I got a bit more advice from another Coleman stove fellow: Phosphoric acid wash, which stops the rust from eating the metal. He recommends a brand called Ospho, although he said there are a lot of others out there. And for paint, he said Krylon or Rustoleum, just make sure to do several light coats instead of one heavy one

ospho works great as a pre-wash (after wire brushing), then primer, then add a couple of top coats.

apply ospho w/a brush, & spray cans for the primer & top coats.

Great find! My family has one of those beauties and it keeps going and going!

OK, so for an update:

After a bunch of other home projects got in the way of my fun tinkering, I've finally finished rehabbing the propane stove (which promises to be the much easier of the two stoves). Mostly, there was grease on it, and the rusted burner rings, etc. I cleaned all that, and spray-painted the burners, etc. with a high-temperature metallic engine block paint, then cured them in the oven.

Careful reassembly, hooking everything up and testing the connections with soapy water showed no leaks, so I fired it up and success - flame on the burners and no explosions.


So, not bad for $11 and some elbow grease. Of course, getting the list of cleaning supplies and paints recommended in the tutorial has ended up being something like $35-$40, but a lot of it is stuff I'll end up using on other projects - carb cleaner, Simple Green, etc.

A few more questions for the peanut gallery: Upon reassembly, I noticed that my propane stove has the burner bracket, but not the stovetop (basically the plate that catches the grease under the burners). Can anyone see a reason why that would be a big concern, or something I'd need to replace? [As I was typing this up, I searched Coleman online and found that the stovetop is only for the 5410A700, and mine's a 5400A700 - they share the paper instruction booklet].

My next question - I see written on the small propane canister and other places that you never refill the small propane canisters, and yet I have seen adapters for refilling the small canisters being sold. Is this the incredibly bad idea it seems like it could be, or a great way to save money and the public is being warned away from the practice by overcautious legal staff at Coleman, etc.?

Finally, is there a better/best adapter set for running a small stove like this off of a grill-sized tank? I've only seen adapters at Wal-Mart, and while they look kind of expensive to me, I also don't want to be buying expensive junk if there's a better alternative.

Soon, the rehab will begin on the Coleman fuel grill - a much bigger, more involved job than this one was.

Thanks all

Dave

Our scout troop has a "tree" that attaches to standard propane tank and then routes to two stoves and a lantern.

I mostly use the same ""Tree" (Distribution Post) as Mike H does. I run the stove and 2 lights of a 20 or 40lb tank in the kitchen wall tent at our moose hunting camp. It has worked well for years. I agree that these "Trees" are expensive but I have never seen one at a garage sale so I had to buy mine new.

I have also run the stove off of a 20 lb tank just using the proper hose but I think there was a regulator in the line there somewhere, I have not used this method in about 15 years.

Mike

Does anyone have experience/advice/warnings about using an adapter such as this to refill the small propane canisters?
Propane bottle refill kit

Is this a safe or unsafe practice?

Thanks

Dave

Dave I have one of those adapters and while it does seem to put some propane back into the can, I wouldn't say it's re-filled completely.
That said, I think it's worth the money to pick up and use if you're like me and have several of the smaller bottles kicking around.

I have one and it works great, had it for going on 4-years. The instructions said to put the cylinder in a deep freeze for 45-min before trying to refill it. I do this and I can get them refilled 100% as much as a new cylinder. One time alter freezing and refilling a cylinder I put it back in the freezer to lat it get cold again and then filled it some more. It worked so well that the cylinder bulged out some when it got warm. That was the last time I did that. It’s best to fill them from a big tank that is no less then ¼ full, after the big tank get ¾ empty it doesn’t fill the small cylinders so well.

I bought the refill adaptor for $13.00 at Harbor Tools.

I thought I had more stoves than I could use ....and so did family members and friends that learned what I had: a Propane Coleman, An Unleaded Gas Coleman, a white gas Coleman, a cheap knock-off propane coleman-type, and a titanium backpack Butane cannister stove.
I feel much better now ...thanks for sharing.
And I will have to start prowling the yard sales ....'cuz, clearly there are deals out there that will help me more easily afford to help my relations become more prepared.