Hi everyone, I'm not a pressure lamp collector nor do I know anything about pressure lamps, accept from the fact that there are many (badly made) copies of the petromax lamps. I'm looking to buy a lamp to use regularly and I prefer an original (older) petromax or a hipolito. I see them in matte or smooth polished, with brown, blue, red handles... Which ones are original, what should I look for and how do I recognize a copy? And should I buy a 500cp or a 350cp? Thanks in advance
Hello @Thillo and a warm welcome to CPL ! Literally ! Its hot weather !!! there are lots of threads and information here regarding Petromax and Hipolito but maybe some members would like to also offer their experience good luck with the hunt best regards pb
Welcome mate and enjoy this fabulous Forum. Don't be afraid to ask questions, plenty of members will be able to help you out.
Welcome. What do you want to do with the lantern or what do you expect? How "handy" are you ? Can you restore or maintain an old version? With or without metal box?
If you want to put the lantern well above eye level in a large building and hope to illuminate a wide area then the 500cp will be better. However, if you want to sit around a table or whatever socialising with your family and friends a 500cp lantern will seriously dazzle and very likely annoy everyone. In those circumstances a 350cp lantern is better and even then may benefit from being fitted with a reflector...
If you want stylish down light, classic in origin: a 834 250cp lamp may fit the bill. A reflector is never a bad idea but again the old more rounded ones, I like better. More downwards light.
Just post a more-detailed picture of the preferred lamp or lantern you currently have in mind here, and many of us would likely be able to tell you if it is an original or a copy. That'd probably make your first lamp selection simpler or quicker.
Thanks for all the replies! Thank you, based on these criteria, I found some that seems legit. I will upload some pictures in the next reply. I want a lamp for camping, we go camping quite often. I have a garden/piece of land where there's no electricity and I'm there 2-4 evenings a week. I need the light to play games, do tasks like splitting wood... So it will be used alot. I consider myself pretty handy and want to be able to restore or maintain the lamp myself, so I do need a lamp with spare parts widely available.
This is one of the lamps I found for sale that seems legit. Can anyone confirm this? Are there still spareparts available?
Hi @Thillo Yes this is some younger Petromax. How old? There are numbers on the tank bottom that other can decipher for you. I am not a manufacture dating expert. In general there are no counterfeits of lamps and brand is marked on the tank. It happens that the upper part was lost and replaced from other lamp (hood) or is still missing (inner casing located under the hood). So pay attention to the upper parts. Power 200/250/200/350/500 depends on two replaceable parts- jet and needle that you can buy in many places online. Any "Made in Germany" (incl. Petromax, Hipolito, AIDA etc.) or Made in Sweden lamp (OPTIMUS, PRIMUS, RADIS etc.) will be fine and quality lamp if you are looking for some good quality Petromax clones. If you like that shape then look for lamps that look similar to that Petromax 828 because there are plenty of parts for them. Petromax 828 and 829 has preheating torch (Rapid- that blue "trigger" and pipe on the side of the tank) and these are more complicated lamps. Personally I prefer to use simpler models without the preheating torch/Rapid/quick starter: less parts=less complicated=more reliable. Without Rapid you use alcohol for preheating of such a lamp. Watch some movies on Youtube and you will know of what I am writing about. But it is up to personal preferences. In general lamps marked as 300cp power will be usually older, because these were replaced by later 350CP/500CP power models. Models like Petromax 826, Optimus 300, Radius 103, Primus 1082 are common, cheap, plenty of parts available, simple to use. There are plenty of lamps posted in the reference Gallery, so it quite easy to learn. For example: Lanterns | Classic Pressure Lamps & Heaters 300 | Classic Pressure Lamps & Heaters 103 | Classic Pressure Lamps & Heaters Be patient, read, watch, ask and good luck Piotrek
Thank you for the information! I've heard the older hipolito's are the same quality as the petromaxes and can use the same spare parts? The less parts, more reliable makes sense. I found this one on market place aswel, but there is a dent in the fuel reservoir. Is there a way to fix this, or will it not affect the functionality of the lamp?
That's a real Petromax, @Thillo . Depending on its actual conditions, it might or might not work without a prior clean-up and fettle. The mantle appears to be the fine-weave tubular type and obviously underformed. It usually seems to work 'better' with the more bulbous coarse-weave types.
@Thillo All lamps mentioned by me are almost the same and parts will fit from one to another. Quality between German and Swedish manufacturers is similar. Nice lamp. That minor dent is not a problem at all. Additionally that 826 is unusual and sought after by some Petromax collectors. Look at the tank and collar connection. This is what’s known as a "Sicke", having the four indents around the top of the fount and corresponding raised sections on the bottom of the collar. Reportedly it was manufactured just during couple of years 1954-56. So overall this is simple, reliable and even quite rare lamp. Good choice IMHO
Well lucky me, I just picked it up for €25! Some parts are broken or need to be replaced. In the upper part, something seems to be broken off. The mixing tube is broken aswel The pump rubber needs to be replaced aswel, I guess that's not too hard to find For the rest, is there anything else I should check? Are there missing parts? Seals that need to be checked/replaced?
and now You have a problem Let's do this: Try to find missing parts in Belgium. Maybe you will be lucky and/or some kind collector from your country can help you. If not, please contact me via Private Message in August and I will send you missing/broken parts from Poland. Watch that move from post above - usually basic maintenance and cleaning is recommended. NRV, jet, needle to be checked out. These lamps DO require some work and learning. There is a flammable fuel under pressure high like in car tyre! So take it seriously even only for safety reasons Good luck, Piotrek
Currently it's no problem to find inner chimneys and mixing tubes etc. for the "big" 350/500 CP Petromax types, even for a reasonable price. Finding 250 CP and 150 CP parts gets increasingly difficult. Yours looks like someone tried to "electrocute" that lantern. However, a fine restoration project and surely you can get it back to life. Happy fettling, Martin
