I was browsing the pelam.de website this evening and noticed a kit to adapt the Petromax HK500 (or 350) to run on methylated spirits. This kit appears to consist of some kind of adapter block, a new jet and some brass gauze. It doesn't say on the website how it works but it does say that it comes with fitting instructions. Has anyone tried this? I suppose more to the point, why would anyone want to do this? Naturally, being an inveterate tinkerer I want to try it! Years ago I had an Optimus 111 stove that could run on Meths by switching the jet and fitting an air restrictor. I had to try it of course but I don't recall being particularly impressed. Performance was not as good as on paraffin. Pelam claim equal performance and the ability to run at lower pressure but admit it will use fuel faster.
Here is a link to the kit in question: http://www.pelam.de/product_info.php?cPath=30_51_81&products_id=278
Hi, The block you mentioned is the air restrictor that has to be fitted in the air chamber, the gauze is to avoid flickering and of coure the jet has a bigger orifice.
Hello I modified an Anchor lamp to make it run on meth spirit. I did it the way as discribed on Drik's site (Ludwig Gebauer method) Advantage is that the lamp runs on low pressure (even lower as with the set from Pelam I think). The lamp runs on 0,4 bar. Advantage is that it makes less noise and the fuel is cheaper. Disadvantage, because of the lower pressure and higher fuel consumtion (orifice 0,4 mm) you have to pump more often. To solve this "problem" I build an pressure tank and placed it underneeth the Anchor. It can be removed so the lamp can be used without the air tank also. The reflector is made out of an salad bowl. regards Henk
Perfect work! Is the pressure tank selfmade or has it had a »former life« as something else? Do you pump it up to a much higher pressure so you can use it whenever additional air is needed? And how do you transfer the air? Is there a valve to open and close the connection between the two tanks? It looks so well engineered that there is surely a mechanism that connects the lamp with the air tank so that you can carry them around as a single unit. The pressure gauges look awesome, surely custom made at this special angle...
Hello Some more pictures of the making of the air tank. Forgot to mention, a friend of mine is a metal worker. At his work he made me the side of the tank, such can't be done with out the right equippement. Henk
That's a neat and well made solution Henky. I assume that black block is a proper pressure regulator, and not just an on/off switch. If it's a regulator as I think, your setup works exactly as old two compartmented air/fuel tanks from AB Lux! Or AB Aladdin, if you prefer. Like this one. Spoiler
Hello The black block is a pressure regulator, in fact it's the most expensive part of the whole lamp. I had no idea that such had been done by any company. What was the use of these separate fuel/pressure tanks of Aladdin? The the pressure gauge goes all the way to 12 atm. quite high. groetnis Henk
There is nothing new under the sun, is there. These tanks were used for what some people like to call "Hollow wire-lamps", or "System lamps". I haven't seen any Swedish word to translate for it. It's just a tank that's used for lamps that don't have their own inbuild one. The one I showed was used with You can also see it setup with a Lux lamp here. Spoiler Lux used the same tank, or rather the other way around since Aladdin copied Lux. Yes, the gauge goes to 12 Atm, but the red marking is on 7 Atm. Pretty high that too, but then the air also will last for a long time since the regulator takes it down to just 1-1,5 Atm as it pressurize the fuel compartment. The compartment for the fuel is much larger than the one for the air, so it will require a lot of air to be able to drive it all out.
You're welcome. How much pressure can you put in your air tank? It looks like you have drilled a hole at the bottom of the lantern and put a rivet nut there. I guess you have a cylider stud, or other screw, threaded into that rivet nut, passing the entire air tank and out through the bottom which is fixed with a centre screw and all sealed with that large o-ring at the perimeter of the air tanks base. Neat and easy to disassemble! But I guess it can't take that much pressure. But then again, you don't need so much, as you explained, on an alcohol lamp.
Sometimes alcohol is cheaper than paraffin and sometimes you don't have access to paraffin. There were many lamps that were built to use alcohol already at the factory. Especially Primus had many lamps made for this fuel at periods. (You can see several in the reference gallery.) This was mainly during, and directly after, WWII when we were short of fossile fuels in Sweden, but the alcohol was easily made with our own raw materials. Radius had an alcohol conversion kit of their own for atleast the 119 lantern, and those are very common since the civil defence used that lantern under a long period after the war. I guess they were equipped with the alcohol kit just because being used by the civil defence. They would need the backup system in case of a new war, or other crises, that would mean that we once again would have trouble in getting fuels not normally present within the country.
