As im only new to Tilley Lamps i have loads of questions, i have 2 burners that look in great condition holes look good, after unscrewing and taking off the mixing dome the top of the burner is not round, its like a funny looking heart shape, has lost its round shape, but the mixing dome screws on and off with no issues, dose this mean its stuffed, is this a common occurrence, How can i tell if a burner body is no good, someone said if the holes look ok then use it, can i burn it with no mantle will that show if the body of the burner is stuffed, if so how long do I burn it for and what do I look for. I have a few burners with the distortion that looks like a heart shape when you unscrew mixing dome. But the rest looks to be ok, but then again I’m new so I don’t know anything or what to look for, and would rather test it without a mantle. Regards Darren
I'm not by any means an expert on Tilleys but this happens quite often from my experience. It's warped, and I believe gas will escape through those warped areas; you're not going to get a good seal. You might try "rounding" it out on a flat surface. It should be just the dome that's out if round. It's not as hard as the other parts of the burner. Guys here know more about Tilleys than I do. Good luck
@Kiwiboy00 The first rule of used Tilley lantern/lamp burners is to not take them apart unless you have to. In heavy use they can become distorted and the threads can become brittle and worn. You often see heavily used Tilley burners with ‘bent down’ air tubes and triangular-ish shaped burner chambers. It is best to clean them without taking them apart. Having said that, if you have taken one apart, carefully clean the threads and re-assemble with very high temperature nickel-grease. Then test the burner for a clean blue bunsen flame. If it’s not working properly, either ditch it, or re-assemble, having cleaned the grease off, with exhaust sealer. As a last resort, you can braze the thing together with silver solder, but that’s a last resort. Tony
Tilley burners die of old age and this distortion is pretty common. Tony is right and they are best not dismantled. You certainly never never take the three air tubes out because the threads can get badly burnt and they will not screw back and seal. Mind you when they get to that stage the burner is pretty well shot anyway. This is not a problem seen on Vapalux burners although they are the same design. They are heavier and stand extended use better. One of the reasons quite a few of us prefer the Bialaddin/Vapalux as users. ::Neil::
Thanks guys really appreciate the advise, from now on i wont pull them apart. I will buy new reproduction ones from Julian from eBay. Thats if they need replacing, but I really wanted to keep to the original burner style, as the reproduction ones are slightly different on the Mixing Dome, unless I screw the mixing dome from the old burner into the reproduction burner.
Question , do the gallery nuts of a Tilley 246 burner fit the air tube threads of the Valalux / Bialaddin burner in place of the buttons ?
Im afraid not :/ they look similar and indeed are with the main body being 1” + 1/8” and the mixing dome threads the same .. the air tubes are a very similar diameter too but the threads are different with the Vapalux being a larger diameter interestingly, Tony mentions the arms/tubes sagging or bending over time and the burner i show has that feature also
Thanks @podbros Open question do members re-tap the gallery nut threads to fit a Vapalux in a Tilley or is that not done ?
Hi Beanie, sorry my batteries aren’t fully charged today yet are you hoping to fit a vapalux burner in a Tilley ?
That was my thought yes, replacing the damaged Tilley one, the lamp will be a keeper and the consensus seems to be that the Vapalux are stronger, I do have a Tilley I can rob off another lamp until its rebuilt though
the vapourisers are different diameters? tbh im not sure if it will sit in the tilley hood edit : only one way to find out… much easier to pick up a later burner from the x246b, that’ll get you going and save a few £s
I’ve a good stock of Tilley lamps for parts , I plan to restore them all over time, so have bought a used hood and early burner as a replacement @podbros thanks for advice on 300X, WD40 worked . The air nuts however are still tight
no worries if they are plated perhaps try a heat gun? if they are brass i would try more direct heat.. if you have got the hood off try heating the nut from the inside
@podbros Used a fine point mini blow lamp to heat just the nuts from inside the hood , took some doing but got there , 2 came loose , one pulled the air tube, all cleaned up and reassembled
Excellent yes, quite common for the air tubes to come off with the air buttons on these but then you can get a better grip on them once they’re off so no worries ;-)
