Hi again, this will be a simple one for the brains of the bunch I’d got the FL6 working, and pretty bright. It needed over hauled but for the vaporiser etc all I did was stick it in a ultrasonic bath. Nothing else. I got the rest out with the mantle intact and not touched. So the issue is that when you turn the stopcock fully open the mantle is quite dim with a lot of flame around it, but if you turn it nearly off, the flame gets a little brighter but it stops the flaming around the sides. Any idea what this might be? Thanks once again for any help Cheers Glen
This sounds very much like the jet at the vapouriser tip is worn and allowing too much fuel to pass, hence the flames around the mantle. Advancing the pricker needle into the jet partially closes it and thus less fuel flows and you get a semblance of normal burning and brightness. Doing that will soon cause the tip if the pricker needle to be burned away. You need a new vapouriser...
Thanks David, I had a funny feeling you might say that. Any reason why it’s so dim? I thought it might be really bright but have flame around it? And…. Any idea of a good source for Vaporisers? thanks again Glen
When you buy new Tilley vapourisers its worth getting a couple just in case. The quality is iffy these days, its not uncommon to get a good one and a duff one. Return the duff one, its pretty standard practice. Sometimes the pricker rod is the root cause, if its out of tolerance it will partially block the orifice and you won't get an even stream. Sometimes its an oversize orifice which leads to over-fuelling or dribbling, that will also lead to poor running. The easiest way to test them is on a "normal" tilley fount, its difficult when its inside an FL6. Fit, fill with some paraffin and pressurise it. When you open the valve there should be a strong, even, fine, vertical stream of paraffin about 4 foot high. That's a good one A dribbly one or one that sprays to one side etc is no use, will be very poor gas-flow when its in-use. Alec.
Taking a quick look on ebay UK, new No.169 vapourisers are absent from the listings. A few there that have been used. Current Base Camp website list for Tilley spares shows them as out of stock. Other sources?
Ah, that source. Hadn’t thought of the latest incarnation of Tilley. Too bad about the quality issues.
