What to look out for on a used Petromax lantern - Advice needed please.

So that means I'm going to have to keep an eye out for a pressure kerosene heater to keep me warm whilst I am fixing the lamps!

 

Well done, good catch.
I would fettle one: clean her, fill her and light her up. She will keep you warm when working on the other one.
Advice: replace the original globe with a cheaper one. You can not find them any more. Well you can but you will return with an arm and a leg less.

 

Once stripped down and cleaned, new seals ordered etc, I will also be fitting spirit / alcohol preheaters to the lamps as the old lamps don't have these, also heat shields all round to protect the lamps.
The Petromax pump has no resistance so suspect the leather is dried out and or missing, the Aida pump pulls out but wont force the air into the fount, so suspect the check valve is stuck shut.
Fill cap / gauge the seal is missing on the PX and well past its useful springiness of rubber on the Aida, which kinda points to what the rest of it will be like, oh both rapid start cap seals are also past their best, so will need replacing.
The generators will probably both also get a good strip down and clean and reseal.

If I've gone to this much tear down, is it worth replacing the jets with new, or only if the old ones are worn?,

Also whilst I am ordering parts, a question about the Chinese PX. is it wort replacing the mixing tube (33/5) with an old type with the waisted entry and mixing screw rather than the straight diameter version as fitted to this lamp? and has anybody done this and did it improve the operation of the lamp much?.

At work at the moment so unable to do anything further until tomorrow.

Thanks all.

 

You don't need to, unless you want the old jets to remain as they are instead of allowing them to wear out with use later. There are only 'that many' originals left in the World. Not a bad idea to use parts that are still made.

If the Chinese Petromax is already functioning correctly with its non-constricted mixing tube, replacing it with a mixer J-tube from the original(constricted/venturi-shaped inlet) Petromax won't help to improve the performançe. In fact it might even have an opposite effect, depending on the specific characters of individual lanterns.

 

A quick rinse under the tap with a little soap, then 10 minutes with some scrunched up aluminium cooking foil and a bit of water and the first one is coming up nicely!. Still work to do and no where near fully cleaned, but At least it's not too bad under all the grime.

 

For anyone new to this like me, something to be careful of when restoring an old lantern or aquiring mantles.
The string is most likely to be asbestos, is very crumbly and dusty and will have left asbestos dust inside the lamp, so don't lift the glass and give it a blow but either wash it out or vacuum it with a vaccum that has bags with built in hepa filtration like the Henry vaccums do.



See the line, cut off asbestos string.