Dear Friends, I am seeking advice on how to rebuild the control valve on an Aida 500cp lantern. Currently thje knob only rotates through 180°. I can hear the vaporizer hissing when pressurized on an empty fount but the valve does not seem to close as expected. Any help or suggestions are appreciated. I have a second Aida which works perfectly.
This is just a guess, but perhaps the pricker rod is set to high. I would remove the jet and unscrew the pricker rod, but be careful not to break the actual pricker. The bottom of the pricker rod is threaded and there should be a nut fitted to that thread and it is used to set the height of the rod. However, that type of lantern does not have a positive shut off valve and that is because it's a paraffin/kerosene lantern.
This is my method for lighting the Petromax/Aida type of lanterns. I let the lamps pre heat until only a third of the meths is left in the trough. Then with the pricker turned up I add some pressure, 10 strokes of the pump should be enough, but it depends on how much fuel is in the tank. I then slowly lower the pricker and once the mantle lights I gradually build up the pressure. Jeff.
Here is an excellent tutorial on how to do a complete overhaul on your lantern.... http://light.papo-art.com/tech-n-info/Petromax_technical/restore_pmax_rebuild.html#Chapter_5_-_Adjustment_of_the_gen%3Fs_rod
