As far as I am aware this is the only Tilley appliance that does not run on kero. These blow lamp leak detectors are designed to run on meths or alcohol. This one is date stamped for September 1969 and is in its original finish. This one has a steel tank but I have seen them with an all brass tank. ::Neil::
Hi all, does anyone know the dimensions (height and width) of these two decals for the Tilley LD2. That's the 'Model' and 'Warning' decal.
@Mackburner Hi mate can you explain how and what these do, I know its for leaks, is its a blow torch as well?
Yes, they're for detecting refrigerant gas leaks and were made by Tilley for, I think, Prestcold Ltd. who were refrigeration engineers. The LD1 version was capable of detecting the leaks only. They use methylated spirit for fuel but light in much the same as other Tilley stuff. Once running, the end of the sniffer tube (i.e. the air intake) was placed near the tubing at the back of the fridge and moved around. When leaking refrigerant gases entered the air intake the colour of the flame changed, thus you'd found your leak. I'd don't know the exact chemistry of this but the LD1 has a thick copper annular ring incorporated in the burner which introduces a green colour to the flame. What the colour change is/was, I've no idea. Anyway, it wasn't long before some bright spark at Tilley (or Prestcold) realised that with a bit of a re-arrangement of parts, once the leak was found the flame could then be used to repair it by re-soldering it. Thus the LD2 came about. There are two versions of the LD2 - 'MkI' and MkII. The original LD2 would have been, effectively, the MkI version when the MkII came about...
Thanks David I presume once they found the leak they had to drain or evacuate the system before attempting to use a blowlamp to stop a flammable gas escaping? I’m sure I read somewhere recently about not going into places where the gas was concentrated, make sure it was well ventilated, places on a ship, for example.. Brian, I think @Anthony has looked into getting these working and has posted the results somewhere on here.. it’s good reading too Edit : scroll down from the top of the section page, he has posted one there and you can find out more and see one working! I’m still not sure about using a Tilley with meths as fuel?? What safeguards are there??
I've had my LD1 lit. It was a bit of an anti-climax looking just like any old Tilley burner lit without a mantle fitted. I didn't happen to have a leaking fridge to hand so I couldn't test it to see what happened to the colour of the flame. I can't remember now what safety features it has for meths - probably none - but I can't recall being particularly anxious about lighting it...
A very interesting device. I'm wondering if the detection is meant for general chloro-fluoro carbon refrigrants or something else. The presence of chlorine compounds would certainly augment the vividness of the flame colour.
It would have been whatever refrigerant gases were in use during the period of production of these devices - '60s-ish, possibly going into the early '70s? I'm not completely sure the date on the tank is always going to be a reliable indication of that...
I can remember Fridgies, that’s what we called them, using gas versions of these to detect leaks in large DX units used in building air conditioning. From memory the blue flame would turn distinctly yellow when refrigerant gas was detected. That was a long time ago, in the 1970s 80s. Cheers Pete
That says it all. I can see that they were making use of the property of chlorine or possibly flourine to alter the flame colour of the meths/alcohol of the intended purpose. Very clever. Ammonia, CO2 or sulphur dioxide wouldn't enhance the visibility of the flame.
