Hi Running out of ideas on this one. I have a Tilley R1 which i've been cleaning up. It was working perfectly and would run for hours no problem. Now its winter though and after i've cleaned it up its just not working right. What I'm consistently seeing is that it will light really well, good flames coming out of the spigot and bunsening as you'd want to see, although with a bit more flame outside the mantle than I'd like. After a couple of minutes the flame seems to die in the spigots, and move towards the bottom of the mantle. Eventually it goes out. After its gone out I see kero vapour coming out of the burner which makes me think its not a pressure problem. Anyone got any ideas because I'm running out? Working quite nicely at first Flames moving away from the spigot and towards the bottom of the ceramic tube. Just before going out.
The vapouriser's jet may be enlarged, the vapouriser may be coming to the end of it's working life, carbon may have built up on the pricker wire, muck may have come loose from the inside of the tank and have partially blocked the fuel feed tube and the non return valve.
Also, I would check all of the burner parts to make certain that they are all properly tightened; however, burners do wear out through time.
Grab another working Tilley heater or lantern and start swapping parts to isolate the problem. I'd start with the heads, followed by the vapourisers.
