H26O Kenyon KISS stove problems

[breweraz]

Our H260 had set for a three years, unused, before we purchased it. The previous PO had left the butane canister in the stove. I was surprised when it worked first click and all seemed good.

After many uses that canister ran out and we replaced it with a new Kenyon canister and it would not seal, just sprayed out butane and puddled. I cleaned it out and , checked to make sure the notch was aligned and same thing happened.

At first I thiuight it was that the pad on the lid was indented from the canister being stored so long so I pushed the can into place and could not find a pressure point to keep the butane from leaking. It is proably a good thing but the igniter stop working at the same time as well. It just seems strange that the stove worked fine until I changed to a new canister and feel as if it something minor or user error. I found the PDF manual and followed all instructions to a T.

I called kenyon. They sent new gaskets for the retaining lid, very nice and very good customer service. They sent a note stating that if the new gasket does fix the problem I will have to send the stove in for factory servicing as it can not be serviced by the customer.

Has anyone else had this problem and have any recomendations before I go though the effort of taking the stove out and sending in to the factory for service.

Thanks

Tim

 

[Benny]

We have a 10 year old Kenyon on a small trailerable that we keep. The stove still works but its getting pretty rusty and we are thinking about replacing it. The marine environment is pretty harsh so the life of these units is limited. A new Kenyon sells at West Marine for $65 so it does not seem hardly worth it to try and fix an old one. Get a quote from Kenyon to rebuild your unit and the shipping the costs and figure out if it is worth the hassle to go that route. Once thing you should do is consider all your options. Measure out the space, can you accomodate a 2 burner or do you even need a stove. Some sailors rip out perfectly working stoves to install a microwave oven, while others install electric cooktops or upgrade to 2 burner propane. Start by defining your cooking needs and the conviniences you may desire and go from there. Familiarize yourself with electric, butane, propane and alcohol fueled stoves and see what is best for you. As far as cost effective the Kenyon butane is hard to beat.

 

[breweraz]

The stove I have is a built in one burner made for marine with a stainless steel compartment and vent lines model B23006. They retail for around $400. I think the one you are referrring to is the portable campling. You are right for $65 it would be gone and new options explored.

 

[lcd60]

H260 Boat fire on the lake

The same thing just happened to me yesterday. I put a new can in, first there was a hissing noise then it stopped so I lit the stove with a pan on it . I smelled something burning and lifted the pan to see a fire below the burner as I was reaching for the fire exstinguisher I heard and felt a big woomp and the fire was a foot tall, as luck would have I was able to put the fire out with only possible damage to the stove.

Lindsay

 

[lcd60]

Just talked to a Frank at Kenyon international (860-664-4906) who stated that I could send $60 and the stove and they would rebuild it with free shipping back.
But I'm also wondering If I could get it done for free since there is a recall for the year (2001) my stove was installed:

http://www.safety-recalls.org/cpsc-content-01-01198.html

Lindsay

 

[Futsal Fred]

Just encountered the exact same problem with the Kenyon KISS on my 260.

Kenyon says that the internal seals tend to dry out with time and said to try getting some oil on them. The guy said to put a few drops of 30 weight on the tip of a canister and then insert it into the stove. Repeat a couple of times.

Aside from that, he says they won't rebuild these units any more because - he claims - they can't get good quality regulators from their supplier and too many of them were coming in bad. He says they will instead "heavily discount" a new replacement stove.

Frankly I find this less than convincing.

First of all I'm skeptical of whether getting a little oil in the system will rejuvenate the seals. (I happen to have some experience in the field). I suppose that, short term, oil may improve the sealing ability of the surfaces a bit but it's not a long term fix and you're still out there with a stove with bad o rings. If elastoomeric seals are dried out they cannot be "refreshed" as they don't actually absorb anything.

Secondly, if some outfit in China suddenly - inexplicably - started sending you bad regulators, then you a) find a new supplier (the ones in that unit aren't anything special) or b) demand that your supplier test each one before they ship or c) you test them yourself. It's not a big deal.

I asked him about just sending me replacement seals and he seemed less than enthusiatic, although he did admit that it was "a possibility"

Mostly though it appears that they're tired of messing around with the KISS stove, which is essentially a flawed design, and would prefer that you replace it.

I didn't get into how much this "deep discount" would make a new unit cost, but aside from being a bit ticked off that they're not standing behind this product I guess realistically I'd rather have a safer, more reliable stove in the boat than the current one, rebuilt or not.

(The recall is for the 230001 model, called the Express, not the 230008 KISS model Hunter installed)

 

[cephius (Dave)]

YES, mine caught fire. I've seen many similar posts. Known problem, no longer sold, costs money to repair. I decided to replace it with a stove top from a reliable source.