Hi everyone, I'm new here and new to Tilley lamps. I recently bought an X246 B which looked in good condition till I noticed the crack in the glass and the leaks and damaged mantle etc. Anyhow, I decided to "cautiously" fire it up and away it went, burning nicely if a little dim but I put that down to my limited pumps. So moving on, I replaced the washers, the mantle and glass, all looked good, so following the exact same proceedure I tried to light it up. It burst into flames ....twice. I went over everything I had done with refference to videos and info here, took it apart and reasembled it but this time it did nothing, it just sat there. After a break I had another look. I removed the top and gave it a few pumps, a fine jet of paraffin went about a foot into the air which I guess would have been vapour if it had been heated. Tried to light it again but it did nothing, no flames, no noise, nothing. I tried the original leather washer back in the pump.....still nothing. So, is there a way to test these pumps ? and does the pump pressurise the air in tank above the paraffin level ? or the Paraffin itself ? It doesnt feel like its doing anything when you pump it !
Welcome flyte. You can check that by unscrewing the pump tube/filler cap after pumping. There should be an outgush of air escaping. If not, then either you're not getting air into the fount or the air is escaping as soon as you're pumping it in. The pump would load in more air into a closed fount, with or without the fuel. The pumped air would occupy the space above the fuel level and exert greater pressure on the lantern's inner surface as well as the area over the fuel surface. That'd push the fuel through the valve, generator and jet/gas tip.
Hiya Jeff......and thank you, yes I'm using a brand new meths pre-heater, oh and I well remember Esso Blue, we used it in our little paraffin heater back in the day when we only had a coal fire. Hiya Myn thank you for the explanation, when I crack open the pump tube there seems very little pressure, just a brief pfffft ( a bit like me now). I was wondering if theres a way to test the pump, maybe submerged or held in some way as I have nothing for refference.
It is quite easy to check and test the X246B's pump because it is detachable from the fount. With the pump assembly detached, just give it a few strokes. There should be decent amount of air being discharged from the orifice at its lower end. Feel it with your finger. The non-return valve is attached in the pump tube itself. That can be fully dis-assembled, repaired or replaced. The construction is simple and the way it is assembled together should appear quite self-explanatory. If you immerse the lower end of the pump tube into a cup of kerosene and pull back the pump stem/handle like when you're pumping, there should be very little, if any liquid being sucked up into the tube. If the kerosene is being sucked in, then the non-return valve isn't working. That's to say, it would not be able to prevent air or fuel from escaping from the fount that has been pumped. Check this first. You'd soon know if its really at fault. As you progress, the following steps that you'd take would gradually become more intuitive.
If all is well with the pump, there should be some resistance that gradually build up as you pump into the fount. Be sure that the pump cup leather is well-oiled or it might not seal well against the pump tube wall. Make sure the seal under the pump cap is in place or there'd be a leak. Check that the valve isn't loose at the point where its screwed onto the fount.
and i guess your opening the steam valve keep it just open while lighting then adjust when the mantle is light
Welcome to CPL @flyte The lantern needs around 20 pumps to get going and as it heats up pump it up another 60 pumps. Have you checked the air intake tubes to make sure there are no spider or wasp remains in there.
I assume you mean the needle control. If so, it is not there to adjust anything, it's either ON or OFF. There are only two ways to adjust the brightness of a Tilley lamp (and most other makes too), 1) Increase or decrease pressure. 2) Clean the glass or leave it dirty.
Thanks for all the help, I stripped it down and started again, checking everthing as I went. It's pumping but not very strong so I checked for leaks and swapped leather washers, still the same, I trimmed the new washer as it was a bit raggy round the end.....no better.....tried engine oil and let it soak ..... no better.....checked the non return valve again and it look to be operating ok... submerged the pump in water and pumped.... it seems very weak but I have nothing to compare it to, perhaps what Im seeing is normal. Maybe someone could help me out by trying an experiment, I'm thinking ..... remove the pump and stretch a balloon over the end and see if it blows up the balloon, something along those lines might help, not just me but anyone who wants the check the efficiency of a pump. Just a thought !
Well it doesn't have a very large displacement of air. Its a small pump anyway. With enough strokes, it certainly won't have problems bursting a balloon . Try closing up the hole at the bottom end of the pump tube tightly with your finger and then pump. You should be getting some fairly strong resistance with that. Otherwise, the leather isn't sealing.
I wish I could post a video of what the ‘sound’ of a pump is like and how firmly you have to pump to get maximum efficiency? Perhaps mr @presscall could help here? Thanks in advance Regards pb
Many X246Bs have a nasty trait of leaking at the valve and the pump threads because, it is sometimes a little difficult to finger-tight them enough. Just ensure those points aren't leaking. Just as a simple test, with the fount 1/3 full of fuel, try give it a hundred strokes with the pump. If you don't feel much resistance and the fuel doesn't shoot up at least a couple of feet or more when you turn-open the valve knob, then something is certainly amiss.
The air. Liquids are incompressible. @podbros Glad to oblige! Off my Tilley stove, but sounds the same. John
the black nob at bottom of the vapouriser adjusts the pressure from the tank less when preheating or wosh flames every where when its turned to gas up the flow till mantle is a bright white then adjust how bright you need
That video really helped...thank you presscall. Mine is no where near as powerfull as that. Out with it again tomorrow and under the microscope. My background is in engineering ! this is embarrassing ahahah
Sometimes you have to stretch the spring in the non return part slightly, but take care as too much will have an adverse effect? Good luck
well its seems to work on my lamp but then i might need a new tap but its seems to work fine if i preheat it just open, then open it more after it starts to gas been like that since i was given it 20 + years ago
Thank you to everyone who helped, great response. I followed everything but as I would expect with my luck it made no difference ! it did however get me aquainted with Tilley lamps So I was sitting scratching my head this morning and thought the prrafin level might be too high, it sounds a bit daft but worth a try. I knew the level was below the threads of the tank but that still meant the pump was well into the parrafin and just maybe (clutching at straws) it wasnt allowing me to compress the air (sufficiently). So I tipped some out and tried again, it lit first try hahahah Solving problems is like falling down a rabbit hole in the dark.
Well done, but I'd say pour out the fuel and give a few more tries on the lighting procedure. You'd want it to be predictable and reliable at all times. The least you want would be something that behaves erratically at any inconvenient moment. You should be confident and comfortable with it.
Point taken Myn, especially in coming unpredictable times. I'm not by any stretch of the imagination a "survivalist" but I do think about how to look after my family if things turn really nasty. I've got food covered, drinking water, heating and warm clothes, security, and keeping minds occupied. and I'm lucky in that all myfamily live close by.
