Little Red Campfire low-flame

[Speric]

Anyone else with a Camco Little Red Campfire or similar? Mine used to work just fine. Tall big flames. Now I barely get a couple inches of flame out of the fire ring. I tightened everything but nothing's changed. Any ideas on what could be wrong? or need fixing? It's been a great little propane camp fire. Compact and portable and puts out great heat! At least it used to.

 

[grubworm]

sounds like your regulator or hose needs to be replaced.
some brands of LP hoses have the inside liner that comes apart internally and blocks flow and of course a regulator can fail at anytime...try a new hose/regulator set up

 

[smritte]

If its cold, propane doesn't like cold. I have a heating blanket on mine.

 

[Speric]

If its cold, propane doesn't like cold. I have a heating blanket on mine.

I thought this might have been the problem but I had it in the sun today, and it wasn’t that cold. Still low flame.

 

[Speric]

sounds like your regulator or hose needs to be replaced.
some brands of LP hoses have the inside liner that comes apart internally and blocks flow and of course a regulator can fail at anytime...try a new hose/regulator set up

The regulator on there says 5PSIG. Do I need to stick with that. The Camco brand is really expensive ($75). I see some on Amazon/Lowe’s/Home Depot but they say 20PSIG on the regulator ($15). Can I use one of those?

 

[smritte]

I didn't like the ones out there so I made my own. It was a bit of a learning curve but now I'm happy with how it came out. My main issue was flow. The hoses I got were too restrictive and the regulator really pulled the flame down when it cooled off. I ditched the regulator and just run a ball valve. I also discovered my fitting to the bottle was not a high flow, that got replaced. My next issue was the bottle freezing so I added a heating blanket.

In the beginning I could get a five foot flame. Once the temp dropped and the bottle cooled off, I was lucky to get a two inch flame.
Here's what it is now at 50% at about 27 degrees.
These are all the things that can cause low flames. All of them are restrictions except the bottle temp. I would start with removing the regulator and using the bottle knob to regulate it. This will show you if the issue is your regulator.

 

[grubworm]

The regulator on there says 5PSIG. Do I need to stick with that. The Camco brand is really expensive ($75). I see some on Amazon/Lowe’s/Home Depot but they say 20PSIG on the regulator ($15). Can I use one of those?

this one is $18 and adjustable 0-5psi

a few months ago we went camping with brother-in-law and he bought a new blackstone grill and it fired up nicely and after a few minutes, the flame died down to hardly anything. swapped bottles and no difference. turned out it was the regulator...barely used once and already failed. i had similar issue with my RV and found that the rubber LP hoses have a lining in them to protect the rubber from the LP and sometimes the lining will break loose and a small piece will block flow or it wont break completely free, but still be attached at one point and act as a flapper restricting flow. i carry spare hoses and regulators as well as different adapters since i recognize there is a degree of failure on these items...

 

[Speric]

The regulator on there says 5PSIG. Do I need to stick with that. The Camco brand is really expensive ($75). I see some on Amazon/Lowe’s/Home Depot but they say 20PSIG on the regulator ($15). Can I use one of those?

this one is $18 and adjustable 0-5psi

a few months ago we went camping with brother-in-law and he bought a new blackstone grill and it fired up nicely and after a few minutes, the flame died down to hardly anything. swapped bottles and no difference. turned out it was the regulator...barely used once and already failed. i had similar issue with my RV and found that the rubber LP hoses have a lining in them to protect the rubber from the LP and sometimes the lining will break loose and a small piece will block flow or it wont break completely free, but still be attached at one point and act as a flapper restricting flow. i carry spare hoses and regulators as well as different adapters since i recognize there is a degree of failure on these items...

The end is very different and the Amazon one doesn’t look like I can switch it out.
This what the connections look like on the fire pit. What would happen if I got a 0-20 psi regulator and hose?

 

[grubworm]

The end is very different and the Amazon one doesn’t look like I can switch it out.
This what the connections look like on the fire pit. What would happen if I got a 0-20 psi regulator and hose?

if its adjustable, then its fine. the fire ring can handle the higher psi, but you will have a jet engine for a fire. we use that down here to do crawfish boils where we're boiling a 10-12 gal pot of water and seasoning. the 5 psi is to give a nice flame versus the jet engine.
fittings are weird. i usually go with a regulator with a hose that has the standard 3/8" fitting. i have a couple different grills that take different fittings, so i found the specific grill fitting that has the 3/8" fitting on the other end and i just screw that into the end of the hose. hard to say since i dont know the exact fitting you have for the fire ring, but even the Blackstone grill with its proprietary fitting still has it available with the 3/8" end so you can take their fitting and screw it into a standard 3/8" hose end.

 

[Speric]

if its adjustable, then its fine. the fire ring can handle the higher psi, but you will have a jet engine for a fire. we use that down here to do crawfish boils where we're boiling a 10-12 gal pot of water and seasoning. the 5 psi is to give a nice flame versus the jet engine.

[/QUOTE}
I wouldn't mind the extra fire power sometimes. Seems like high altitude and/or cold situations I might want that.

 

[barnstormers]

MIne did the same thing after many years of trouble free use. I removed the regulator, and blew backwards through it with air compressor. also blew out the hose and the burner. Its working fine again. There is a small spider that likes the methane and will build webs and nests in the fittings and hoses. I learned this lesson years ago living in an RV for many years . those little buggers would plug up the exhaust and the water heaters and furnaces wouldn't light.

 

[Ceg]

My Little Red Campfire did that. I fixed it with this part:

 

[grubworm]

There is a small spider that likes the methane

that only lasts a little while until they need something harder...