I thought people might like to see the kind of quality control present on the new Petromax branded lanterns. I had read that these were not great but the old ones are now going for silly money so I bought one that I found at a price I thought was OK. I took the new lamp out of the box. Seemed OK on first inspection. I fitted the mantle and then (wisely as it turned out) decided to do a pressure test on air. Lo and behold, air leaked freely from the joint beneath the on-off wheel. Examination revealed an incredibly incompetently installed lead washer. Half of it sticking out and bitten through. Really poor quality control. Well I could fix this if I had the right washer but I thought why should I? These companies won't learn unless they have repeated returns. I was offered a replacement but I chose a refund instead. I'll stick to the old British lanterns that I know.
I slept on this. I was really annoyed that a brand new lamp out of the box had such a stupid fault. I'm glad that I spotted it and if it hadn't been for other post on the internet warning about the quality control I probably wouldn't have done an air pressure test first. If I had filled it with fuel then it would have been rather a disaster. Paraffin everywhere I should think. For someone not familiar with pressure lamps this could have been a dangerous fault. I've decided that for the sake of a £0.90 washer I will give it a fettle. I looked on the Pelam website and found out that the washer (Part No. 90) can be supplied as either the standard lead washer or in Viton so it appears it doesn't get terribly hot there. I think I may have a suitable washer somewhere. If it still doesn't sort the problem out I will put it back as it was and send it back. I do have photos of the fault as it was as proof. Someone, somewhere said that it is accepted that goods will need a bit of a fettle in China. It isn't what we really expect in the UK. Having said that, and I'm a little ashamed to admit it, British goods of old (1960s and 70s) often needed a bit of adjustment out of the box and it was just taken for granted then. This is of course old technology but it doesn't excuse such an obvious fault. If they can't even install a washer properly then what hope is there for the correct installation and adjustment of more complex parts?
I would suggest to stick with lead for this washer. The connection is usually tightened a lot and rubber might have a tendency to shear or bunch up. Just goes to show that there is no basic testing of the product during assembly. I thought the quality issues were in the actual part production, but it is obviously in the assembly as well.
I now have the lamp working. What a monster it is! That nut that you see in my picture (with the lead washer sticking out) is brazed to the tank in one place so the washer cannot be replaced without major work. I could not see that without partially dismantling the lamp. In fact, it was not leaking there but was leaking from the blowlamp starter. That is now tightened and it works fine. How one is ever supposed to replace the lead washer I don't know.
The nut is fitted to the tank, to unscrew the vapouriser you will have to grip it at the pricker control knob and turn the whole vapouriser around. Of course you will have to remove hood, globe, cage etc. first. They used lead washers because you can adjust the control wheel of the vapouriser this way easily so that it points into the correct direction.
That particular washer requires the almost complete disassembly of the lamp. The control knob will usually strike the preheater so it's an all or nothing repair. Slightly annoying to have to go through all the trouble but not all that hard. If the lamp runs now then removing the whole tube as an assembly changes none of the adjustments that these lanterns love so much.
Thanks for the replies. Yes the lamp did run and I did not have to replace the washer or do anything around that area of the lamp. Not for long though! Within 30 minutes the pricker control failed. Removing the jet showed the needle crumpled up. It appears it had been adjusted incorrectly. As the pricker control has to act as an on/off control with these lamps (because you need pressure to use the preheater) it isn't good when this fails. The result is you can't built up pressure without paraffin leaking out of the jet and of course the pricker doesn't work either. I'm sending it back. The retailer has accepted the return and have told me that they have suspended sales until they investigate this. This is a German retailer and they must have been rather concerned to have suspended sales.I suspect they are also fed up with returns.
You don't need the needle to seal the jet, at the lower end of the vap there is a valve that is opened and closed with the same rod that operates the needle.
Me, here, several times. I can't say I particularly remember things made in the UK needing fettling out of the box on a routine basis - from time-to-time, no doubt the odd thing that got past quality control but no more than that...
Hi everyone, I ordered sample 150cp and 500cp From Pelam when the took over Petromax. They wer eboth apalling and required hours of work to get running safely. I refused to buy new lamps from them, only spares until they could supply a half decent lamp 'out of the box'..! Eigteen months ago they told me they had improved quality control and were doing final assembly in Germany. I ordered two more samples...both were as bad as before... A sad state for a brand like Petromax.
I believe that most of the Pmax clones are made by the same company now. Santrax or something like that comes to mind. Parts are sometimes just as dismal as complete lamps. The same lantern built with a better quality brass would last too long for the greedy companies these days. There is one lamp I'd consider buying new today, the Vapalux; first reports have been favorable. Products made the cheapest way possible have been around for years, that is why we collect and restore the old one's isn't it?
