As per title, I just bought a new Coleman Northstar Dual Fuel Instalight lantern. I know this is a "Classic Pressure Lamp" forum, but Coleman have discontinued this lamp and once the stock is gone, it is gone and at some point it will become a Classic. There's quite a few used on the bay of evil, but I suspect they have been run on petrol only and the generators etc are past their best as well as the E10 fuel may have absorbed moisture, so there is the real possibility of corrosion, yes I could restore the lamp, but this time I wanted one that works out of the box, and I can fettle it many years down the road when it needs it. Now I have no intentions of getting rid of my Petromax HK500's as these are too good and get used a bit. I also have one Coleman Dual Fuel twin mantle which is a good lamp but seems to get through mantles a bit too often, so why the Northstar? Well, one thing that is a bit fiddly is lighting the Petromax in the pitch darkness and this is where the Northstar comes into play. Get this one lit first with it's integrated spark generator, Pump 25 times, open the valve and press the red button then I have enough light to put fuel into the pre heaters of the Petromax lanterns and get these going, plus you can never have enough pressure lanterns anyway. I will be running this on Holts Professional brake cleaner and Tetrosyl Panel wipe and it will never see Petrol, plus I use this fuel in my stoves anyway.
@chocki They’re good, but judging by the example I have the electronic spark generator has a limited life. Must be the heat.
I agree with presscall the electric starters are a bit suspect and dont seem to last as long as the lantern. I run mine on holts brake cleaner with absolutely no issues and it's a very bright lantern. Regards Ian.
I wonder if something can be done to improve them?, until my lamp arrives I can't see what can be done.
Strange though it may seem Fuel getting on the electronic starter damages it(melts the plastic), coating it in a thin film of epoxy seems to cure it, or at least make it last longer!
agreed! though I must admit I never use mine, I have better lamps, not impressed with Coleman gear after about 1980.
The electronic or piezoelectric starter would likely fail once the electrode's insulating plastic(Teflon) melts under intense heat and the silicone sealant around the sleeve gives way. The electrode would then be electrically shorted to the metal parts of the lantern. That'd mean the ignition spark would not be created when the piezo device is operated. In most such ignition devices of similar construction, such as those found in many gas torches and lighters, the weak point is usually the plastic insulated wires and conductors. The only means to improve them is to replace those with glass fibre or mineral insulated conductors. The glass fibre insulation might also need a little silicone impregnation preferably with an additional thin mica wrap to make it impervious to moisture as well as to improve the overall dielectric strength. Kinda troublesome to execute but can certainly be done. The ceramic, porcelain or alumina tube don't usually fail unless it is ruptured by mechanical shocks.
I have several Northstar lanterns. One is a dual fuel pressure lantern and the other two are run on propane/LPG. The duel fuel Northstar runs very well on both Naphtha and Kerosene. I added a preheater cup which works quite well when it comes to lighting this type of lantern mostly due to the piezoelectric starter being almost useless. As for the Propane/LPG lanterns I use a long fireplace match to light them I recently purchased a Coleman Northern Nova lantern which which is a 1000 C.P. so it does indeed produce a very bright light. The piezoelectric starter is totally useless so to light this one up I use an a long fireplace match to light this lantern as well. Oh on a side note. If you have an Aladdin PL1 lantern with no glass the Northern Nova glass will work.
I'll be sure to give it a very good going over before I light it and see where it may go wrong, but if all else fails, a piezo unit retrofitted instead of electronics may well be a solution. If it does not get too hot, the a 3d printed replacement unit with a push button piezo spark unit built in is an option. This is not my planned all night light anyway, just the easy start to get the others going and quick light required for a short time, and yes a torch would also suffice, but you could also say the same about the rest of the lamps as well and if you tell me something like this I may suggest you swill your mouth out with stale petrol. Thanks for the posts so far everyone.
There are lots of accounts (look over on CCF) of these lanterns not igniting gracefully but instead flaring, fire-balling, etc and perhaps when that occurs the temp the igniter is exposed to is much higher than in normal/ideal operation? I’ve wondered whether some such cases may occur because the igniter setup isn’t fitted correctly and fuel vapour goes into the collar and gets ignited there instead of near the mantle. There are two potential spark gaps-the first is from the metal tab on the igniter to the wire that takes the current up closer to the mantle. The second is between the wire and the air intake tube. I’ve seen a case where the former gap was approx 2cm and there could be no spark near the mantle-only one within the collar. I’ve also seen an example where the gap between the wire and the airtube was 2cm - too big for the spark to jump at that location. I’ve seen the ‘fireball’ first hand- my igniter was terrible until I did two things-the wire is loose in the insulation so pull it down until there is no gap between it and the metal tab on the igniter - hard to see but look carefully through the gap between the igniter and the collar. Second, the ceramic insulator is held in a metal mount riveted to the base plate - use a small screwdriver to bend the mount so that the wire above the insulator is angled 3-4mm from the air tube. Before you light the lantern be sure to always visually check that you can see the spark in the 3-4mm gap. Mine now ignites very gracefully, every time.
