This is my first Coleman and it was not a clean start for me, having only a few Tilley lanterns as experience in pressure lanterns. Blocked generator, blocked jet, and bent pricker. After a lot of cleaning, and fiddling, I have it reassembled. Testing with no mantle resulted in a lot of yellow flame, and a violent blue jet with a central spike like the afterburner on an F15. More fiddling and trying the generator in different rotations, and I got a squirt of fuel that looked ‘right’. More test lights with no mantle and it was reluctant to light, and died out after a few minutes. I tried a mantle tonight, and it had a flame up, but settled into a steady bright burn. Been running for nearly three hours now. It died a bit after 90 minutes, but ten pumps got it back to decent brightness Coleman 201 on the right. ‘Austramax on the left , for moral support….and comparison. I think it is an early 3/300, stamped D^D. The Coleman has a slight flicker, and not really bright, but I am very happy to see it alight. I have a new generator due soon, and I will update the results of that when it arrives. Thank you for reading this Les
Hello Les, when testing a lamp / lantern without a mantle fitted (blue flame / Bunsen flame testing) only a small amount of pressure is required, if to much pressure is in the tank then the flame will blow out. Sometimes preheating the lamp more than once is required and using a bulbous mantle which forms close to the vapouriser / generator also helps, because it keeps the vapouriser hotter and therefor the fuel vapourises properly. The link below shows most of my Coleman lanterns lit and there is a 201 amongst those. Happy fettling! Cool Coleman lanterns!
Thank you Jeff and Robbo for the replies. JEff I think you are right and my test firings were over-pressured. Afterburner set the alcohol cup red hot, which was alarming for me. ROBBO I let it burn through its fuel and will restart it shortly and see if it is reliable. It ran about 5 hours.
I refilled the empty fountain with exactly 100ml of kerosene and it ran for 1 hour and 18 minutes before going out. I will check the max capacity and work out the duration from a full tank, and then test it. I am very happy this 201 is actually working. It has no pricker wire…so that will be another challenge for the future
Update. New 201 generator arrived and installed. It lights without drama, and the pricker works as it should, closing off fuel feed as it cycles through the rotation. All seems good. A very nice lantern and a cheerful light. Pictured with the now cherished 295 that is running its first tank of ULP. Thank you for the good advice and help. Les
