I have bought 3 M320s for spares but you know how it goes,clean them up fit a mantle and fire them up. Now this is were I need the help! all three light up OK but they all flare up with a yellow flame around the mantle and out through the vents in the top hat when the vaporiser valve is opened fully.I have swapped all the parts around too try and isolate the problem but nothing seems to work. Help Needed Gents Regards,gedo
gedo, I'm only a newbie myself but have a good running 320,,I allways keep the valve fully open,,but dont pump at all untill the flame on the burner is starting to die,,maybe leave the burner for longer before trying the first pump,my lamp will light after only 5 pumps,,,never had it flare at all ,,, just a lovely pop and away it goes..
Hi gedo it sounds like the burner is not hot enough to vapourise the fuel may be there is too much pressure at the start, the best way is to make sure the control cock is in the closed position,and make sure the spirit cup and wick has plenty of spirit and light it while it is burning give the pump about 10 strokes with the control cock closed after about 3 mins when the flame in the spirit cup has started to die down open the control cock the mantle should light with a little pop, and there should be no flames around the mantle or comming out the burner hood if so you can then slowly pump up to pressure this way it allows the vapouriser and upper burner assembly to reach the right tempreture to be able to vapourise the fuel at the full pressure, All so the vapouriser tubes could be very badly worn the jet orrafice has become over enlarged giving the wrong fuel air mixture
Yes, these are normally very reliable lanterns so if all three are behaving the same way, I'd suspect the common denominator i.e. the operator! Lighting instructions.
David, The common denominator is not the operator! I have 4 other lamps of this type as well as quite a number of other types,Bialaddin,Tilley,Colman etc. and I have never had this happen before on any of my collection.The flaming appears when I pump them to full pressure with the cock fully open and goes when I release some pressure or close the cock a little. Any more suggestions? gedo
Yep, probably the vapourisers are coming to the end of their working life. They don't just suddenly give up the ghost one day but slowly decline in their ability to vapourise the kero as they become clogged with carbon. That, coupled with the jets becoming enlarged over time may well be responsible for the problems you're experiencing. Try swopping one over with a known good one from one of your other lanterns...
Thanks gents, job sorted, I fitted a new Vaporiser too all three lamps in turn and bingo problem sorted. On reflection the lamps are all ex forces and look as though they have worked hard for a long time so the theory of worn out or of carbon clogged Vaporisers is probably right,The needles are certainly clogged up,Ill clean them up and try them again. However I now have a lot of spare parts including three globes Thanks to you all for your helpful suggestions.
