Although I've owned and used stoves that work on a similar principle I,m very new to the world of pressure lamps... I've recently obtained a Tilly lamp which from looking at your lamp reference section I believe to be a Tilly X246B. The number printed on the base is 674 and hopefully from that someone can confirm the date for me. Anyway I,m currently in the process of restoring this lamp. It was quite dirty but more seriously the non return valve leaks as does the control vavle. Obviously I need to repair the non return valve but here's my question: What does the contro valve actually do and could the lamp simply be used without it working as in fully open all the time? PS. I'm another who is in need of a pre heater tourch PS. I'm posting from my tablet at the moment, but when I get back to my PC I,m post a picture so that my identification can be confirmed.
The control cock can be left open as long as the pump screw that acts as the filler cap too is kept loosely so that no pressure can build up inside the font due to temperature changes. If you close the pump screw and the paraffin expands it will get through the vapouriser opening and get everywhere on the lamp and table. Edit: I forgot the control cock operates the cleaning needle too.
If it is an X246B, it was made sometime between 1964 and last Friday. Given that, you'd likely need one guess only as to the date - June 1974. The seals for the control cock gland will be available from the Fettle Box (top right of the screen). The control cock has a double action - it raises the pricker wire to clean the jet if it gets blocked during running and also seals the jet during storage. As well as that, it operates a seal at the bottom of the cock which shuts off the fuel supply from the tank - when it's working, anyway. This seal is a bit redundant in a kerosene lantern. The NRV seal is a shaped one and you'll find that in the Tilley SP1 seals kit or the Tilley 'new' 498 kit. Don't buy an 'old' 498 kit because it doesn't contain the NRV seal you'll need, if it is an X246B you have... Click here - the gland seals are Part No. 234 and the lower control cock seal is Part. No. 'new' 155
Thanks for the replies so far... Here's the picture which will hopefully confirm it's identity. The sharp eyed among you may notice that I'm also missing a couple of washers which had both perished. One between the control valve and the tank, and the other between the control tank and the vaporiser tube. Other than that, a mantle and the faults mentioned in my opening post the lamp is in pretty good condition.
Thanks to the info earlier the bits I need are now on their way to me, including some mantles... I'm still a little confused with regard to the control knob though. Which way is fully open and which way off (or should be off if it were working)? Also I read quite a bit about the vaporiser and replacing them, but what actually goes wrong with them and can I tell without lighting the lamp? Finally for now, can old vaporisers be successfully refurbished or is the only option replacement?
Hello, Clockwise is the cleaning position, the cleaning needle is pushed up in the tip orifice so the flow of fuel is restricted. Counter clockwise is the run position. As the fuel is converted from a liquid to a gas in the vaporiser it creates particles of carbon. These particles collect on the inside walls of the vaporiser and eventually block the flow of fuel to a point that it will not burn correctly. There has been some success with heating the vaporiser tube then quenching it in cold water, this allows some of the carbon to be removed by tapping the threaded end on a solid surface. This is one of my favorite pictures to describe the carbon that can be found in a vaporiser. You can see now why replacement is often the best remedy. There is a cleanable vaporiser being produced out of Germany I believe. They have been getting favorable reviews.
Hi John thanks for the reply... I realise it will be highly dependent on the quality of the fuel used, but what is the expected lifespan for a vaporiser? Obviously it's not something I've had to worry about with my wick lamps, and I guess in normal use stoves are generally only on for a fraction of the time a lamp would be. Although I did once run my M-1950 non stop for 24 hours as the only source of heat
In the 1930s and 40s instruction booklets Tilley gave an expected vaporiser life span of 500 hours. Mind you there is a drop off in performance and 300 hours is probably a better figure to work to. ::Neil::
So if you were using this in the winter as a main source of light that's probably only one season before replacement. ********************** On my own lamp things have progressed and I've actually had it lit, albeit without the mantle as I don't yet have one... A couple of other questions have popped up though: Ideally I wanted to repair the control valve so that it works but I couldn't work out how it actually comes apart to get at the valve. Presumably there's a correct order. The other thing I noticed is that if I turn it to the clean position it actually extinguishes the lamp - is this normal?