Yes John, that's correct and if anyone wants a good Petromax type of lantern, then there are plenty of the older ones around to collect and restore. Hipolito and Optimus and Primus all made good quality lanterns of that type. Old Anchor lanterns are a good source for parts, as all of the working parts are made from brass, Jeff.
Fair enough but this was not working. With the wheel set to "off" paraffin was still dribbling out and catching fire on the hot surfaces. The valve obviously had some effect because it did put the lamp out, sort of. I just released the pressure to stop it as I would with a Vapalux or Tilley. Made a lot of nasty smelling smoke though. I sent a long e-mail to the supplier and told them I thought the quality was abysmal and that these lamps could be rather dangerous (of course all pressure lamps are potentially dangerous but I mean dangerous even when used correctly). To my surprise they said they took it very seriously and they were suspending further sales until they had investigated.
I must be looking in the wrong places because the old Petromax lanterns seem to be fetching very high prices. Even the others you mention are sought after though I may try to find a decent Hipolito and bring that back to operation. It seems the only way to own one of these lamps. New ones are not the way to go. I have an Anchor that works when it feels like it but the tank is rusty inside (and outside) so it may serve for some parts as you suggest.
Just another comment on quality. Even the mantles don't seem very well made. The mantle ties are made of a thin, waxy feeling string. They break easily and I broke one tying a knot. That's never happened to me before. I wasn't impressed. Fortunately I was tightening a knot and the string broke after the knot. I didn't really matter though because the lamp was faulty and I sent it back. If I was an entrepreneur I'd love to set up a company making really high quality lamps of this kind that are designed to last and last. The only trouble is people are so price sensitive that they don't take quality into account when they make purchases. Oh and LED lanterns making pressure lanterns seem too much fuss for the average bloke. It would be too niche market I suppose.
I suspect they would not. Years ago if something was purchased it was generally expected to last well and to be readily mended if needed. Now people are used to cheap goods made in the Far East and they throw them away with no thought about repair. This isn't entirely the user's fault. Companies have made goods that cannot be repaired, in part deliberately and partly I suspect to make them cheaper to manufacture. It seems wrong to me particularly as we are now more aware of the finite resources on our planet. We are encouraged to recycle but we wouldn't need to "recycle" if goods could be fixed and were durable. I also collect clocks and watches. Right now I am looking at my longcase clock that has been ticking away (with regular maintenance of course) since 1790. That's durability for you.....but it would have cost many years wages to an ordinary man back in the day and it also depended on the skill of many highly skilled craftsmen who expected to be paid a fair wage. Now I am obviously annoyed by the poor quality of my lamp but I do spare a thought for the people working in the factory for peanuts. What is particularly galling is that the cost per unit is probably very low but someone is making a very decent profit by selling them at fairly substantial prices to the end-user. If they weren't so greedy, they could be made properly (with higher production costs) and sold at a similar price but of course that would be less profit......
I absolutely agree with everything said, today you cannot expect that a product is made by engineers with the aim that it will last for a long time. Today the companies are only obliged to their shareholders and their profit. They want to gain maximum profit with minimum efforts. So if your product is good and lasts a long time you will soon have problems and not sell any more of it after the market is saturated. And if your product is poor nobody will buy it after a short time. So perhaps the only way is to diversify the goods you offer like Coleman does, they don't sell just pressure lamps but a lot of camping stuff. This way they can do cross-financing and minimize the risk of an individual product range. A lot of specialized businesses made the mistake not to spread their product range and if the interest in their product declines they are out of the game. Of course you can build highly priced items which are of a good quality but you will have in mind that such a product is not for everyone but only for a wealthy audience. I would confirm that pressure lamps are a niche market nowadays where only a production in the far east is profitable. The well known brands are still existing but cannot deliver the same quality as we expected it from them in former times when they were producing in Europe.
I wouldn't be surprised to hear that Chinese prison labour is used to manufacture and assemble the current Petromax lanterns. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laogai Chinese industrial equipment that I've used in Canada over the last 15 years is as good as anything made in North America at a better price, large oilfield fluid pumps and compressors come to mind.
Chinese manufacturers are perfectly capable of making a good quality product. The problem we see is that these same manufacturers will make what you ask for. It is all about specification and quality control. So if you go to a chinese lamp factory and ask them to make you a $10 lamp they will do so and flog you a few thousand. They know as well as we do that the product is crap but they seem to take the attitude that if some fool of a foreign devil wants rubbish then they will supply it. A western manufacturer can't do this because he is bound by consumer law and subject to higher labour and materiel costs so his response to such a request would be that for $10 it can't be done and he would refuse the job. ::Neil::
