Wire mantle on R1 appears a bit small

Will this still work? Wire collor doesn't reach sleeve. Seems a bit on the short side.

 

@nzoomed
I’m reluctant to say ‘they all do that’ for fear of the exception proving me wrong, but those I’ve encountered do and it doesn’t mess up combustion.

 

Cool, that's all I need to know.
I think there are several crowds that are now making the things.
It appears tilley made them for a short while too, but those are few and far between to find

 

I suspect there are lots of them in the UK.

 

I have three of them (reproductions) - all with a gap at the top. I have never seen a genuine Tilley wire one in person. However :

 

@Fireexit1

I’ve never seen Part No. 1126. Very interesting — it has a collar at the top.

I’ve a small box of mesh globes for Tilley radiators and none have the collar. They are all like the one in the original post on this thread.

Tony

Edit: I see Neil McRae has posted some examples of No. 1126 mantles in the Mantle gallery.

 

Now you got me thinking, so I measured 5 wire mantles with a micrometer.
From the 5 mantles that I measured, there is a 6mm difference in height, and 2mm in diameter.
The smallest in height comes in at 39mm, and 48mm diameter, these I know are aftermarket mantles from a well known supplier in the UK, and work exceptionally well.
The tallest in height comes in at 45mm, and 46mm diameter.



None of these had a gap when fitted to their burners.
But I see in a previous post of mine that I've had one with a gap, that I can remember.
See photos below.




As you can see, the gap didn't effect the radiator at all.
That's my 20cents worth.
Thanks.

 

Wow that's interesting to see so many different mantles.
There must be a few people making them now I guess?
Anyway, I've fired it up and here is a couple of photos of it going on full.
We are going to use it in our Mai Mai to keep us warm over duck season.

 

Just another thing I've noticed is it flakes off each time it cools down after use.
I bought it from a new zealand retailer, so don't know the supplier, but I suspect its made by Basecamp.

 

@nzoomed
Is it carbon or steel flakes?

 

It looks like steel to me. It was real bad the first time, not so much the second time.
I was wondering if it was some sort of plating on the wire that has burned off?
It was popping like crazy and you could hear it all flake off.

 

Try a magnet and see if they are steel flakes.

 

Wow, they are steel!
Is this normal?

 

I'm not too sure, I dont remember seeing this on my new ones.
Others here should know.

 

yeah will be interesting to know for sure, if this is typical, i dont expect them to have a long life.

 

In my experience, they don't ! I've had mantles from both U.K. suppliers, one barely lasted 3 months, the other did actually see me through 1 winter but in the end, both oxidised, became very brittle and eventually dropped in bits.

 

Ok, there must be a better kind of wire they could use I wonder?
Was that 3 months solid use every day?
I won't be using anywhere near that much but kind of sucks if they have a short life.

 

Nearer to 4 months, usually between 5 and 6 hours each evening.

I did pay more for a wire mantle from Korea or Taiwan, I can't remember the seller but he claimed his mantles were better because there was chromium in the steel. It's served me well for more than 3 years now and is still going strong (even now as I type) with no signs of deterioration other than it has sagged a little so the bottom is no longer spherical. Not too much of a problem, I've reshaped it before, perhaps I'll do so again.

 

Sounds to me like it was stainless steel if it contains chromium.
That would resist oxidization too

 

Discussion on gaps is interesting but surely the length of the insulator, which I’m sure has varied on some of mine, is a factor.

 

Im sure ive encountered 2 different lengths on those ceramic tubes, but I think its more to do with suiting different burners.
This burner had an asbestos mantle on it, but i took it off.

 

@nzoomed .. I think your replacement mesh mantle may well be stainless steel but possibly not the best grade for being heated?
I have used them too with the same flaking as you found.. very messy
There are many types and grades of s/steel and quite a few are magnetic..
there are lots of threads about folk trying to make their own and using different shapes and sizes, some spherical and some based more like the cylindrical ones used on the Bialaddin Bowlfire
@Henry Plews thanks for those stats and the information about the other mesh mantle it does sound as though they are using a better grade of s/steel mesh

 

On the R1 I’ve found the shorter insulating tube or possibly the mantle support allowed me to get the wire mantle to sit neatly around the burner base but with a longer insulating tube I could only do the mantle up so far and the mantle left a gap. I measured a few and found the different lengths as I was investigating whether some welding fittings which had similar diameters might fit but alas the inner widening refused to be drilled out as too hard.

I should add though, that sometimes the shorter insulating tube can then leave part of a the mantle support exposed. Would be interesting to see if the mantle supports and insulating tubes did vary noticeably.

 

Quite possible.
It looked like stainless when i got it and no visible rust that I could tell at the time, except for one spot at the top which is visible in the photograph.
Has anyone had experience with the ones sold by basecamp? Im pretty confident its one of their mantles.
I too have seen many different types on the market, including cylindrical ones with holes punched in a round steel cylinder.
Would like to know where the ones are sources from Korea or wherever it was from. Am also keen to know how a genuine tilley wire mantle stacked up regarding lifespan.
I think wire looks the best, resembles more of a mantle like they used to have. Has anyone measured heat output of steel vs asbestos?

I was thinking of that too, but dont have enough thread to lift up the mantle any higher.
The funny thing is i have encountered a heater in the past that also had way more thread on the shaft too, one way around this would be to add a spacer beneath the mantle.

 

@Sedgman

I often find different lengths of ceramic tube on Kayens, sometime two pieces to make one length.

But... I have a fair few NOS Tilley ceramic tubes and they appear to be all the same length, ~37.5mm.





From left to right:

Tilley SP4 service kit; mesh radiator globe, stainless steel mesh (ex Jim Dick); Tilley Part No. 165 box; Tilley Part No. 165 ceramic; TW Sands alternate heater part, brass mesh; CCS member-made alternate heater part, stainless steel mesh (used).


Short pieces of ceramic tube, ex-Kayen.



Cheers

Tony

 

Very interesting hay?
So I wonder if because we have Kayen lamps in Australia, that is the reason why we have different size ceramic tubes?

 

Both mantles fit properly on the flange of the burner



The thread dimension is for interest but is included in the mantle tube length. Anything that looks like a typo is NOT.



The two burners and the Tilley SP4 pack and a new spare ceramic.

The above measurements show some variations on a few of my R1 parts. I have no Kayen heaters at all.

 

It could be that the SP4 tubes for latest Tilley burner is longer than some earlier ones… .

Now…

This is an old R1 that I pulled out of the shed:





The length of that ceramic is 32mm.

Old burners had shorter ceramics?

Tony

 

@Tony Press
Interesting re your older burner ceramic at 32 mm matching the couple I pulled out. I think you are onto something raising the possibility that the earlier ceramics may be shorter.

Regards

 

Same here, 32mm and 38mm, I also have a Kayen ceramic tube, it's 35mm and is thicker, than the Tilley ceramic tubes, measuring 4.25mm thickness.
The shorter 32mm are from 3 early R1 burners pre 1940 and the longer are all from the later 1940's onwards R1 Radiator lamps.
Kayen on the left side.