Hi there! :-) I am going to try get a Optimus 930 working, Its been sitting for 15+ years, I bought a restoration kit with some small gaskets and pump leathers, But no NRV valve included, Is this needed? Can the old one be cleaned etc? Once loosened up if i remove the NRV, What do i do with it, I have a new lead gasket but how to clean it etc, something else to change on it? Is there a guide for complete restoration on this light? The needle is working as intended, but should i remove the pipes and clean the coal/carbon inside them? Thanks for any help!
Welcome aboard! The NRV consists of a spring and a rubber part that seals when no air is pumped. Then a lead washer seals the NRV in the pump tube. The Rubber is probably no longer smooth and doesn't seal anymore. Clean it and replace rubber and lead washer. And Yes, clean all parts from carbon residue. Matti
@Norruna The lantern sounds great, do you have a photograph of her? Re NRV, If you need to remove your NRV (you don't always have to) in your service kit you should have a small pip that fits in the NRV. Removed NRV from lantern, split it down you will see a spring and a rubber seal inside (at the end of the spring). Replace this "pip" with the one from your service kit and re-fit with your lead washer.
Thanks for the warm welcome The lantern is from a abandoned house. I explore abandoned buildings sometimes and i found a abandoned farmhouse in a forest near to where i live a year ago, its a 1000 meters from the nearest gravel road and a 1000 meters from the nearest house on google maps, but still only 10 min drive from a 25000 population town, theres some walking to the house though. I usally dont take stuff but theres come to my attention that other people is sharing the house coordinates now for photography and i wanted a lantern like this for a while so i went back there to save it from getting smashed or similar. Last magazine in the house is from 2005, so it has not been used for a while. The kit did not include a tool for the nrv but i had a friend at work make a 5mm gap in a allen wrench. I included some pictures of it and the house
Its in an good condition for sitting such a long time not being used but theres small patches of rust inside, will polish it when i have changed all its seals.
Absolutely positive, doors wide open (now closed), rat poo everywhere, and moist is finding its way in, there are others buildings that is starting to fall apart, no adress on google maps.
That white tiled fireplace(?) looks very interesting. It's an interesting problem when you find ovjects in an abandoned house. Near where I live there is a very large house with maybe 20 - 30 bedrooms that will very likely collapse soon. I'm surprised it lasted this winter actually... anyway, inside it are still a few items which will get destroyed when the roof collapses, and it will! I had a sneaky look around last year but even then you have to be careful because it's now pretty dangerous inside and also because the police sometimes check up on it. There were no lanterns.
I know, places like this wont be forever its a shame, some has recently started to burn here in sweden i guess some people want them gone. i like going into houses like this on evenings and going through an old journal or similar when most people are at home in the sofa. Anyway i changed some seals on the lantern, gave it some fresh kerosine and it lit up good, looks like a blowtorch if you look straight at it, will have a good home from now on
Welcome aboard! That's a great find, indeed! Optimus 930 lanterns seemed to be a real prize. Keep an eye on the "J" tube since they seem to be the first thing to fail. They will glow red! That's been my experience anyway.
I had it running for 10 minutes indoors and man did it smell like kerosine after. I checked the J tube while running did not see any glow so far. When the lamp is not preheated enough and u turn the wheel a quite powerful beam shoots up into the J tube, but when its hot and its a gas, thats not the same amount it uses right or is it?
Yes! Preheat must be done fully. Takes an extra round of preheating if its in cold temperatures. Matti
If anyone's interested i went back to the house i found the lantern on a rainy evening to document the place, i brought my now working pressurelamp so i thought someone might find it interesting.. thanks :-) I do really enjoy the lamp and will be using it occasionally in the future.
OMG, at 10:24 there are some pressure stoves that definitely need rescuing! And at 12:31 there's a lantern cradle... could be for a wick or pressure lamp.
I saw them too Theres alot of oil and kerosine burning stuff in that house, i did not see a powerline so i wonder how they used that ~1930s old radio, or maybe they didnt cause i saw a 90's battery operated stereo in there too. Obviously they had a phone line which carries low voltage electricity, but it was cut and laying near the path 100m away from the house. quite a mystery
