Hail to all viewers. I recently bought a Wenzel 500CP piece on Mother Ebay for a reasonable price given it had a cracked ceramic. It was a horror show cosmetically when it arrived aboard. It looked as though it had been run hard and put away wet every time it was taken out and used. I dismantled it and gave it a very thorough detailing, then checked to see if it held pressure....and it did. I then loaded it up with half a fount of fresh kerosene, shook it without mercy, then turned it upside down and drained off the kerosene &looked at all the little 'monsters' that came out with the fuel. I did this twice, then fueled it to capacity, heated it up twice with the alcohol bowl, then applied about four strokes of the pump and offered the mantle a ration of fuel, but not a whole lot. To my delight, the ole Wenzel came to life and offered up scads of light. Cutting to the chase, this evening after running it for about a half hour with a fresh mantle, it suddenly began to 'roar' (for lack of a better term). I jumped to my feet and immediately let off all the pressure (the relative pressure meter was indicating just above the 2) and tuned it off. I immediately noted that the entire upper portion of the combustion tubes, the curved pipes through which the gas flows on its way to the mantle, were literally RED HOT. Why was this occurring? The fuel being burned was a 50/50 blend of diesel from my engine room and fresh jet fuel, essentially super clean, well refined kerosene. When this 'roaring' occurred, it immediately got my attention. I look forward to your thoughts, gentlemen. Thank you, Captain Mike De Long in Hampton, Virginia on the eats coast of America.
Back burn like that can be very destructive and in a lamp that does this it requires surgery to fix. It occurs when the passages for the mixed fuel are enlarged or damaged which allows the flame to retreat into the mixing volume. In lamps with ceramic mantle carriers such as Petromax types you can probably effect a cure by inserting a wire mesh inside the ceramic which reduces the gas passage hole size. In fact if you look inside the mantle holders in a lot of twin mantle American lamps you will find that in addition to the holes in the carrier there is also a wire mesh. This is rare in burners such Tilley and Vapalux and when it does happen I suspect it is because the gas holes are enlarged through use and with those the cure is a new burner. ::Neil::
Hail James & Neil. I thank you for the input. I did indeed find the link that you suggested I look at interesting, James. It appears as though what I am experiencing with my 'many miles Wenzel', is not unique. I must admit to being frightened when the 'roaring' began. I am always concerned about a fire aboard my boat and take special precautions to prevent same. This issue HAS TO BE ADDRESSED or I will refuse to use that lantern again, period. Your explanation of the physics of what was going on in the bowels of the Wenzel was definitely 'spot on' as you Brits say. Thank you again, Captain Mike De Long in Hampton, Virginia,....tobacco country.
Hail once more James & Neil. I have a report for you on the ever lengthening saga of the HOT WENZEL. Thinking that the burner was at fault, I remove the burner from a 829 Petromax that I own, and swapped it into the Wenzel along with the gas chamber & ceramic nozzle. I fired it up and it is running within arm's length of me even as I type. It has been running for about a half hour now without any 'roaring'. It is, however, really 'pulsing', so much so that it is annoying as can be. The fount is about half full and the pressure is at about 1.5 on the relevant scale. During its pulsing, it seems to be almost at the point of stopping altogether, then it miraculously recovers again. Can anyone suggest why it is pulsing so much? Do I need to keep the pressure higher? Thank you, Captain Mike De Long in Hampton, Virginia.
Hail once more to those who are reading these rants. I just discovered that when the lantern is running and I turn the control knob from the six o'clock position & approach about 8:30 or so, the pulsing stops completely. The same response when I turn the control knob counter clockwise to about 4:30 or so. Does this suggest that the jet and needle need replaced? Thank you, Captain Mike De Long in Hampton, Virginia.
