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.
Wil it ignite again after it's gone out, Is there possibly water in the found, did you do a leak test in a bucket of water, Maybe there s some carbon build up in the tube, that comes loose and blocks the tiny hole in evaporater
OK think I've found the problem and burner related. The way I have it in the pictures up, air intake tube is at the top (as I've seen in most of the pictures of these). But the internal burner cylinder has the air intake hole at the bottom, and the 6 intake holes at the top. I think one of these is the wrong way round. I flipped the outer intake tube so it alligns with the intake on the inner cylinder and its working much better. Can anyone tell me which way is the right way round? I can take it apart tomorrow and get some pictures if the above is absolute gibberish But thanks everyone for your advice so far.
@AndrewA air intake tube at the top. The 6 holes are actually exit holes and should be at the bottom. When the burner is installed, the top of the vapouriser rests just below the two horizontal holes where air is drawn in by the stream of fuel vapour so, when you reassemble the burner, screw the body into the bottom cap like this Then scew in the mantle spigot firmly, this will prevent the body screwing further into the bottom cap and restricting the air holes when you add the top cap. Although not necessary, you may wish to smear a little copper or nickel based grease on the threads.
