Hello All, I am new to the forum so perhaps I should introduce myself before I ask my question. I am from Surrey, UK and I have a fondness for pressure lamps and pressure stoves. I started using Primus stoves and Tilley lamps when I was a Scout 30 years ago. Our equipment was very old but carried on working despite our misuse and over frequent flare-ups (which we often did on purpose tut tut). We had an old chap who worked in the Scout stores every Saturday (he was called Gippo for some unknown reason) who sat mending these stoves and lamps seemingly endlessly. Another solder job here, a new washer there etc etc. I think the Tilleys were Guardsmans and the Primus stoves a mixture of Primus and Optimus. I'm not sure which models they were but some were for general use and others were lighter and smaller for backpacking use. Anyhow, my experience in the Scouts got me interested in pressure stoves and lamps and I had a couple of Primus stoves and an Optimus Hiker. Not sure what happened to them, probably in a box somewhere. I used to go camping a lot so I bought a Coleman Northstar and then a Coleman Dual Fuel Twin mantle. Both have worked extremely reliably for many years. I have recently given the Northstar an extensive rebuild including changing the fount for a good condition second hand one. The original fount was very rusty both inside and out. Now the Northstar shines again as well as it ever did. I do digress rather....... This post is actually a question about a Vapalux M320. This is a recent acquisition and was a hardly used ex-military lamp. I did the usual inspection and checked the integrity of the washers before filling and firing up. It fired up first time (and no flare-up, at least I did learn something in the Scouts). Then last night I used it for a more extended period whilst we sat in the garden. I had failed to notice that the bottom of the mantle was no longer secured properly (the bottom string had broken) and so a hot jet of flame was going down the vaporiser. When the lamp begin to stutter and pop I realised to my horror that the lamp had become extremely hot beneath the shade. So hot in fact that I couldn't touch the tank for more than an instant and the pricker control knob had slightly melted. Of course, I immediately let the pressure out and no major drama occurred but it did give me a fright. I am familiar with checking a mantle before lighting but I wouldn't normally look underneath. So, I fitted a new mantle (a Tilley Happy mantle that I had to hand) and fired up again. I notice that with prolonged operation the top of the fount becomes quite hot. Is this normal? I am a little nervous now after my experience with the damaged mantle.
The test this evening (with a new mantle) was mainly outdoors but then it started to pour with rain so I brought it into my lean-to. I always light them outdoors for safety reasons. Once inside and running for about 30 minutes I noticed that the top of the fount was quite hot and was presumably mainly being conducted down the aluminium frame (the bottom of which was very hot). I noticed that the (difficult to see) flame front extends beyond the mantle by some distance. It didn't get anything like as hot as it did with the damaged mantle but I just wondered what is normal......
There may be a problem with the vapouriser, from your description, it sounds like the jet is slighty enlarged. When a lantern is used indoors the tanks do become hot. Willis and Bates products,(Vapalux & Bialaddin) are well made and reliable, but the top apertures of the vapourisers do wear and enlarge and the only cure is a new vapouriser, Jeff.
Thank you Jeff. That thought did occur to me and I have a new vaporiser on order. The lamp appeared so little used that I thought a worn out jet was unlikely but when I got the lamp there was some evil fuel in the tank. I don't know what fuel it was but at a guess it might have been a mixture of diesel and petrol. It didn't smell like paraffin and had some characteristics of a heavy fuel like diesel with some lighter notes (sounds like I'm describing perfume!) of something more volatile. Perhaps someone knows if the military used odd fuel in these lamps and whether that would damage a vaporiser. I flushed out the unknown fuel and filled with paraffin before I used the lamp.
Folk using the wrong fuel is a common problem and if that fuel burns to hot, then it will damage the vapouriser and the burner. Lampers in mainland Europe have had that problem, because their paraffin is of poorer quality than ours. This is just speculation, but some of the old fuel may have dried to the inside of your tank and is now mixing with the new fuel, which could make the lantern run hot. Perhaps you could remove the fuel and then put some ball bearings into the tank with a little fresh fuel, then shake rattle and roll the tank for a while and then pour out the contents into a container. If there is a lot of muck in the fuel which comes out of the tank, then repeat the process until the fuel which comes out is clean, Jeff.
