Thank you for the video, @thewanderer360! at 1:47 - For anyone curious about the details of how the lighting lever works: The reason you turn the lighting lever up when lighting the stove is to open a vent in the Fuel-Air tube located in the upper portion of the fuel tank where fuel vapor naturally exists by evaporation within the tank. Opening the vent allows this fuel vapor to travel from the fuel tank, through the top part of the Fuel-Air tube, through the cold generator & manifold, and out the burner where the fuel vapor is ignited and burns more cleanly (i.e. lots of blue flame & minimal yellow/orange flame) because of a more suitable air to fuel mixture. After burning the vapors for a little while, the generator becomes hot enough to vaporize liquid fuel. Turning the lighting lever down closes the top vent and opens up the end to allow liquid fuel to travel through the Fuel-Air tube, vaporize as it passes through the hot generator, and burns as fuel vapor in the burners. Conversely, with the lighting lever turned down when lighting, liquid fuel travels through the Fuel Air tube, through a cold generator, slightly pools inside the manifold, and evaporates in the manifold & burner. This generates a large amount of fuel vapors, which burns with an unsuitably low air to fuel mixture, which is identifiable with a yellow to orange flame and sooty smoke... "A little bit smokey when it starts." In this video, you can see flames burning from the manifold behind the burner - where flames are not supposed to be. The yellow/orange flame does not burn as hot as the blue flame, which means it takes longer to heat the generator. In this video, the flames were still yellow/orange almost 2.5 minutes after lighting. You should expect it to take about 1 minute or less. Soot is not healthy to breathe in and it dirties the stove quickly. Take a look at the stove in this video to see the right burner, generator, manifold (right side), and areas of the grate, case & windscreen are covered with black soot.

ou should really learn how to light it before sharing.

You should have opened that lever on the left side, to the up position. That's why yours is burning with a yellow flame. Once it burns with a blue flame, you can turn it back. It's there for a reason.

I still have mine from early 70’s.

Thank you for sharing.

Can you do a video on cleaning it?

thankyou for sharing

Thank you for the video. I'm torn between the 414 and the 533. A lot of people try to talk others out of using petrol in their stove, but then I hear from people like yourself that you've done it for 15 years. How often do you need to clean your generator? If maintenance is needed regularly on them when using petrol, that might be a win for the 414 as this model looks to be the easiest to service. The fuel tank being separate is a nice advantage too

Any reason why mine won't pump when I cover small hole with thumb?

The fire should be blue, and no smoke, you have to clean spring inside pipe and add more air pressure. The fire will stabilized after 20 seconds..

You cant beat a Coleman stove, with white gas or unleaded fuel. Whether at higher altitudes or cold weather..

Read the instructions and follow them. The only thing "fiddley" about this stove is the operator. FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS EXACTLY. This was a HORRIBLE example. By leaving the lighting lever down, you instantly flooded the generator making it take forever with a yellow sooty flame. The lighting lever provides air induction into the fuel stream and atomizes the fuel for clean lighting. If it doesn't doesn't light with a pulsing blue flame perhaps with occasional flickers of yellow when you follow the instructions EXACTLY, something is wrong with the stove. The time from lighting to full blue, ready to cook, should be way less than a minute. FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTION EXACTLY. They were written by really smart engineers who designed this system. They just might know more about that lighting lever than you do.

I have one for years but just afraid of using gas in it

Mine won't lite

I wanted to quit watching, and almost did, the moment you made it aware that the lever needed to be turned up to start it but never chose to do it. That orange flame and carbon is not only abnormal but it's also dangerous. That little knob that you think doesn't do anything makes it much easier to start when you know how to do it.

These videos full of mistakes. They’re everywhere. That lever is therefore a reason. Learn what it is and use it correctly.

Why don't you follow instructions? Messy way to start it. If you follow instructions it is much much less messy, less smokey and actually much quicker. It is a poor demonstration. The little lever is there for a reason. We used these in New Hampshire camping in the 60s. Wonderful stove and still as good today as then. You demonstrated a lot of soot in the process of starting as well...unnecessary. You did prove that any idiot can use one though.

I’m using mine as I watch this mis-informed video. This is NOT the way to light this stove.