The control valve doesn't come apart beyond what is needed to replace the seals. The jet cleaner works because the pricker protrudes up through the jet and pushes the crud out. It was a Tilley patented idea to have the pricker also seal the jet. So yes, if you leave the pricker up, the lantern will go out. The idea is that you quickly turn the control cock into the up position and quickly return it to the run position. If you're quick enough, the jet is cleared and the lantern re-lights. Tilley suggest you have a means of re-lighting the lantern handy when you prick the jet, in case you're not quick enough and the lantern goes out. - these are for the FL6 but they're all more-or-less the same...
Hi David, thanks for that... Clearly I wasn't quick enough as mine went out. As it was only a quick test run without a mantle I just released the pressure at that point and didn't bother trying to relight. I guess it stays hot enough to relight with a taper for a reasonable amount of time? Aside from that it seemed to run well on it's test run so all is looking good... I'll post a picture of it working once the mantles arrive and thanks again to everyone for their advice and info... as I say although the principle is the same, the subtleties are really quite different to my stove/s which I suspect was/is quite a bit more forgiving.
Depends what you mean by 'reasonable' of course, but it's measured in seconds rather than minutes. After that, you'll need to prime again...
Pleased to say I've now managed to get the control valve working as it should... I'm not sure if my cleaning wire needs replacing or not though - is it meant to come to a sharp point? Mine looks a little blunt and on my stove I could see it in the cleaning position by looking down on the jet, on my lamp I can't. I can't wait for my mantles to arrive, I'm like a child at Christmas wanting to play with my toy but someone forgot the batteries!! Even more frustrating, I'm also waiting on three Aladdin lamps I bought for restoration...
The cleaning wire is meant to have a sharp point on it. Run your fingertip across the top of the vaporiser with the rod down then again with the rod up; you should feel the tip of the rod sticking out just a bit. The mantles will show up but eventually you will find yourself needing more, it's a vicious circle
Thanks John, I'll check it out tonight... Could someone just confirm that the correct part numbers are 606 for the vaporiser and 607 for the wire? As it worked I'm assuming for the time being that the vaporiser is fine, and I may just have to find the wire..
Well the mantles arrived, but it's been a nightmare trying to get it lit!! It turns out that my cleaning wire doesn't clean and if anything made matters worse - so I was stuck with a blocked jet and a cleaning wire that was too blunt to clean Fortunately my wife had some very fine needles and I managed to unblock it with one of those... The light wasn't as steady as I was expecting, but for the time being at least it is working. So it looks like I need a new cleaning wire at the very least. Anyway a picture of it working...
I wouldn't have thought it was worth replacing just the cleaning wire with a used vapouriser. You may as well just replace the vapouriser. They come as a unit with a wire already inside.
Having a look round I was sort of coming to that conclusion and at least I'll have a spare albeit used vaporiser... Is it the 606 I need??
I now have one on order although it seems to be working quite happily with the old vaporiser and the cleaning wire removed...
Having seen the new cleaning wire I know that my old one was definitely missing the fine tip... All fitfed and I think working as it should.
Well it might work happily for a short time until the jet clogs and then without a wire you can't unblock the jet.....
If the remains inside is carbon, shouldnt it then be possible to heat it up to white-hot so the carbon will burn away? Just like pyrolyse in todays Owens? All carbon is burnable. Claus C
Hello Claus - that works well on stove burners with removable jets. That way once there is an air path you can get some flow to get carbon burning. In a Tilley vapouriser there is no way to remove the jet so air flow is always very limited - and insufficient in my experience. Heat, quench & tap out carbon is really the only method available. regards
The problem is that once the Vapouriser has got that much carbon in it the jet has most likely also enlarged as well.
