My 1996 Tilley light beautifully 4 or 5 times and now refuses to light. I went by the book, I half filled the fount, gave it 10-12 pumps, pre- heated and slowly turned the control cock. Nothing, repeated 3 or 4 times....still nothing. I’ve cleaned the vaporizer and ran air through the burner and verified that I was getting plenty of pressure. the crazy thing is that I’m getting a nice thin jet of kerosene coming out of the vaporizer when I test without the hood on. So, I’m getting : pressure, fuel out of the vaporizer, pre heating but no mantle ignition. I have some trouble shooting experience with Coleman, Primus and Hipolito stoves, Coleman’ lanterns, including the 237. Like to figure things out but I’m at a loss here lol . I have no experience with Tilleys and I’m probably just missing something simple. I would appreciate any insights, thanks!
Hi @Allan Webster - Interesting. It sounds like you are doing everything right. If you have pre-heated insufficiently and you have fuel coming out of the vapoursiser I would expect to hear about orange sooty flames. Assuming you have no pressure leaks I would do the following: make sure all the threaded parts of the burner are tightly done up. I personally use about 30 pumps for lighting and then put another 30 in once it is lit. Maybe a dumb question - but as your plight is so unusual - are you sure it is 'ordinary' kerosine ? - some things advertised as that can be slightly different and more akin to lamp oil than kerosine. Lastly - is there any chance you have any water in the tank ?
Thanks for your advice, I’ll drain and dry out the fount and refill with fresh kero. I use triple filtered kerosene found at out national hardware chain, Canadian Tire, never an issue. I’ll try pumping it 30 times to light and build up a little pressure and then an extra 30 or so. Did send away for a gasket kit, which should arrive in a week or so. I’ll swap them out and maybe that will have some impact....if I tied on the mantle slightly incorrectly, would that be a major issue?
Even if the mantle was missing you should get a bunsen type flame. The Tilley valve "cock" does actually shut off fuel/pressure if working well. Sometimes if the rubber pad is hard or the spring is missing strange things can happen. Same story for the one in the bottom of the pump (and same rubber pad/spring) My money is on a pressure related issue.
10 to 12 pump strokes gives not much pressure. When pre heating sufficiently, then turning down the control cock and nothing happens, that's may be because the pressure is off due to a washer problem. Matthias
It might not be relevant to your specific problem here but that shows nothing other than there's an unobstructed pathway for liquid fuel from the bottom to the top of the vapouriser when the lantern is cold. From what you describe, though, the only obvious explanation is that your 'fuel' isn't actually flammable - which would be odd...
I drained the tank, cleaned it thoroughly with methyl hydrate, ensured it was absolutely dry and filled it with approximately 600ml of kero. I then replaced the rubber gasket at the bottom of the vaporizer with a new Coleman gasket (not quite the same diameter but close) Flushed the vaporizer with methyl hydrate, let it dry completely and replaced the mantle. Result?...Succes! K
Thanks! In great shape for a lantern that’s 25 years old. You put me on the right track about possible water in the fount. When I cleaned it, I noticed a fair bit sediment, even though I had cleaned the fount and that may have been a contributing factor, thanks again for your assistance
In case anyone in the UK is wondering, 'methyl hydrate' is simply methanol. Not a term in common usage over here - at least not to my knowledge...
