I'm scratching my head over this: you are supposed to pre-heat the lamp, then slowly pump it up to about 2 bar. That's OK as long as you keep it going until it runs out of gas or out of pressure. But you cannot release pressure using the knob if something goes wrong, as the gasoline vapors being released from the tank would most likely ignite. The lamp doesn't even have a generator foot valve like the Petromax and the needle won't completely stop the fuel flow. So how exactly do you turn off safely these lamps when running on gasoline? And what do you do if the jet becomes loose and the lamp turns into a raging inferno? Or if the mantle breaks in operation? Or... < insert other malfunction scenario here > ? Am I missing something or these were just some sort of "extreme sport" in the pressure lamp domain? I understand that these were military lamps and probably the least hazardous thing to have around in a campaign environment, but still... I'm interested about this bit as I found a local guy who somehow managed to score a few NOS 351's but he's asking a pretty penny so I'm a bit cautious as I'm not looking to buy one just for display purposes . I'm not sure if these were retro-fitted at some point with a Preston loop upper generator like the Bundeswehr Petromax lamps and whether that part would be easily available. Plus gasoline is easy to find while kero is a major PITA to get in this part of the world.
Hello Adrian, in my opinion these lanterns are basically designed to burn kerosene/paraffin. However, the instructions say: "Bei Verwendung von Benzin Vorsicht!". That means you should be well aware of what you are doing. In particular the fuel-immerged pump valve can cause trouble if it fails and the fuel gets spilled out. Also, as you noted, depressurizing the tank can cause trouble because of the escaping fuel vapours. So in general the same warnings would apply as for a Petromax running on gasoline/petrol (not recommended).
Thanks Martin. I thought I was missing some information, but it appears that the Hasag 351 is pretty much on the same page wit the old Petromax type (pre-Rapid and without generator foot valve). Having just a straight vaporizer I'm wondering whether the ability to run them on kerosene depends on the right mantle size/shape and so on?
@Adrian , regarding the mantle size and shape I made no bad experience so far. I used quite a lot of different brands with differing sizes (200...400CP), and all worked well. It's more the fuel: I tried different brands, and not all of them work properly. Currently I use charcoal lighter with C9-C15 quality (or C11-C14) with no problems, but some types of lamp oil (such as Farmlight) have not done very well in some of my lanterns of that type. It must be noted that lanterns with a worn jet will not work properly, regardless which fuel or mantle you use. But a slightly enlarged jet will probably do still a bit better with petrol than with paraffin.
Thanks for all the information Martin. I was thinking that a bulbous type mantle would get closer to the vertical vaporizer of the Hasag then the cylindrical shaped mantles and would perhaps fare better when using kerosene. As for gasoline, did you noticed any difference in light output between 95 and 100? And how about gasoline vs kero?
Moin, I now have three lamps that correspond to the Hasag 351. Hasag 351 Mewa 351 Mewa / Bat 270 I operate the lamps with a mixture of 15% brake cleaner and 85% grill lighter. So you start great and run very clean and constant. the carburetor design is also very compatible with petroleum.
@Adrian , I use Aspen4 as petrol for those devices which require it. Not the cheapest though, but leaves the vaporizer clean and has no smell. Some fellow collectors use brake cleaner (without acetone of course) or white spirit/petroleum ether (Waschbenzin in German), but I don't like it, even though it's much cheaper. And since I had no problems with charcoal lighter so far, that's it.
Thanks guys. For some odd reason the clear charcoal lighter is all but gone from the big shops around here, they are pushing some brown colored oily crap. A few months ago I got my hands on 20 liters of old-style lamp fuel (essentially kerosene subsequently treated with acid to remove some of the components that burn with smoke) and it burns extremely bright with no smell, but it's now half gone. If I manage to talk the guy selling the Hasag into his senses I'll make myself a present for the upcoming Christmas, if not I'll keep an eye for one at least in serviceable condition (most Hasag lamps showing up for sale here are in very poor condition and parts are impossible to get locally).
If I happened to be in your area, I'd grab the Hasag before you make up your mind . Anyway, I don't think using petrol in these is advisable unless you're a fan of extreme sports. A straight vaporizer can be used with kerosene provided you don't have an enlarged jet orifice. The Coleman 237 is for kero and has a straight vaporizer. Mine had an enlarged jet orifice and only worked well with petrol or similarly volatile fuels. But then, the Coleman 237 already has all the features for safe operation with petrol, naphtha, etc., which is not case for the Hasag here.
