Muhaha...... Quod erat demonstrandum..... Enamel is not Acid (Citric) resistant..... Colour is not heat resistant.... Regards and happy easter.....
@Erik Leger My take was: QED: Thus it is proven... that: 1. Citric acid will attack the enamel on Tilley hoods; and 2. 850 degree enamel paint does not withstand the heat of a Tilley lamp, but it is open to interpretation. Cheers Tony
I read it as a failure on both counts. So the search for a heat resisting, or impervious, paint to a lantern’s heat goes on. This has been a worldwide quest of us lampies for as long as I have been a member. It’s no accident that the manufacturers used vitreous enamel for their hoods, why? Coz it works. Cheers Pete
As you said Pete, the search goes on! The main problem with heat resistant paint is what we consider 'hot'. Most applications for heat resistant paint appear to be automotive (engines and manifolds) or possibly domestic stove related. While these are certainly hot, the temperatures generated by pressure lanterns are in a completely different league. The fierce white heat generated by the burning gasses as they pass through a mantle can exceed 1000°C and while this diminishes by the time it reaches the vitreous enamel coated hood, it's still far, far hotter than engine components. Apart from vitreous enamel, metal plating is the only other surface treatment that can withstand such extreme temperatures that pressure lanterns produce. This is why hoods are either bare metal (as with early Vapalux and Bialaddin), vitreous enameled as is the case with Tilley, Coleman and many others, or nickel/chrome plating that you find on Petromax and their clones!
Silver and black are about the only options you have with extreme heat paint, colours really don't last Ceramic filled or laced paint also lasts quite well, but all vht paint seems to have a finite life when used in anger. Alec.
Correct, however enamel starts to crack due to the difference in expansion (metal/enamel) when heated up.
The difference in operating temperatures between white gas and kerosene lanterns must be right on the cusp of what the vitreous enamel coatings can handle. I see gas lanterns from the 1930s with vents in great shape while most kerosene vents whether it be Coleman, Tilley or something else are crazed, cracked, splintered and look like they've been kicked down a stone stairwell repeatedly.
I think at this time we really are wasting our time when it comes to heat resistant paints. From what I’ve read here there is no current heat resisting paint that can hold up to say lanterns, like Tilley, Bialaddin, and the Vapalux. The hot business end of these lanterns is the top and it’s just too hot for known paint to stand up to it. Perhaps in the near future a paint will come along that can take the heat but we arn’t there yet!
I’ve used paint that sed up to 2500 degrees and it burned the paint off it didn’t even start to stand s chance so they must get a lot hotter than 1000 c because that’s around 1832 f it would be interesting to no just how hot they do burn definitely over 2000 f degrees
I don’t think they get to 2000F but they do get hot, hotter than a Coleman. Everything is being drown in from the top, even the air supply for the most part, where a Coleman draws a lot air in from the bottom and up. I think that’s why you find so many Coleman lanterns with the top still in tact.
600 degrees C is a dull red heat visible in daylight.. (500 to 550 C low light) On Tilley caps/hoods that have had the enamel removed or burnt off you can see scale (mill scale) starting to form .. (also vapalux/bialaddin) Scale only starts to form at temperatures quite a bit higher and other factors like length of time, exposure to oxygen etc I really don’t know where the paint producers get their information, but it’s not from metalworkers A lot of the problems are not just from the temperature but a combination with the thickness of the materials used and other factors related to both inc. rapid heating + cooling.. an example being metals like Cast Iron that respond differently (to Steel) to being heated? To be fair, I think the original products fare quite well considering what we ask of them.. out in all weathers.. rain and snow causing localised cooling and heating for hours , months, years on end? forgot to say that the methods of producing the caps/hoods can impact on the lifespan of them later on when spot welds are affected by expansion or rust .. we all know the look of the top of a Bialaddin cap/hood with its circular rust spots where the enamel has let go hope that helps a bit best regards pB
@ColinG Colin, you mentioned: However, after a (bare) brass top for just the E41 model, this same shape was produced already in grey vitreous enameled steel even before the Vapalux 300 model came to light. So save 1940/41 alle subsequent W&B lamps had enameled steel tops.
Re-reading my comment on Colin's remark, I realise we use a different vocabulary. A 'hood' is to me, like the atire, something you can use or not, and not an intrinsical part of - in this case - a lamp. Like a 'shade' or 'top reflector'. That hood usually sits around the 'chimney' or 'ventilator' (venting hot gasses and above the burner) which is topped by a 'top'. The latter is often of different metal and finish than the chimney, and it is the top I am refering to. Colin is right when refering to the unit above the lamp cage. Mike
