Managed to salvage this Tilley form a scrap metal skip. Seems to be part PL53, part 246 with a homemade cage for the glass. I started to clean and remove a lot of dirt inside and out; the fount contained paraffin / water sludge, pump NRV stuck, the cock filter sock was blocked with sludge, burner nearly solid with carbon / ash and the cover suffering from flaky rust New mantle, NRV sorted and some clean fuel - time to light - preheated as normal and started to pump........mantle started to glow and became an orange fireball, glowing more like a Tilley heater than a lamp, with the burner glowing just as brightly Swapped the vaporizer and ....... Let there be light Advice time...... after about 5 minutes burn the light starts to dim and the burner glows bright orange, the pressure is holding good. Any suggestions welcome
Only thinking out loud but it sounds like it is beginning to burn up inside the dome but why would it do that? I have been wondering about how much contact there should be between the burner and the vapouriser tube. I had a vapouriser balloon up which I think was down to overheating. Why might it have run too hot is something I've been mulling over. In your case if it's a hybrid maybe the side supports are slightly long and the vapouriser doesn't contact the burner? In my case I know the ledge inside the burner is dodgy which might give the same effect. Can this be something to do with it? I'm still cogitating on it. Do you think the burner is in contact with the vapouriser?
Blimey Karl, you're having some luck at the moment (nothing at Newhaven today, just looked) I'm guessing the same as Jon - possibly the hood is getting in contact with the vapouriser, especially if the home made cage is not being supported. also might be worth giving the hood and tubes a good blow out with an airline in case you have some dirt lodged inside. You can get a PL53 cage for £10 inc postage on fleabay -tap in "Tilley pl53 cage" -The seller is "Juliands" - he also sells PL53 hoods as well. I've used them before and they are good.
Older Tilley burners are designed to sit on the the top of the vaporiser. If you think about it that is how all the PL53 types are made. Problem is that Tilley burners die of old age. The flame point holes get enlarged and the whole burner casting distorts and leaks everywhere so that after much use they just stop functioning right. Only solution is a new burner but the modern burner is not as good as a NOS older type which are gettinh hard to find. That is a nice late 30s PL53 tank and well worth restoring with the correct hood and globe cage. Nice find. ::Neil::
As said above, Juliands has burners for sale on eBay. Tilley has 'modern' Tilley burners; The Base Camp has air tubes to convert modern Tilley burners to old style air tubes; and there are Korean reproduction burners available on eBay. Cheers Tony
Sometime ago, on this site, I read some rather uncomplimentary remarks about Juliands. Have they improved then? I've been avoiding them, perhaps unnecessarily.
I have to say I've been dealing quite a bit with Juliands over the last year, and from Australia, and I have always received prompt and cheerful service, I'm very happy with them. That's my experience. Cheers
i bought a new burner off juliands for my tl10,works amazing,finally i have a tilley as bright as my bialladin,highly recommended.
Thats good to hear about these burners. I ordered on myself, and have had good luck with juliands. Where are they made?
Perhaps some of mine? I think his offerings are like many others, some good and some not so good, with the scales tipping towards the good. Ellie
