I picked up this unused Wenzel a month or so ago. After doing an inspection I found a few issues, probably caused by just sitting. I ordered and installed the needed parts. After firing it up I found a few leaking components. The jet was leaking and the nut on the vaporizer was showing some fumes coming off of it. A little tightening took care of those issues and the lantern seems to run OK now, although I do notice a slight pulsing. I'm not worried about the pulsing for now but I am getting terrible fumes that I tracked down to leakage at the adjustment screw on the J tube. I see that some tubes have this screw and others do not. Should I replace the tube with one without the screw as it seems the screw isn't needed? I thought that I saw somewhere that the J tubes without the screw run quieter. I really haven't fooled with the screw much. Can it be removed and maybe be resealed with something. I could just solder it up, I have some solder with a melting temperature of about 500 degrees F, but not sure if that would be high enough. Recommendations?
You'll need something way higher than 500F. That job requires silver solder so you're talking minimum of 1200F.
Looks like there isn't a screw in place at all I would look around and try to find a replacement J-tube. If you like original: with the screw if not without. I have no idea if people use the screw at all. The manual also don't mention it or at least I can't remember.
I think these are/were made in China so perhaps a part from an Anchor or Mannesman or similar might fit if you can’t find a Wenzel part?
Screw is there, just a bad pic. Here is a video of the fuming https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ePeDy2DZSyX2YVPEF3rkkNhv1sdbTV8Q/view?usp=share_link
@Paul R You can easily run it without the screw/paddle - If you can remove the screw/paddle and silver solder it, that’ll be fine. As @Henry Plews writes, you’ll need some VHT solder. If not - it should fit spares for the Petromax ditto. The J-tube normally comes in three sizes: 150 CP 250 CP 350-500 CP I’ll be happy to help, if you need a hand finding spares. PS: Its always a good idea to check that everything is screwed on tight with these China-clones. Cheers
Hello @Paul R , the screw (and the inner blade of this screw) is constructed to adjust the flow of the mix for best result of brightness of the lamp. So first of all you should turn the screw while the lamp is lighting and find the position where the lamp gets mostly brigt. Then after that you can turn off the lamp and put something like e.g. "exhaust system fitting paste" around the screw (cleaning the section before and keeping position of the screw). Before run the lamp again, i think it is recommendable to harden the fitting paste carefully with a solding burner That should prevent the fuming coming out. Regards - Steven
Thanks to all of you for your replies. Since purchasing this Wezel and also a Petromax a few months ago I've been trying to get them into shape for proper operation. With the help of this forum, I've learned a lot and got the Petromax running nicely. As far as this issue with the Wenzel, since I don't have the equipment or supplies for silver soldering, I think my best bet is replacement. I found a replacement that is said to fit from BriteLyt(I live in the US) for 10 bucks plus shipping. Mixing Tube Part#33-HP I do have some automotive exhaust sealer out in the garage, I'll give that a try as @Steven67 suggested, nothing to lose. Thanks again, your help is much appreciated.
UPDATE: Success, I had the Wenzel running in the house last night for a few hours and no fumes. REPAIR: I noticed that the head of paddle screw was a loose fit in the tube and was causing the leakage. I backed up the screw on a small anvil and peened the head to expand it to a tight fit. I also covered it with some exhaust pipe sealer, trying to force it in around the screw, but most of that came off after the first use. It ran fine for awhile but I got distracted and let the pressure drop. The mantle then started to get blackened up. Afterwards I kept the pressure close to 1.5 bar and ran it like that for a couple of hours, but the mantle never fully recovered. Can a mantle be intact and still not be functional??? This mantle was a Petromax that came in the parts kit.
@Paul R Before you despair about the mantle, use a butane lighting torch or similar to burn off the carbon that’s accumulated on the mantle, then test the lantern again. Cheers Tony
@Tony Press Thanks for the info. That trick worked. She's running well again. Nice and bright. I tried the micro torch first and was not having a lot of luck, so I pulled out the big gun, Burnz-O-Matic and it didn't take long to see results.
