Hi everyone. I recently acquired a Petromax 826 from ebay.ca. Pics are from the ebay listing. I haven't done any work on it yet. It's missing the valve wheel, stem, and nut. Can someone please post a pic of what the period correct valve wheel would look like for this model? If you can recommend where I can get the correct wheel, stem and nut I'd greatly appreciate it. And if you have the correct wheel to sell me I'd appreciate that even more. Thanks. Shane
Hi, nice lantern, it's from the early 1930's. To see the missing parts you should look at this post: http://0flo.com/index.php?posts/36840 The 826 doesn't have a fuel valve at the generator, the stem with excenter operates the pricker needle only. To complete your lantern you will need the spare part (114) as shown on this page: http://hytta.de/info/petromax-details.htm. And maybe a new jet (50) and needle (68) would also be a good idea. An old original replacement pricker dial would be hard to find. But the new ones sold today will fit your lantern and will work perfectly. Regards, Martin
I think it may be possible to fashion one from some paxolin board. The original would likely be made from the same layered paper and bakelite material. Just a thought...
Nice old model. Crappy condition though. I mean when you want to use the lantern you are at the mercy of the guy/woman who soldered the bottom in again. Do you also have the burner/inner part in the hood ?
WimVe's reply isn't too encouraging. I'm kind of tempted to part it out and get rid of it in pieces. :-(
Please don't do so! In my opinion it's a lantern that is in a pretty good shape, besides some issues that can easily be solved. The soldered tank can be tested, and if it's free of stress cracks it would be fine. Alhough the solder on the bottom plate doesn't look very nice it should be alright. And for the handwheel you could send me a PM. Regards, Martin
That depends. You can also read it as encouragement to proof me wrong ;-) Like Martin says it looks good but also needs work. And soldered botoms have a reason / history. Do you have the burner ?
Looks complete to me. And always those stains from the polish ;-) So do you have any experience with cleaning a, testing and using pressure lanterns ? Because that will be the next step. Remove jet and check if you have a good needle on the pricker rod. These are from before ww2 so needle and jet have original HK dimensions. Have fun with cleaning.
Hi WimVe, Yes, I've worked on countless Colemans and three or four Tilleys. I've also worked on an Optimus 500CP and a Hipolito 250CP model. I've never worked on a Petromax before. But I did take the tip of the generator of this Petromax, and the pricker is complete so I'm hoping this will work with a bit of a cleanup.
Hi Shane, there is an excellent Petromax "FFR" tutorial with lots of photos at: http://light.papo-art.com/tech-n-info/Petromax_technical/restore_pmax_content.html I followed it to rebuild my old 829 and an even older 300cp for a friend. Both run like new now. I'm sure you didn't foresee that it would be such a big job when you got it, but provided that the fount is good, I can assure you that the end result is worth the trouble. I would recommend that you take the time to strip down the lantern completely and also replace the NRV seal. You will then also need a new lead seal on the NRV and "valve body". Put a dab of Copaslip copper bearing grease on all sealing surfaces and screw threads; this helps to get a good tight seal without stressing the brass threads. It would be easiest to just order all the service parts from Pelam or Hytta (or perhaps Britelyt?) in one go. If you want to, you can easily make the lead seal from a piece of lead sheet and the NRV pip from a small piece of Viton rubber sheet. The glass globe is about the same size as a Coleman 214/288/335 globe. Mine run beautifully on 111 mantles. Hope this helps, -Phil (Edited to remove reference to foot valve, as this model does not have one)