Good idea. Yes I read the post about paraffin in Central/Eastern Europe. I also read on Wikipedia that there are two types of paraffin in the UK; BS 2869 CI which is the light grade for lanterns, stoves etc and BS 2869 C2 which is heavier and for heating. C1 is what we would buy at an ironmongers, usually pre-packed, and C2 is the stuff delivered by tanker for oil fired boilers. Perhaps they lack the lighter grade paraffin in Central Europe.
Like many lampers I use heating paraffin in my lamps and it works fine. The paraffin which the lampers in Europe descibed is different from both of the British types. That pre packed paraffin is very expensive, perhaps you could find somewhere that you can fill your own drum.
Well there used to be several ironmongers near me where you could fill your own 5 gallon jerry cans but these have all gone. I might do a search as there may be somewhere not too far away. When I was a child I was regularly sent to the oil shop by my grandmother. She insisted on using a horrible old paraffin heater in the kitchen and I can still recall that nauseating combination of heat and paraffin fumes! It's a wonder I'm back to paraffin equipment after that experience. Perhaps that's why I went over to petrol lanterns and stoves for many years.
It sounds like your gran's heater was not properly maintained. There is a post in the open forum of this website, which shows photos of old ironmonger's shops, but you have to be a subscriber to view that forum.
I think it was. She would regularly trim the wick and adjust it for a blue flame. I just don't like the smell of paraffin.
Exactly this is my experience with them, the tank gets hot from the heat conducted by the aluminium frame. I still can touch the tank and there is no plastic knob melted but the heat is up to a certain point not far away from untouchable.
Hello Jeff, Well interesting enough this was discussed and laughed about on the last petromax meeting in Soltau Germany. Thanks to Ludwig Gebauer, we all could read the letter from the Tilley company in the book from Jim Dick on page 101, appendix III. There the main reason lies (also) in the manufacture of the vaporizers. Btw the laughing had to do with the fact that almost everybody has the book but nobody reads it...
Jeff, the Open forum is free for everyone. It's only the reference library with all its paper work that's subscribers only.
I know this is off topic but the Continental paraffin problem has me intrigued. I don't know whether it is possible to upload PDF files so here is a link to data sheets on one brand of pre-pac "premium" paraffin widely available in the UK. I don't know whether comparison with data sheets for the offending brands of Continental paraffin will yield any answers....We need a chemist from the petroleum industry to help us here. Bartoline Paraffin Datasheets
Hello Christer, one has to be logged in to view the open forum. I just logged out and tried to access it and I had to log in again first, Jeff.
Hello Wim, that intersting letter is from the second world war, when everything was in short supply. I can only restate that as yet, I have not had those problems with Tilley or Vapalux/Bialaddin vapourisers.
That is correct Jeff. But wou still don't need to be a subscrber to see it. Just a member, which everyone with an alias is.
It is but points to a (known) problem. I always buy second hand or NOS vaporizers. Never bought one from a dealer. So who knows how long these where in stock and under what conditions.
I had a bit of a fettle with this lantern. I replaced all the seals and washers. Rinsed out the tank with freshly bought paraffin (not the 20 year old stuff I had in the shed) and fired her up. The result is quite startling, it now works perfectly. It is brighter, there is no visible hunting and it doesn't seem to get too hot either. I can only assume that either there was some old unsuitable fuel still in the tank when I got it or the ancient paraffin I had at home was no good or a combination of the two. It would be nice to think replacing all the seals had some effect but I can't see how really (it wasn't losing pressure). However, the new pump leather and the service to the NRV make the lamp much easier to use. I am really chuffed with it now. What a great piece of kit.
Thanks. Yes it is good news. So much so that I felt obliged to sit in the garden smoking a half decent cigar (not allowed in the house). Only trouble was the weather has turned jolly cool. I think I might have to have another play........and finish that cigar.... I wonder whether paraffin goes off? Petrol does but I'm not sure exactly why. I've always assumed that the most volatile fractions in the petrol slowly evaporate off (since a can is never hermetically sealed). Over time the petrol would become a mixture of denser and denser fractions. I suppose there is always water contamination and bacteria can live in extraordinary environments. It seems my paraffin was off at any rate.
