Hi All, I've got a 1971 x246b which is a lovely lamp and has been great for a while. Today, I went to change the mantle and the burner/hood just won't separate from the vaporiser tube. I would almost go as far as to say its welded together!! I've only succeeded in damaging the vaporiser by trying to achieve some grip. What might have caused this? Is it common? What next? New burner and vaporiser? Or a cunning trick I'm not yet aware of? Any help would be enormously appreciated. I had to unscrew the vaporiser from the tank and carefully slide the new mantle all away long, cutting the draw strings and using copper wire to attach it! A right old faff. It still works perfectly - just would rather get the burner off the normal way!
Hello and welcome aboard! It's not an uncommon problem, the burner spigot, which is the small tube that screws into the bottom of the burner, starts to shrink and tighten around the vapouriser tube, or somtimes it's the vapouriser tube which starts to fail and expand into the spigot and it can be a combination of both. You may have to replace the vapouriser and the burner, but if your lantern is still working well, then you could leave it until it fails. However, if you wish to free them, it's better to sacrifice the vapouriser rather than the burner. What I do, is to leave the vap.,& burner soaking in vinegar for 24 hours, that softens all of the muck and the vapouriser may come free with a little help. Do let us know what you decide to do and how you get on, Jeff.
It certainly sounds as if the tip of the vapouriser may have expanded and siezed inside the spigot tube. The spigot actually unscrews from the burner body, so you should be able to remove the spigot, together with the vapouriser, and save the burner. The problem may simply be due to rust on the vapouriser, in which case dribbling some penetrating fluid such as Plus-Gas down the annular space between the parts might help. As an alternative suggestion to separate the spigot from the top of the vapouriser, try gently heating the spigot with a blowlamp, with the vapouriser held securely and immersed in iced water to just below where the spigot sits, to keep it cold. Differential expansion may free the spigot from the vapouriser. If you do try this, please ensure that the inside of the vapouriser is completely dry before firing it up again, as there have been reports of vapourisers bursting due to steam pressure. Phil
