My first post and it starts with a question on a problem which is shared between all three Tilley X246 lamps which i am trying to restore. So i guess this happens more often and someone might have run into the same issue and hopefully can help me to resolve it. What happens is that after a few minutes burning brightly as it should, the light dims. And the mixer can be seen glowing inside the hood, hence i suspect that the gas is burning inside the mixer. I am hoping to have at least one of these beautiful lamps working so i can hang it outside in the tree in front of my house on X-mas eve.
Welcome. Pictures would help. Are they new, old, restored, new vaporisers, enough pressure, what fuel do you use? Sorry crystal bowl is down at the moment.
Thanks for the reply & i will post some pictures soon. The lamps are used and old (both X246 and X246B), all seals have been replaced for new ones and also the leather cup in the pump. Pressure builds up fine, no leaks. The fuel i am using is kerosene (petroleum in Dutch). The vaporizers are the ones which were in the lamps when i bought them, except for one new #606 vaporizer which came from Tilleylamp.co.uk
Just an idea: did you use the cleaning needle, how much pressure did you pump in? With the head removed, and pressurised, do you get a nice straight jet of kerosene out of the vap. ?
Welcome to CPL @Maverick As it is happening on all 3 lanterns I suspect insufficient pressure. The Tilley 246 requires 80 to 100 pumps with the fount 3/4 full.
All, Thanks for the replies. Very helpful, for example I did not know the 246 needs that much pressure (80 - 100 pumps). Hence that might be the problem here. Estimate is that the tank is filled for a third, max a half and pressurized with 20 - 30 pumps. Needles are inside the vaporizer, with the valve turned shut the top of the needle can be felt protruding. I promised to upload pictures, so here they are; First: photo of the lamp burning without mantle. Hope this is normal behavior. Second: lamp burning brightly after starting up. Third: lamps dims after a few minutes and detail of flames leaking round the mantle. Fourth: lamp dims even more, increasing pressure doesn't help. But then reading @ROBBO55 reply, maybe pressure was to low from the start and the temperature has dropped to low for the vaporizer to function properly. Fifth: detail of mixer glowing in the hood Last picture is a vaporizer which I suspect is a bad one. I have several vaporizers and have tested them all. With some of them the flames reached the tank, others are less aggressive more like the last picture I have uploaded.
Going back to basics, testing the burner and vapouriser without the mantle should be done with only a few pumps, maybe around 15. The idea is to see if the flamelets are blue. As it turns out I was testing a burner out about an hour ago: Very low pressure. Slightly higher pressure. You don’t need to pump more than this. This burner is working as it should. Starting procedure is preheat for 2 mins; then 15 to 20 pumps; open valve; when mantle is alight, gradually pump to full pressure. Flames outside the mantle means the jet in the vapouriser is enlarged; therefore no good. Under-burning inside the mixing tube (dome) will kill your burner very quickly. Make sure all parts of your burner are tight and free of obstruction. Is your kerosene clean? I hope this helps. Tony
Thank you for your post Tony, it is very helpful! I have tested 6 vaporizers the way you described, all on the same tank and with the same burner. With one of these I managed to restore one lamp in full working condition. On two other occasions the combination vaporizer and burner show nice blue flames, but when assembled start leaking flames outside the mantle when the lamp is fully pressurized. It starts with a blue aura outside the mantle and turns into yellow flames (assume this is under-burning). So, out of 6 vaporizers I have three that show nice blue flames out of which one actually works fine. Hence, I am making progress, I now know for sure which vaporizers are useless (pic of one of these bad ones included). Seems to me that the vaporizer is the weak spot of these beautiful lamps. The fuel I am using is called "petroleum" US translation would be "kerosene", UK translation "paraffin". The fuel claims to be purified, odor less and has a flame point above 61 centigrade. Same fuel I am using in my Optimus no. 5 stove and burns with a clean blue flame. But it remains a meager score, at best 50% of the tested vaporizers are working, worst case scenario only 16% of tested samples is working. To eliminate the fuel I will buy some different brand to see if that makes any difference. I have 6 of these lamps, four different types (pic of one included. In fact this one works fine for about 5 minutes, then a blue aura appears outside the mantle and the lamp dims). Hope to restore 4 lamps, since I do not have enough parts to restore all six. I will let you all know on the progress if you like, and post some pictures of the lamps. Norbert
For the vapourisers that don't work: If the end looks something like this . . . Take out the cleaning wire, turn the vapouriser upside down and drop it vertically from a height of 100 - 110mm onto a smooth, flat hard surface e.g. a vice. Do this twice. Check that the cleaning needle still shows through the jet. Test the vapouriser in a lamp. If it still behaves the same, repeat the process but only drop it once before checking that the needle clears the jet. It takes time and it may not work on all your bad vapourisers but for each one it does, you've saved youself Euro 33 + postage.
Very similar, i optimize Petromax and Coleman jet orifices. But use a slotted screwdriver and hammer. Put slot tip across the orifice, give one well dosed punch with hammer. Rotate screwdriver by 60 degree, punch, repeat again with 60 degree. Check with needle. Repeat until perfect fit of needle in orifice . Works excellent to shrink back to normal, worn out jet orifice , one or two times.
This does make a lot of difference (see pics), but unfortunately it didn't resolve the issue of overheating the burner. I am sure that the overheating is caused by the vaporizer because when placing a known good vaporizer in the lamp, the issue is fixed. Since I intend to keep the lamps, and not for decoration only, I have decided to invest in a new vaporizer. Thanks for all the good advise!
@Maverick Don't throw old vapouriser away. Try cleanup interior. If not clear how to, I'm happy to receive it.
I have ordered two #606 vaporizers from Taiwan which (in my opinion) are worth the investment. They come as a kit including a spare jet and needle tip. @bp4willi : I have several old (not working) #606 vaporizers and am looking for two working vaporizers. Maybe we can help each other?
I have to disagree when you say the vapouriser is the weak spot.. On the contrary, the design of the original vapouriser enabled the Tilley lamp to become one of the most versatile lamps/lanterns in the world. Tilley did not design them to last indefinitely ; they are designed to be a throwaway item and always have been. The fact that many thousands are still working much longer than they were intended to do is an example of their strength not a design flaw. It is widely acknowledged that the later vapourisers are not as good as the ones made a while ago.
I revived 8 out of 9 generators to normal operation. Only 1 piece was stubborn till the end and could not be forced into normal blue flame and bright light. Assumed crack at top somewhere. Few items had enlarged jet orifice, which was decreased by some metal quenching and made fit a 0,16mm acupuncture needle. (250cp) Others had stream from jet not vertical, needing adjusted metal work to have the stream in vertical again. (correct gas mix turbulence) Now hope to see happy lit lantern pics from maverick soon. Here is my pic of gen9 working fine.
That's interesting, i had heard that you could peen the jet back to a usable condition but was told by more experienced collectors that it wasn't worth doing and to find a replacement, does this also work on Vapalux/Bialaddin vaporisers as i find that those are the hardest to find in good condition.
2 factors limiting life of vaporiser.. ..Wore out of jet orifice, resulting in too rich gas mix or non vertical stream i.e. fail of mix with air. ..carbon deposits in vaporiser, result either in mechanical stress crack in vapo tube, or insufficient vaporising of fuel. I focused on the first one, the jet. But if you open the lower end of vaporiser, you can remove the carbon deposits too.