I often wonder if it is an enlarged jet or a replacement generator that has the petrol jet on it? It isn't too hard to think that quite often, the wrong replacement generator was bought either deliberately or inadvertently. I suspect that petrol was always in plentiful supply but in some areas kerosene was hard to come by. I'd bet a quid that some owners deliberately bought a petrol generator to replace the kerosene generator and or second or 3rd owners wanted a petrol lamp, not a kerosene one.
Well mine came with the entire vaporizer and the square-bodied jet that has an 'I' stamped on its side. As far as I could remember, we hardly, if ever, use petrol for lighting purposes in my area. I've never even seen an old gasoline Coleman for sale around here, except for the 'modern' ones in their outlets. Coleman lantern spares are almost non-existent here, so I'd doubt anyone would take the trouble.
Indeed, the main problem would be is the lack of a positive shutoff. If the jet becomes unscrewed and the lamp bursts into flames there's no safe way to shut it down. Putting the needle up won't help in this scenario. Of course, many people would keep such a NOS lamp pristine and never fire it
@Adrian To switch off a hasag, mewa, eugen schatz , or gasoline petromax You gradually release the pressure from fount. You could do this intermittend. Simple as that.
Yes, of course, common sense applies. Still, depending on conditions (for example very hot weather - here it's not uncommon to have 32-33 degrees Celsius well after sunset in July) it can be dangerous to release pressured gasoline vapors. On a lamp that has a (working) generator bottom valve one can at least extinguish the mantle before releasing the pressure. What bothers me on this design is that pretty much any malfunction scenario (be it a failing NRV valve, a loose jet or even a broken mantle) requires a quick shutdown of the lamp, something that cannot be safely achieved if running on gasoline. On the other hand, these were in use for quite a while so I suppose that running under supervision in an outdoor environment can still be reasonably safe if the lamp is in good technical condition.
Knowledge is the mother of safe operating anything. Once you know and understand how something works you can safely operate it.
There seems to be a vast difference in how these early gasoline lamps are perceived in the UK (and across the ocean) vs how they are perceived in Germany and most of continental Europe. One side sees them as bombs waiting to go off while the other side is more inclined towards the "use with care" approach. The Bundeswehr (West German army) banned the use of gasoline in Petromax/Geniol lamps sometime during the 1960's, not sure what happened in the former DDR. The Swiss army definitely kept using Petromax lamps fitted with gasoline generators until the lamps were finally discarded sometime during the 1990's. So the Swiss definitely thought these can be operated safely enough on gasoline.
Ok, I'll reveal that I've actually operated all the types of lanterns in my possession with pure petrol/gasoline. I cannot say its in any way safe. In fact, its far from safe. I've had my share of disasters with fire. But then, I'm inherently a risk taker by nature, especially when I'm all alone. From my experience with running a kero-lantern on petrol, I'd say the real danger is usually when they're running unattended. Flame 'whooshes' from a bottle of lighted petrol had been the norm for me. Those would only cause minor burns that I was not very bothered about. But if any of the seals fail, or if a leak is sprung anywhere on an unattended lantern, no one would notice until its too late. Chances of a fire is near 100%. During my teens, I've experienced a real explosion with a Petromax clone this way. The entire lantern was destroyed. It would have killed someone but I was not the least bit shocked. In fact the sight and sound of the explosion actually thrilled me. And the sight of the fireball even prompted me to mess around with firecrackers and petrol combined as well as other homemade stuffs, deliberately set off to create a louder and more spectacular bang. I was living in a semi-rural area then and there were plenty of wide open spaces for this kind of fun. I've had multiple injuries from such activities but that didn't deter me from those crazy stuffs. Safety was obviously the least of my concerns. But I was young with lightning quick responses and bursting with adrenalin. Injuries healed quickly even without medical treatments. I've even set a forest fire during then, just for the fun of it. Even in my pre-teen years, I remembered myself as a kid who simply loved to play with fire. For instance, my ignorance and curiosity even led me to drop a lighted match into a one-gallon metal canister that was quarter-filled with petrol and closely peeked into the opening to watch the fire inside. Somehow, it didn't explode. Well, that was just me. I don't think I have sufficient reserves in 'luck' to repeat or revive those kind of stuffs anymore .
