Mr. Heater Cooker Won't Light

[drewbop]

I have a Mr. Heater Cooker (the one that you can lay on its side and convert it to a little stove). Anyways, last year it stopped lighting up for me so I bought a new one. I'm debating throwing it out, but have decided to ask all the experts here and see if there is an easy fix?

Went you hold down the primer button she starts to light up, but never gets orange and never stays lit. Is there a solution at all?

[Walleye Guy]

Your thermocouple is bad. It is easily replaced with parts you can get at Fleet farm or Menards. Buy two and keep one as a spare. They always seem to go bad at the worst time.

[TruthWalleyes]

I have been wedging a bobber against the button to keep mine lit this fall.

[jigginjerk]

Check the orifice in the tube. If there is a piece of dirt or lint in it it will act that way, mine did. Cleaned it and it works fine.

[Down Deep]

If it will light when you depress the button replace the TC. $10 item and 5 mins to replace. Good idea to have a spare and tape the wrench you will need to the package of the spare and keep in your tackle box or rod bag/case.

[drewbop]

Well it doesn't fully light when I push the button down. I actually don't have a thermocouple on it currently. When you press down the button and hold a match to it, it stays at a very low, blue flame. Maybe that's why-

I'll find a thermocouple and try that-

[Surface Tension]

It'll need to get hot enough with a bright orange glow in order for a thermocouple to work.

If all your getting is a small flame its time to clean it. After the valve will be the orfice. You'll want to remove it and run a small wire through it. Used compressed air to blow out and spider webs around the air mixture.

[drewbop]

Took me awhile, but I finally found some time to get at cleaning it. I took it apart and clean up everything (it was extremely dirty). I now have it to a point where it will light up when I squeeze the "primer button" (or whatever you call it) down. But once I release the button, it will not stay lit.

Could a thermocouple be the culprit here (it currently doesn't have one on it)?

[monstermoose78]

yep

[drewbop]

Heater now works great, thanks! Never knew the thermocouple was so important...

[Eric Wettschreck]

FYI- In laymans terms, if the thermocouple isn't hot the unit thinks something is bad and shuts the gas off. The "Primer button" you speak of, in a nutshell, bypasses the thermocouple so you can get things lit and and hot. So yes, a thermocouple is very important if you want to keep things running.

They go bad. It's a common thing. As stated by others, buy a spare and keep it with you.

[hitthebricks]

My MHC will stay lit but will shoot out a bucket load of flames once it is lit.

Any ideas or suggestions?

HTB

[Surface Tension]

Clean the orifice and blow out the cob webs. Use a small enough wire that you not enlarging the size hole in the orifice.

[leech~~]

Clean the orifice and blow out the cob webs. Use a small enough wire that you not enlarging the size hole in the orifice.

A set of welding tip cleaners work really well for this and you can pick the right size with out widing out the hole. H/Freight or any cheap tool places or a welding supply has them. I use them for all kinds of cleaning they even work well on cleaning carb holes out.

[Cliff Wagenbach]

Removing the thermocouple is like removing the heart from almost all gas heaters!

Cliff