Not really help with the original issue, but I'll ditto widget's call for safety. I understand not wanting to shelve something like a stove, but what you described in the first post was a red flag to me. I have no idea what the problem is, but I'd be looking to get a different stove. There are so many...

(I picked up a Svea 123 off eBay for cheap a few years back and it has been great. Not as convenient as a canister stove, but solid and dependable -- Svea's have a great rep. For a relatively new stove, the MSR Microrocket is a pretty good stove, small but MSR has it listed with their rapid cooking stoves AND it simmers. $59.95 when not on sale.)

Continue to work on getting the Peak 1 micro stove up and operating, but in the meantime, get something you can trust.

My $.02 YMMV