Well, I was having some odd burning symptoms so I thought it was my fuel pick up tube being clogged. Ran through the whole lamp, cleaned everything out and the lamp re-lit and ran about 30 minutes before going out. No fuel was coming out of the vaporizer so I decided to try to take it apart. Everything was stuck solid. Was eventually able to get the vaporizer out of the brass part that sits on it, but it took a lot of kroil and patience. The vaporizer is very swollen and sadly no longer usable. Is there a source for 169 vaporizers?
As a recent thread regarding 169 vapourisers said, Tilley are currently in the process of re-engineering their current 169 production. This is due to so many problems with the previous batches, wherever they were made (China?). NOS ones do appear on eBay, circa 30-35 quid posted uk.
Mmm, why just the 169's I wonder, after all the only difference between a 169 and a 606 is the length of the steel tube. As far as I know, they're made here in the U.K.
Presumably it will be the 5" versions too, I guess. But I only use the 7" on all mine, so I can't comment. I bought 7 of them last year from Tilley and only one was giving problems (flaring & pulsing on a known good lamp otherwise), which Tilley duly replaced. They didn't want the old one back, which I tested again on two different lamps recently; that being fine on one, but giving slight flaming on another. So perhaps 1 in 7 giving problems is a representative stat and hopefully any problems will be ironed out on the next batch.
An update tonight. The new vaporizer tube is installed along with a fresh mantle. We had the fount cleaned out as well while waiting on parts to arrive. I lit it tonight and it runs better than ever!
I spoke to Tilley recently, their vapourisers are all made in house, they wouldn't admit to quality issues (I'm currently waiting on replacement number 3 for a 606 i ordered ages back) but they have said that one of the machines they make them on has had some fairly major work, and have very recently started production again. I haven't had one of the most recent to try yet though...
