MSR Reactor Stove troubleshooting

So I finally had a problem with my MSR Reactor after 2 years of impeccable performance. Last weekend I spend a good amount of time melting snow, burning through a full 4oz canister. I figured I’d melt more for the morning’s alpine start so I screwed in another canister and tried to light it up. I could hear the fuel flowing but it was pretty clear that fuel was not flowing through the burner. I tried shaking the burner out but had no luck. I figured there were probably some rouge drops of water in the burner and maybe leaving it to dry in my bag would do the trick for the next morning. I tried again in the morning and it lit up no problem.

Any feedback on what happened and how to resolve it more rapidly? Am I just a total noob? (Probably.) MSR doesn’t address anything like this on their troubleshooting page.

Mine has always had trouble glowing red on the startup. You can hear gas flowing, but then it just doesn't do anything.  I sent it into MSR and they sent it right back with these instructions (i'm paraphrasing):

Next to the red switch, where you turn the fuel on and off, there are diagonal metal slits (all the rest are just circles.) They are located right next to the + and - signs. Turn the fuel on, light the stove, and then cover these with your thumbs.  Those are part of the air intake and covering them acts like a "choke" feature. In a couple of seconds the stove should glow red.  

I've done this every time and never had any trouble since then.  I can send pictures if that description is unclear.  Try that and see if it works- if not I would send it back to MSR. 

There's supposedly a thermal safety shutoff on those that is not fixable. I'd ask MSR. 

Brandon.Phillips wrote: Mine has always had trouble glowing red on the startup. You can hear gas flowing, but then it just doesn't do anything.  I sent it into MSR and they sent it right back with these instructions (i'm paraphrasing):

Next to the red switch, where you turn the fuel on and off, there are diagonal metal slits (all the rest are just circles.) They are located right next to the + and - signs. Turn the fuel on, light the stove, and then cover these with your thumbs.  Those are part of the air intake and covering them acts like a "choke" feature. In a couple of seconds the stove should glow red.  

I've done this every time and never had any trouble since then.  I can send pictures if that description is unclear.  Try that and see if it works- if not I would send it back to MSR. 

Thanks for the info!  I'll have to try that.  Funny that they don't really mention that anywhere.

I couldn't get mine to glow red....new right out of the box with a brand-new 8oz Jetboil cannister.  I was successful with a brand new 4 oz MSR cannister, but even that took 4 minutes or so.   Clearly something wasn't right.  I tried Brandon's fix and it worked within 3 seconds...well done Brandon.   I found you may need cover the vents for 5-10 seconds, until it gets up to temperature, to hold it, but the fix works folks.  

Chris C. wrote: So I finally had a problem with my MSR Reactor after 2 years of impeccable performance. Last weekend I spend a good amount of time melting snow, burning through a full 4oz canister. I figured I’d melt more for the morning’s alpine start so I screwed in another canister and tried to light it up. I could hear the fuel flowing but it was pretty clear that fuel was not flowing through the burner. I tried shaking the burner out but had no luck. I figured there were probably some rouge drops of water in the burner and maybe leaving it to dry in my bag would do the trick for the next morning. I tried again in the morning and it lit up no problem.

Any feedback on what happened and how to resolve it more rapidly? Am I just a total noob? (Probably.) MSR doesn’t address anything like this on their troubleshooting page.

A well known issue. Reactor is equipped with kinda safety-lock. It is a bit of lead melting when overheated so it leaks into gas providing channel and corks it. To fix it all you need is a piece of 0.010" guitar string. Disassemble your Reactor, remove all lead from gas pipe and enjoy your ready-to-blow Reactor. After this modification your Reactor will have no protection against overheating. One bad decision and it will send you to a good flight. Enjoy.

jdejace wrote: There's supposedly a thermal safety shutoff on those that is not fixable. I'd ask MSR. 

Yep, there is a thermal safety shutoff. It is easily fixable with a bit of thin steal wire (e.g. guitar string). After fix the device has no protection and could blow out when overheated.

Here is an instruction in Russian - https://www.risk.ru/blog/217124 No real need to translate it though. Photos are self-evident.

Probably worth considering that if your technique led to overheat once that you might not want to continue to use the same technique without the benefit of overheat protection.