottle raising to 40 when your fuel is level is low or your fuel has a lower viscosity rate (if your IQ is akin to Jessica Simpson that means thick... think about it!). Open the simmer valve a few turns and then open the main valve for 2 seconds to wet out the primer pad. Shut both valves and light up the primer pad. The liquid fuel will burn for a few seconds in which time it heats the burner and preheats the fuel jet... open simmer valve slightly and open main valve and your away.
Gas fuel:simply attach the gas cartridge and open the simmer valve, slowly open the main valve and light the gas at the burner.

Stopping the stove
Liquid fuels: The Omnifuel is a pressurized fuel stove so its important to release the fuel before taking the stove apart, the shutting down sequence not only empties the burner and fuel tube of fuel but cleverly depressurizes the fuel can too by just flipping over the pump and bottle. ...with a little practice this bimbo was able to get the burner to run dry and go out as the water boiled. Next leave the valves open a few more seconds and then shut them both, by shutting down this way the burner is now dry and can be dismantled with no leaked fuel in your pack or fuel vapor in the burner, as the meercat says ...simmmples!.
Gas fuel: simply shut down both fuel valves and let flame extinguish...

[Jenna]

pics now added

[Mabels Old Man]

Cracking write up Jenna

[Boris]

Nice Jenna Thanks for that

Is the last pic interchangeable jets for differing fuel use and if so are the easy to change?

[Jenna]

yes, there is a bit more to come (not finished writing it yet!) about the spares, tool kit servicing and the tech spec etc . should be done in the next day or so.

There is also a 'part deux'... covering the out come of what I opted to do with the omnifuel/trangia setup and a bit of editorial on the trangia (and mods) thats probably going to be finished over the weekend.

[stuart123456789]

I've got a primus stove that looks identical but without the gas option, can't fault it, It's certanly a lot more " user friendly" than my coleman titinium, recommend it to any one

[Rikinwales]

Good write up. They are a good stove, I have a couple myself and have one mounted in a Trangia 25 which I use mostly on winter trips (best winter stove going), a KAP Arctic clone almost. I find the Nova simmers better though.