Hi all... After yesterday’s success with the Bialaddin, I lit the first of a few Tilley Lamps I have ‘restored’. This one is a X246B Obviously, something is wrong as the flame is orange (even after an hour of running) and nowhere near as bright as the Bialaddin. There is no pulsing of the flame btw and it’s hissing nicely. I apologise if this question has been asked before. What are the usual suspects please? I used the same fuel as the Bialaddin yesterday. I bought an SP1 kit and a Tilley mantle from eBay (I re-used the old springs though - the new ones seemed to be longer and have more turns). I used the pricker a few times to clear the nozzle. I followed Paul’s (forgotten his Surname now ....lander?) instructions in his 2-part YouTube videos. I obviously missed out a vital step... Thanks in advance.....
Broadlanders videos!!! The fuel is probably years old, but it worked great in the Bialaddin yesterday...
You have too much fuel and not enough air in your mixture, meaning: 1. The jet in the vapouriser is enlarged; or 2. You’ve got something blocking part of the burner; or 3. Some components are loose. Carefully remove the hood with burner and check your vapouriser first. Make sure it’s clean and that the jet is not enlarged. Do you have a spare vapouriser? If so, try it. Then carefully check the burner for blockages (spiders; wasps) and tightness of parts. Cheers Tony
Thanks Tony, I have a couple of spare vapourisers (and burners etc). Are the vapourisers and prickers a matched pair or can any pricker go with any vapouriser? - I’m guessing they have been swapped around over the years.... I’ll check all you say and report back tomorrow night. Thanks again.
How do you think the holes in the vapourisers get enlarged? Is it wear over time from the fuel going through it or over-pricking (probably not the best terminology)? or rust eating away at the surface of the metal? Or - someone sticking a pin in it....
The prickers are interchangeable, so use a pricker with the best looking fine tip. The jet gets enlarged by forcing the pricker past the fine tip; or by age and rust; and by other physical damage. I always check my jets by eye, looking down the barrel of the vapouriser. After a lot of looking you get to tell if the jet is significantly enlarged. Always clean the vapouriser and the pricker rod. Cheers Tony
Many thanks for all the info so far. By cleaning the vapouriser, do you mean taking it off and shaking it with some kero in it? Or cleaning with a cotton wool bud.....
I mean taking the vapouriser off, taking out the pricker, checking the pricker for carbon build up, then using a piece of cable or long, narrow brush, and cleaning carbon from inside the vapouriser. Tony
I use a stanley knife unit to scrape the back, non-sharp, edge of the blade along the pricker wire to remove any carbon build up. This appears as black muck and a very fine coating, at that, if it's present. Follow with a piece of 0000 steel wool over the length of the pricker wire to clean it up lastly. Then clean a square surface of steel such as is on an old vice and tap the vapouriser base firmly (and squarely) and sharply on the cleaned surface. If any black flakes of powder are present then it is not yet clean. Try heating the tube to a light red in parts and then quench it in water. Then, as @Tony Press has described above, use the fine wire, thicker that tie wire, to scrape what you can inside the vapouriser. Best too if the wire has a sharp edge to catch the inside of the tube. Then recheck the steel after you tap the end again. If still black carbon flakes then do it again. With some luck the carbon stops and you can hold it up to a very bright light and spot the very small hole in the end which may look like a grouping of smaller holes in a pattern. Keep in mind some old vapourisers really are at the end of their tether and need replacing, but that's another story as to where to get good quality vapourisers from.
Many thanks to all for taking the time to explain. I understand what needs to be done now. I’ll report back in the next few days when I get chance to do more fettling. It is very addictive...
I'm given to understand that if you get a length of braided brake cable you can stick one end in a drill chuck and insert the other up the vapouriser. The end of the brake cable flares out (goes 'raggy')inside the vapouriser and as it rotates, removes the carbon build-up. The wire can't reach right to the top of the vapouriser beyond the anti-backpressure discs but that probably isn't the area where most carbon builds up. Can't say that I've ever done it myself but it's got to be worth a try - there's probably nothing to lose...
This is O.K. for vapourisers with a reasonably large bore but it is of no use for Tilley and Vapalux/Bialaddin vapourisers. but on the inside:
Success....!!!! I did everything you all said. There was no blockage in the hood. I swapped out the vapouriser for a different one - I cleaned it all out. I compared the size of the holes in them both - they looked exactly the same to me, so I didn’t think it was going to work. But it did! Tomorrow night, i’ll try and get the older model (guardsman X246) that I’ve been polishing up...
Lamp #3 lit. Only got one more to light (weekend) and then it’s back searching on eBay for more wrecks to save....
