A pic of my latest buy, a Bialaddin 315, lit straight from the box on the day it was delivered. For me there is no hope!
Hi John g a very nice lantern indeed, i have 315 and it is one of my favourites a superb performer and superbly made infact it's bullet proof almost
Hi John G. I have one of these in my garden (A birthday present from Chris Smithson). It worked as soon as I got it. I use it regularly and it never fails. Seems to fire up easier than the tilleys in the garden too. Ozz
They may not be the sexiest looking lamps, but if you want one that will keep going and is easy to work on, I don't think there is any better than Bialaddin/Vapalux.
I put that down to the priming flame being more enclosed in the Bialaddin i.e. less exposed to cool air currents. If Tilley had hinged the preheater cups at the bottom rather than the top, the torch would have gone further up into the globe and that might have made a difference. Just thinking aloud, really...
I suspect it may also have something to do with the fact that Bialaddin pre heaters burn for longer as well.
Well, I have made the modifications this morning inspired by David's post and haven't tried it outside in the wind etc. but I have taken some photos in the house, in my opinion the pre heating flame is steadier when in upper position than in lower position. As it is closer to the burner and protected against blowing wind I suppose it has some advantages. You might have noticed I modified also the wires that carry the cups, they are now inside the connecting "bow" not outside, makes them grip stronger. Before that I had the problem with the pre heater torch sliding down the vapouriser. To do this modification I had to remove the aluminium plates and needed not to be worried about breaking wires
Stephan, Another trick that I have used is to salvage the two halves of the Tilley preheater clip when the wires inevitably corrode away and then permanently wire them to the vapouriser tube of an every-day working lamp. Then use a syringe or pipette tube to fill the baths with meths. This works fine and prolongs the useful life of the preheater clip. Steve.
I knew there must be a reason why I have been keeping one half of a Tilley pre-heater. One day I'll find the other half.
If ever you're stuck without a preheater(as I was last year on a camping trip) you can fasion the two halves out of the foil cups from tea light candles and just wire the two halves to the vapouriser as steve sugjested. Obviously there is no wick but I found it still worked ok.
