burners on tilley lamps.

i have recently aquires a brand new burner from julian shaw,and fittel it to my TL10,the lamp burns so much brighter than my other tilley table lamp,they both use the same matles,fuel both have new vapourisers,can the brightness really be down to the burner? any thoughts?

 

Try swapping the whole burner round and see if it makes any difference,that may answer your question

 

good idea.

 

so what makes a burner become less efficient? would polishing the inside help?

 

I've tried polishing the insides of a burner before, and the lamp turned out reasonably bright (X246a). I didn't try it before the work though, so I don't know if it actually made any difference. But it can't hurt, if all the parts unscrew, then you may as well try polishing the insides.

 

ille have a play with the dremmel.

 

What are those things hanging up behind the short lamp?

 

wooden spoons?
I'm dying to know what happens when the burners are swapped. The suspense is killing me!

 

Yes, they look like carved wooden spoons and a spring balance...

 

Tilley burners wear out from the friction of the hot gas flowing through. On an old burner the ring of small holes can be seen as oval and sometimes some of the holes run together. This wera alters the mixture slightly over time and also the air tube threads erode and start to leak slightly. The other change is the main burner casting distorts and can become almost triangular. This also causes slight leaks where the dome screws on. Polishing the insides can only help but I doubt it will ever fully refurbish an old worn out burner. I don't much like the modern burner but a new one can often be better than a worn old one. ::Neil::

 

oh i see now,cheers.

 

yes and yes,behind are some of my wifes spoons ,i carve spoons professionally and made the spoon board for her too for her birthday,heres a better pic of them with a lamp....




and yes the new burner made all the difference,ive bought a couple more for my lamps and i have seen a drastic improvement on lamps that had had everything else done like vape and service.

 

It would be interesting if you swapped the new mixing dome that comes with your new burner with the old style dome seeing if it has any affect on brightness, i do it on most of my lamps for a Visual effect only, but never tried to light a new burner with an old style mixing dome. Be interesting to see the results, i love the new style burners from Julian, but not a fan of the dome.

Regards
Darren

 

So they’re love spoons then fishfish?

 

The light output also depends on how many hours of use the vapouriser has had.

 

I guess it’s like most things in life, the overall performance is the resultant of a number of variables.
In the case of pressure lamps the performance can be effected by the eroding caused by hot gases and heat to the burner and components, the generator and components and the dropping pressure of the fuel delivery. All of which will effect the air to fuel ratio of the final burn at the mantle.
Added to this we could consider the slow and inevitable deterioration of the fuel through volatility evaporation and its absorption of moisture caused by the humidity of the pressurising air.
That’s not even thinking about the mantle.
There’s lots to consider when looking for optimal performance. To me, that’s half the fun ......
Cheers
Pete

 

That Pete, that is a good informative post, I totally agree with everything you said. Also Jeff i agree, depends on how much use the vaporiser has had and how clean the Kero was at the time of use.

Also if the cock filter is clear of crud for a nice even flow of kero.

Kind Regards
Darren