I was running it as usual for a reading light in the garage. Then a "BANG!" and she was out, with both mantles in tatters and a flame licking at the base. Re-mantled it and cleaned out the generator, which did not seem to be clogged. Pressurized it and that's when I noticed fuel leaking from the area under the silver collar. Can anyone tell me what the heck is going on? Steve
@Centurion13 As this is a gasoline lantern, the first thing you need to do is find out where the leak is coming from, and fix it — before you try to run it again. The “bang” is obviously the leaking gasoline vapourising from the heat of the burning lantern and exploding. It could have been worse. Cheers Tony
Looks like I will have to pull it apart to fix that leak, then. Pity. Is there a seal down there that might have gotten old and failed? Steve
Caution, danger is imminent. As Tony has replied. Find the source of the leak. Drain the tank. Remove the frame, and collar. Pressure the tank and dunk in water. Look for where the bubbles are leaking from. Then work out how to fix or replace or repair. It may be a simple fix or not. ALWAYS CAUTION. You are dealing with a gas pressure apparatus
One should be able to see if the valve packing is leaking, my guess is the tip cleaning lever packing needs snugged up. This is under the frame inside the collar.
My problem at the moment is getting under that collar. I have removed all the parts I am supposed to remove so that the 'floor' can come up. All but one - that big round metal thing at the bottom of the air tubes that seems to hold the 'floor' of the burner area in place. It's round, with no flats, and I cannot seem to make it 'unscrew'. I also can't seem to find a video where someone is demonstrating how to do this... Any pointers?
There should just be a hex nut below the generator flare that you remove. This will allow the entire frame to come upward.
There is. I removed it. Went back out and noticed a certain looseness in the entire upper assembly. Turns out that big round metal thing just fixes the air pipe to the 'floor' of the burner assembly. The entire burner assembly lifted right off. I tightened the packing nut for the generator's cleaning rod and tested it. No leak. I will re-assemble it now. BTW, when emptying the fuel, I noted a lot of flaked paint coming out of the tank. What to do about this? I have had it clog a pickup tube before. I will see about putting fuel in and swirling it around, but is there a permanent fix for this? Steve
Steve these years of Coleman have a reddish colored fount liner. Once they start flaking I remove what's left of them with acetone and BB shake in the fount. Be careful not to get the acetone on the exterior paint.
Hi Darryl,I have a petrol Coleman and only use kerosene,actually jet a1 as it is refined kerosene.I won’t use petrol in any of my lanterns for safety reasons. The brightest in the collection is the Veritas although it does have a roar
I use a product called Shellite, a naphtha product we can get in Australia, in my Coleman lanterns that state petrol or gasoline can be used. Petrol has quite a few additives that may eventually clog up the jet and the associated works. Shellite hasn’t the additives that petrol has, and in my opinion, burns cleaner. I, like some on this forum, tend to lean to kerosene as we think it’s a bit safer. Quite a few of us have converted the petrol or gasoline lanterns to kerosene, @Norman is a master at it. Just saying. Pete
