SkeeterVac Review - Year 3

I was bitten by mosquitoes in the yard last week, and decided it was time to fire up the SkeeterVac.  We put on a new propane bottle and did the lighting routine.  We could hear the igniter clicking, but the machine wouldn't start.  I went online to the SkeeterVac "troubleshooting" page, performed all of the suggested remedies, still nothing.  The Husband took the fuel filter out of the gas line, and it looked rusted, so we ordered a new one.  It came in the mail at the end of the week.  We installed it and did the lighting routine again.  Still nothing.

I called the SkeeterVac hotline and spoke to a nice lady who gave me some other suggestions.  One suggestion was that we turn the gas knob only 1/2 a turn (as opposed to 2 full turns per the instruction manual).  Tried that.  Nothing.  The lady said maybe our "regulator" was bad, or maybe the gas tank, itself, was bad.  The Husband tried the gas tank with a different gas appliance, and it worked fine, but we could not test the regulator, as it would not fit the other appliance. 

We found a "How to Fix your SkeeterVac" video on YouTube that showed how to disassemble the unit and clean the various valves.  We tried all those tricks.  Still nothing.  Okay, so maybe the regulator is bad. 

We went to the hardware store and bought a regulator meant for gas grills.  The opening in this new gas line was bigger than the opening in the old one, and when I dropped the fuel filter into the opening, it went right down the tube!  We shook it out, connected the hose without the filter, and the machine fired right up.

Probably I will order an "official" regulator this week, as I suspect the machine is using too much gas.