Hi everyone, hope someone can help me. My Coleman keeps pressure for weeks on end, so no leaks in the fount / srv, etc. When I light it, it runs perfectly normal for about 20 minutes and then starts oscillating (flame going bright and dim) for a while and then returns to normal for another roughly 20 minutes, only to repeat the process. Every time this happens, I operate the control valve by turning it to the cleaning position and back on again. I can hear a distinct difference in the sound when the lantern oscillates, louder hiss with increase in light output and then back to more quiet with normal light output. Anyone had this experience before?
The phenomenon is called surging or hunting and the reason is insufficient packing material inside your generator, I would tear apart that generator and clean it out, then wrap the spring in a mesh of fine brass like a #80 (or courser in the case of kerosene), this will slow the kero down enough so it can properly boil at a slower rate instead of flash boiling causing the oscillation you see.
Thanks ever so much for the advice. I will have to scratch around to see if I can find brass mesh though. By the way, what is the best method of cleaning out the generator?
A brass gun brush and some oven cleaner to decoke is one way. There's a lot of different ways to go about it if you searched around enough here.
Thanks very much. I have a .22 caliber brush that seems to be the right fit. Will give it a try. Looks like there's a lot of gunk inside the vaporiser tube.
Just a note to say that I have cleaned the generator with a gun brush as suggested by you, and I have now run the lantern for a total of 2 hours without any problems. Seems like brass mesh will not be needed after all. An incredible amount of gunk came out of the generator tube. Thank you ever so much for your kind advice!
