Hi folks, I'm restoring a Nulite 110M and have run into a little snag. I cannot pressurize the font with the current fill valve. I believe it to be the original valve based on the pictures in the reference library. I have put in a new washer, but any amount of pumping results in the air just rushing past the check valve. The valve is thoroughly clean with the ball freely moving around. If I suck on the valve (no wise cracks ) from the top, or blow into it from the bottom with the valve pointing down it seals fine. However if I blow into it holding it with the top up (as it would be in the lamp), it will not seal, the air rushes past the ball. I have an Akron 103 with the same type and size cap and this one works fine operationally and in the Nulite. Looking at the both of them side by side, I notice that the check valve ball in the Akron is a much larger diameter, occupying most of the diameter of the cylinder. The Nulite ball is small and seems the air just takes the path of least resistance around the ball. Has anyone had this problem before? Could it be the valve is from a different appliance? Is there a fix short of getting another valve (not easy) or perhaps replacing the ball with a bigger one? (not easy either, I presume, as bending those small tabs twice would probably cause them to break). Thanks for your thoughts, Dan
Hi Dan Can't advise on these as I don't have one, but if it comes to replacing the ball with a bigger one, then don't overly worry about breaking those tabs, I'm sure we can get over that obstacle if/when that happens. We can soon machine a brass retaining collar that's a nice press fit inside those unbent remaining tabs, to replace the bent tabs and retain the ball in place Good luck Dan
My 110M cap behave exactly like that, but I don't see it as a problem. I think it's just how these were constructed. I can still pump air into the tank without anything leaking out, and the ball will be seated to seal after some strokes as the pressure increases. If I attach the pump to a totally empty tank, and give it a few pump strokes and then remove the pump, all air will rush out again. But the pump itself seals so good that it's no problem in pressurising the tank. And it only takes about 15 strokes (in an empty tank!) before the pressure will be high enough to finally lift the ball to seal, and after that it works just as you are used to, and the pump can be removed without any air leaking out. It's pretty obvious when this occur, because you can hear a low but distinct "tick" as the pressure overruns the will for the ball to stay down, and finally force it up to its seat. With petrol in the tank, this happens practically immediately, so you don't even think about it. It's easy to be fooled by just our weak suction or blowing. It will behave different with just a bit more pressure. Give it a new try, and make sure you have a good pump! Preferably with the tank well filled with e.g. water to make the pressure build up faster.
Christer, Thanks for the advice, especially from the experience of the exact lamp. It was your lamp I was making the fill cap comparison to. This evening I had a quart of POR-15 Marine Clean in the font to clean it out. I tried adding more pumps as you suggested with mixed results. Sometimes it sealed and other times it did not. I'm not liking this behavior. Every other lamp/lantern I have of this type seals almost immediately with a pump or two. I will however, experiment more when the lamp is cleaned, assembled and I've added Coleman fuel. I'll also try some other pumps. Ray, Thanks for the encouragement and offer to help. It may come to that, but I have not given up on this, especially since I now know that this is how the original lamp worked. Dan
Another question... Upon dis-assembly, this lamp had no screens in the burner caps. There are many outlet holes in the cap and the diameter of them is small so maybe it's not necessary (or someone took them out). Again from past experience, most of my lamps have screens in them. Is it standard practice to have screens in the caps? Dan
Some do and some don't. If the holes are small enough then a screen is redundant. See how it runs and if you don't get a burn back then it does not need screens. ::Neil::
The screen mesh (from a Coleman screen) was only a little bit smaller than the hole size so I skipped the screen and the burner works fine. By burn back, do you mean the same thing that happens occasionally in a Tilley burner where you get burn up inside the tube? I've never had this happen in any other lamp/lantern. I never knew what the purpose was for the screens and figured it was to even out the gas flow from the tubes. I always learn something new here. Now about that NRV. No amount of different pumps or methods would make this valve work right. The ball is just too small. Using a comical "pump like crazy" motion, I was able to pressurize the tank. The real fun started when I wanted to add more air to the tank. Unless I really quickly spun the air inlet screw open (like a roulette wheel), the valve would not seal. If I opened it normally, air would rush out of the tank. Needless to say, this is a bit disconcerting with a lit lamp Fortunately I had a scrap Akron lantern with an almost identical fill valve. The only difference was that the Akron valve did not fit the hole in the Nulite cap; the fill screw boss diameter at the top of the valve was 0.025" too big. I didn't want to drill out the Nulite cap so I chucked it up in my "poor man's lathe" and using a couple of safe edge files, was able to get it to fit nicely. The valve now seals perfectly and there are no more fire drills. I've posted the finished lamp in the gallery 27312[/ATTACH]
