So I have been suffering the same problem as my friend @Gareth Shepherd with a pesky 300X tank. I picked this up last week, originally dark maroon, but someone has stripped it back to brass. The lamp is complete so I thought happy days until I had paraffin all over the work bench.. First attempted repair, failed......tried again and it has been sat under pressure for about 20 minutes with no leak.. so I think I have cracked it. The hood is marked Bialaddin 300X which is nice, also the glass is marked Bialaddin but in a square logo, not seen that before.!?! I may Fettle it or just leave it as a good working lamp. The money shot is with another top on, just to try it...
Nice work and detailed pictures again ... I don't recall seeing a Bialaddin glass with that etching before? Interesting stuff...
Great fix! I have had to solder all my vapalux lamps even my bowl fire had a crack. the exception was the one in my avatar pic as its a steel tank. Bloody nuisance!
That's serious bad luck. I've no idea how many Vapalux / Bialaddins I have but only one Bialaddin had a leak. It came in a job lot and I didn't bother to repair it because it also had no glass, a bent frame and bent hood with lots of missing enamel and I already had a good example. Henry.
Exactly the same here, Henry - only one of my Bialaddins has ever had a leak. Unfortunately it was the Imber Research kind of Bialaddin... Oddly enough, the fault was exactly the same type as the one shown above i.e. an imperceptible split in the skirt which must have only just managed to get as far as the tank seam. It leaked only when the tank was pressurised - bah! I reckoned it had been dropped and that's what caused the split...
I have had a few 300X tanks that have been cracked, ironically and possibly no coincidence but it mostly appears to be lamps that have been stripped back to brass, this makes the slight weeps more visible and you can see the lines / cracks that have appeared. On a painted tank it could be easily mistaken for a minor seal leak that has run down the tank, in some cases hardly visible.
@Gary Waller Nicely done on the crack repair. It’s a very neat job and the proof is in the pudding with you money shot. Well done mate. Cheers Pete
