Hullo! I picked up a pair of lantern at a dump/recycling store, and thought I'd test light them tonight. One had liquid in it, so I filled the meth cup, pumped it up, light it, and holy cow: it's a flame thrower. The bent wire lever lets the lantern run at full afterburner when up, but stops the stove when down. The lantern got rather hot rather quickly... so shut it down, put it outside, and watched it warily for a while. Any ideas? Thanks!
Welcome, Clive. The lever is the pricker, so don’t use it for adjusting the flame. Coleman run at about 30 pumps and above. With the mantle off they will run at far fewer pumps. It’s a 249 so run it on kero. Cheers Tony @Clive
Thank you Tony! So maybe too pressurised? Hence massive hot jet of flame? And it’s a pricker so in one position blocks the jet? Or is it running pretty normally and I just need to tone down the volume knob?
Hi Clive! ..Welcome to CPL! Thanks for posting pics of your lantern... A great find, and looks to be working well... @Tony Press has given you spot on advice regarding the pressure and the type of fuel... Have you checked what fuel is the fount of the one you showed working? Just to make sure that it is Paraffin/ Kerosine , not Petrol ! If it is the right fuel I would get a suitable mantle, burn it in carefully and give it a go
Welcome @Clive to the forum. Cleaning lever was never intended to stop the lantern, is just there to clean the gas tip. @podbros he can burn petrol in the 249, I have done before with my 237, 247, 249 and 639 and he still need to preheat
@Clive Welcome from Queensland Australia. The Coleman 249 was predominantly designed for kerosene with the hole of the Canadian 249 jet, part number 249-299, being 0.006”. Your 249 is a Canadian version built in January 1962, if I read the date stamp as “1 62” correctly. Yes you can use a Coleman fuel or petrol, with a preheating, in the 249 however usually the jet size for lanterns using this type of fuel is 0.007 and above, slightly larger. The 249 will run more efficiently on kerosene and there is a chance that it would run a bit lean (not enough fuel to air ratio) when using petrol or a Coleman fuel. Your picture of the flame exiting from the burner seems to be quite good. The definitive test will be when you install a mantle. With a mantle installed the resultant burn will show whether the jet is still OK or worn out. Usually a worn or oversized jet will give either a corona around the outside of the mantle or in very worn cases, a yellowish dull light with some black spots appearing on the mantle. Basically, a worn jet will cause the burn to be too rich, too much fuel to air ratio. Cheers Pete
Hello Clive welcome from a fellow kiwi, I am in Auckland. I can attest that 249's are supposed to run at full afterburner, try www.justmantles.co.nz, they have a mantle perfect for a 249 it is the Peerless 22A. I am not paid to tell you this but this business sells all over the world and has received high praise.
@Kiwi @AussiePete @Pancholoco1911 @podbros @Tony Press THANK YOU for your advice and wisdom, what a rad forum. I slapped a mantle in there and it goes good? Daylight hours, under the range hood burning off some old stuff on it, but, seems to be happy? I nipped up the flippy lever packing nut as it was leaking a little under pressure.
Sorry - one more question, the pump pushes back pretty spongily - is that a replace the check valve jobby?
Are you locking the check valve by turning the pump fully to the right? If there's no fuel coming into the pump tube you're ok. If you're leaking fuel into the pump tube, first try clearing it by half filling it (the pump tube) with kero and forcing that through the check valve and into the tank. Do this a few times. It's good to see you have it going well. Cheers Tony
No fuel, just good back-pressure when pumping unlocked - I saw a YouTube video where he was talking about pressure... yeah it's a cool lantern, thank you for the help!
Hi Kiwi, Another kiwi here. Have a 249. The generator jet pipe on mine is bent and also I think broken. Found replacement on Coleman 249 Kerosene Generator Also took your advise for mantle Cheers Bruce