Paraffin is getting increasingly more difficult to source in small quantities (<100Lts) and the price is still going up and up!, hence the move to white gas or equivalent fuel. I do wonder whether to just bite the bullet and pay what to me is well over the odds now on the grounds that it's only going to get dearer still?!. Has anyone tried odourless kerosene?, I can get 25Ltrs for £60.
There are many here who use heating oil with no ill effects on their lamps & lanterns but there may be odour issues if used indoors. A quick internet search for Central heating oil suppliers in Wolverhampton will give you a choice of suppliers. It will be worth your while to enquire which, if any, have a pump from which you're allowed to fill your own container(s). The last time I filled my containers was 5th Aug. (at Tate Fuels, Otley because it's the nearest to me), heating oil was £1.099 / Ltr. versus Premium Paraffin @£2.099 / Ltr. I've never had anything to do with odourless kero so can't comment other than 'ow much ?
Thanks for the advice. I already tried the local suppliers, and can get Premium Paraffin in a 200 Ltr barrel!. Bit heavy to carry though Looks like I will be buying a jerry can and taking a trip down to Birmingham where I can get Kero from a pump. Obviously with the additional cost of the jerry can this makes it as dear as the odourless kero, but the next time I fill up it becomes cheaper, plus storing in plastic vs metal, I think the metal is a safer bet. Plus my next project, Chinese diesel heater running on kero, this makes more sense. I've already got it tuned to run on C1 paraffin with CO levels so low I could technically run it indoors, but the moisture from the exhaust is too much, and I dont fancy not waking up if something goes wrong, but exhaust to the outside. 1Ltr of fuel approx 8 hrs heat I'd guess 1.5 Kw at the low setting.
Just a thought.. If you are storing over the winter in a jerrycan be aware of possible water contamination / condensation issues?
Odourless kerosene isn't going to be cheap. Same goes for odourless mineral spirits. If anyone's having a hard time sourcing out kerosene in smaller quantities, a fairly good substitute would be mineral spirits. They are a tad bit lighter than regular kerosene. They can be bought in both quart and gallon packings. Example, Klean Strip and others. They are mainly used for thinning alkyd oil-based paints. Again, the odourless variant is more expensive. They are usually 100% refined paraffins(alkanes) and usually burn somewhat cleaner than regular kerosene and almost without the typical sulphurous odour.
The journey from manufacturer via distributor, seller to me (Any anywhere along the way) had not been kind to the lamp. Glass was intact, but top was unscrewed and down the side of the lamp and the whole top was misaligned with the rest of the lamp, and the igniter probe was rattling about. So a bit of brute force and some 15 minutes later, everything was aligned again. Mantle fitted (Really not sure about these supposed insta clips, much prefer a good old tie on mantle, but hey, thats what it comes with!), teased into shape, sprayed with IPA and lit upside down as one member already mentioned and left to cool a while whilst I get my fuel ready and filler. Spark checked and working. So wish me luck and lets see what fireball occurs.
Put a few drops of light sewing machine oil into the pump about 550 ml of Holts brake cleaner into the tank then pumped up 30 times, opened the valve about half way and pressed the ignitor button and waited, some 15 seconds later.... A couple of small flares whilst starting, to be expected, slightly bigger flare and it lit, nothing worrying at all and no hair singeing mushroom cloud fireball. Just letting it burn to complete the mantle burn in. Its louder than my Petromax lanterns!. Pictures coming up.
In my wood store as its really windy today. Stopped down to check the mantle. Nice even light along the length. That warm glow is about right for the colour, camera set to 5500k and yes the lamp is more of a warm white rather than a daylight white, which on an evening should be nice and relaxing. Cant wait to light it up later when it gets dark.
I'm pleased with it so far, and plan on using it plenty. Being an engineer helps, I hate to think what it would have been like if a non handy person had received it, I'm sure a review would have been poor. Although I have to admit, it's just not the same quality as lanterns of old and has obviously been built to a budget for instance the nut on the top lid has been made captive in the top, but not nicely, the tube which was part of the nut, has been inserted through the hole then flared out, but not nicely, it is split and rough as hell, but captive!, It will scratch through the enamel coating with use and lead to corrosion. Just a plain knurled nut would have sufficed without having to be captive, it's not like you take the top off regularly!. The finish on holes and rivets is well, there is none, deburring and taking care seem to have gone completely. Seems to be the case with a lot of things these days, make as quick and cheap as possible to hit targets and the days of pride in workmanship soon disappear. Company probably run by accountants. There used to be a time Colemans used to be quality equipment, not anymore, and in actual fact it looks like they have stopped making liquid fuel lanterns altogether now. At least it runs on brake cleaner and panel wipe, as I think other fuels (petrol) are going to become scarce in time as there seems to be a political move to rid the world of the IC engine. Brakes and car bodies (Accidents) are going to be around for a long time yet.
You did a fine job getting it running nice, i agree with you one hundred percent regarding new version and older lanterns, i am not a big fan of ''newer'' Tilley or Coleman's, 99% of my lantern/lamps are older vintage for two main reasons, quality and aesthetic design, but that is only my personal view
I am in nw leicestershire and happy to supply kerosene from our heating oil tank to anyone who wishes to fill a drum or more
That's really good of you Steve, unfortunately I live in Bristol, bit of a way to go especially as I'm a bus, train and pushbike Guy since I retired
