I've got a BW Petromax, from ca. 1960. It was used, cap is oxidized/darkened, under the cap was a lot of soot -- effect of firing with rapid. Is it possible (without major works) in BW models to add spirit 'kidney' vessel, to avoid soot buildup? With flash. Without flash. The noble company. Alas, the seller appears to be a crook -- on the pics he showed the lamp in- and on- the metal BW box. In small print (which is difficult to see on the netbook) he wrote that box is sold on separate auction (for insane money). Weight of the parcel on auction was misleading too -- 6kgs (sole lamp is ca. 2,6kg). BTW, in Polish word "kruk" (spell "crook") means "raven"... The story with cheese? No, it was a fox... Finishing OT.
Sure, you can buy kiddney in PL on vest.pl. Or you can just use aluminum tin from small heater/candle - just put it on the bottom near vaporizer - it will do the trick.
Thanx, Michal I've seen _it_ , but I had a doubt, has the BW version different pattern of bolts, or requires drilling (I am not afraid of drilling, but I'd prefer to keep the lamp in possibly original condition). BTW, how to clean the darkened cap (without making it glossy)? Ed: trick with tea warmer is brilliant!
I tried: citrus grease remover, dishwashing liquid, bath & loo scale remover (contains hydrochloric acid), WD-40... Soot goes off from the inside of the hood, which is not bad, but the black spots and darker shade on top remained (maybe a bit lighter).
What you can try is a bowl with very hot water (90 celsius degrees), citric acid from grocery - two or three small bags - depends on how much water you have and 4 - 5 dishwasher tablets. Looks kinda scary, but should help. Wait some time and try to clean dust with toothbrush from time to time. Here is my 829B hood before and after with this recipe, top part is just color change from heat and can't be cleaner:
Mixing (citric) acid with dishwasher tablets (sodium hydroxide) is DANGEROUS and useless as well. The tablets work well for removing most kinds of dirt, citric acid works great for removing corrosion. You use one after the other. Don't mix them ! Cleaning will make your Pmax look better, but it will not remove the discolouration. If there's a way to achieve that, I'd like to know. My own Pmax BW 1960 has the same problem.
I am not chemist, but I know what I tried and what helped, so don't say it is useless. Citric acid helps not only for corrosion. Maybe doing it one after one is better - I don't know. Anyway citric acid in hot water is really good soot cleaner.
Citirc acid is a bit hard on thin nickel plating, so I never use it on e.g. plated hoods, and I don't really would recommend to use it on any nickelplated details at all. If necessary, then the "bath" should be kept as short as possible. Works fine on burner parts, though.
Dishwasher tablets are sodium hydroxide? Really? That's a genuine question, by the way. I don't actually know what dishwasher tablets are composed of but I'd be surprised if it was sodium hydroxide. I must get off my backside and have a look - be back in a minute... ...Lidl W5 dishwasher tablets:- >30% phosphates, 5-15% oxygen-based bleaching agents, polycarboxylates,
I Know! You tried to blow me up! On some BMW forum, about cleaning matt chrome: And where I'll got this blasted stuff?
Of corse I did And next take your lamps from ebay later But clean edit: many languages edition, David was faster
It's regrettable, but phosphates make up a large percentage of the content of dishwasher soap. It's the only place where it has not been banned in the U.S. The treated sewage from our home is discharged directly into a pond, and we're very careful about what goes into the system. The phosphates from the dishwasher are tempered by the other volume, but I'm confident that they still contribute to an algae bloom in the pone each year.
Al, unless you're using old stock, there hasn't been dishwasher detergent with phosphates in the US since 2011. Back then, 17 states outlawed it's use and all the major manufacturers threw in the towel and took it out of their detergent, as it was not practical to make different versions for different states. Dishes have been coming out crappy ever since, but the fish are very happy. Dan
Well, I tried dishwasher powder (contains, among others, phosphates and natrium bicarbonate) and citric acid (separately!). No big results on top surface (pics!), but soot from the inside goes away.
For me it looks OK - just visible marks left by the time but you can try MORE citric acid and HOT water
You are right! The dishwasher tablets for domestic use contain various chemicals, but hardly any hydroxides. Some older detergents for domestic use and new detergens for professional dishwashers do contain potasium hydroxide and/or sodium carbonate. Those can be dangerous to mix with acids, generating a lot of heat. The home use tablets don't seem so dangerous after all, but containing such a variety of chemicals I'm still very carefull !
