Hi all, recently I bought a vaporiser 169 from Tilley for my dad's wall lamp, the vaporiser received had the cleaning wire cut and welded maybe for adjusting the length, I've tried to my wall lamp and it works fine apart of the fact that when you turning off the control cock there is still some fuel flow and the lamp still running. I've emailed Tilley to complain but no reply received so far. Any ideas what causing the problem and how it could be fixed?
Hi Grigorios, I suspect that the wire is defective as it shouldn’t have a ‘cut & shunt’ joint anywhere along the length. I would aim to get a replacement vapourizer!
Sorry Alex, but I respectfully beg to differ. The new vapourisers from Tilley International invariably have a welded needle. I don't know why but presumably some quirk of manufacture. The fact is that the needles should be used only to clean the jet should it be necessary. The lamp should be shut down by releasing the filler cap and hence the pressure feed.
If the cock does not shut off the fuel , that is at fault ,not the needle, which as stated is only use to clean the jet
I always thought the jet needle has 2 purposes, one to clean the jet from the paraffin deposits and second to turn the lamp off before releasing the pressure from the tank. Am I wrong? The vaporiser I have already fitted on my lamp it does shut off the fuel, the replacement I purchased from Tilley it doesn't. Just wondering which is the correct operation?
@Grigorios Makrakis You are correct about the Tilley cleaning needle having two functions: cleaning, and blocking the jet. The second function may not be always successful, especially in modern Tilley vapourisers, hence the need to ensure that the control cock works properly. The modern Tilley pricker needle is indeed joined by a weld. Some older ones were, too, but the weld joint has little “wings”. There are also “one piece” Tilley need prickers. Cheers Tony
How old is "older" ? I have the TL10 we had in the mid '50s before electrickery came to the farm and although it went through a few mantles, it never had a new vapouriser from when Dad brought it home second hand to when power outages became so rare (and so short when they did occur) that it was no longer needed. That vapouriser had a "weld" on the cleaning wire and of all the Tilley vapourisers I've handled - with the exception of the one for a DN 250 domestic Iron - I've only come across one wire which did not have a weld. As an aside, I always thought it was to stop the spring from falling off as can so easily happen with Vapalux / Bialaddin vapourisers. @Grigorios Makrakis It may just be coincidence. Have you checked the rubber seal in the control cock ? Another possibility is that the wire is a little too long. Put the wires side by side and see if they are the same length. A longer wire will still work because it will flex inside the vapouriser but it may need extra effort to turn the knob on the control cock. This extra effort may make you think that the control is fully "off" but in reality it isn't which is why it's leaking.
@Henry Plews I did a check of my stash of old Tilley vapourisers, noting that there is no guarantee the prickers will be original to the vapouriser. From left to right: 1. Brass nut; single wire pricker (I have two of this description). 2. Brass nut; joined pricker with “wings” at join. 3. Steel nut; joined pricker with “wings” at join. 4. Modern (bought in 2016) 169 pricker with off centre join. Cheers Tony
I had always assumed that the "join" or flange was not a join but a clever way of stopping the spring becoming lost inside the vapoursier. However I can now see that it is probably a result of welding two different steels together. This would make sense as if the top section is very hard and inflexible then the wire might break lower down as it is manupulated and/or used if it was all at the same hardness. (basically allowing a degree of flex on the long section) The flange effect would be a useful result of friction welding where welding heat is generated by spinning the wires against each other. Being off-centre is not a good sign but I would have thought it would probably still work. The only sure-fire way to swtich off a Tilley is to release the pressure. Even if switching it off at the cock works for your lamp, not releasing the pressure will still result in a small flow of paraffin. I learned this the hard way. Even with brand new rubber seals. Chris
@Tony Press Interesting. I don't think I've seen a wire with an off centre join, at least if I have, it didn't register.
