i have been working on several lanterns over the past couple of weeks. I obtained a Solar kero lamp that was caked up with crud that looked like axle grease only rock hard which required acetone and several rinses in various other mixes to get the font clean. I then noticed one small stress crack in the font. I treated the tank with fuel tank sealer. I fired the lantern up tonight and it works great with no leaks. The next is a Aladdin A1. It had multiple stress cracks and also got the the tank seal treatment before being resprayed a green close to the original. I was given two new new jets by a generous member on here (Thanks Frank) Unfortunately I damaged the pricker wire on reassembly and will have to source another before I fire it up. Last week at the local market I bought a Chalwyn pilot Hurrican lamp. It was really rusty but only $15. On closer inspection I found that it was shiny new inside with it never been filed with kero and the wick original and unlit. I painted it after a rust converter and sanding. I also scored a 157x Coleman table lamp that is complete so that will be next to do after the A1.
I have a problem with the solar during running. It seems to go fine for about 20 minutes then it makes a weird roaring noise and the lit mantel goes out and the flame is in the mixing tube of the inner chimney. If I turn the cleaning needle (Red Knob) it fires back up again and runs fine for a while then does it again. Any ideas what could cause this?
Ok , I will clean the generator and jet again. This lantern has a pressure gauge and has a red line at 30 psi. Is this is the maximum operating pressure or minimum below which it wont run properly?
David, don't pump over the red line you risk bulging outward the bottom of the tank, two other things to check for the burning problem, when you have the top vent of, look on the side of the mixing tube, there should be a screw there that goes into the side of the mixing tube, make sure the slot in the screw is vertical, also the gap between the end of the burner tube and the very top of the jet should be around 13 mm, i have a coule of Solar lanterns, that's how mine run fine, see how this goes David
You may have some carbon insude the vapouriser that is rattling about until it blocks the jet. As well as the advice beforehand I also would check that the jet is done up tight enough.
Well Hi everyone. I pulled the lamp down again, cleaned out the vaporiser with carbie cleaner and compressed air. I checked the mixing tube distance (13.15mm), cleaned the jet again and made sure it was tight, screw slot was vertical in the mixing screw, pumped it up to just below the red line and ran it for 1 hour yesterday with no problems. I think there must have been some tiny flakes of crud in the vaporiser that I missed. Thanks everyone for the advice! Cheers
That is why you can turn the knob up/down fast: the cleaning needle then does it's job. What some people forget is that the loss of pressure is bigger in the begin with a full tank = less air volume.
That's why I'll usually pump it tight, light, then pump again in about 30 minutes. After that, you should be good for the tank.
