Hi everyone. I recently bought an Anchor 950. It pumped and held pressure for a while, but the preheater was not working. It seemed to work fine on a meths startup and boy, was it bright with a Butterfly #41 mantle fittted. I stripped the preheater and soaked it in Cellulose thinner for a cople of days and re-assembled. Result! the preheater works, however it now loses pressure even after the pre-heater is turned off. I dug the little rubber valve cover pip out of the starter lever as it was heavily dished in the centre, and reversed it which seemed to help, but now the main fuel shut-off valve leaks constantly from the jet nipple, even though the pricker is well up in the jet. I now cannot get enough pressure to operate the pre-heater without fuel leaking from the main jet. It may have been stored for years as it came from e-bay. Eventually I managed to remove the control assembly which was very tight and the lead washer which was dished and distorted using a small blowtorch. I was able to remove the control screw and get the control rod out of the vapouriser/control cock. At the base, the foot valve has what looks like a very small rubber o-ring type washer in a brass tube with brass showing in the centre. Does anyone know if this should be a solid rubber piece or should it have a hole in the centre? It is certainly disintegrating. Can either the seal or the foot valve still be purchased? Any help would be appreciated.
It is not a solid rubber piece, the seal has a hole in the centre. I don't remember anyone selling replacements. Someone else may know. I made one by drilling a hole (for the centre) in a sheet of viton and a punch to cut the outer diameter. It took a couple of attempts to get one usable. Can't remember the dimensions now. A bit of a buggar to get in the brass holder as the central pin is swaged.
Correct. The valve is basically the same as the one in the pump tube i.e. a springloaded rubber pip, the difference being the small piece of brass which gives the rod something to push on without distorting the rubber washer. No need to buy a complete new valve, just get the pip #193. Seals such as #229, #90 and other spares are available from base-camp Petromax Spares Price List After you've fixed and re-assembled your lantern, don't forget to check the air gap between the jet and the bottom of the mixing tube.
