I just noticed on the bay that folks in Asia are mass producing the Tilley vapourisers with replaceable jets and the like. Does anyone have experience with any of them?
They're also producing them for Bialaddin and Vapalux, Al, at what seems quite a high price - initially, £30 which quickly rose to £40 after the first one or two had been sold.. I'd also be interested to know how they go, although I think it's probably a little too soon yet for anyone to have bought one and given it anything more than a short-term trial. Personally, I've sufficient of either vapouriser in conventional form to see me out, so I don't envisage the need to be buying any of the serviceable type at any point. On another level, I wonder why either Tilley or W&B didn't go for this type of vapouriser. I suspect it may be something to do with the fact that their vapourisers are subject to higher working temperatures than other types and this leads to tip degradation as well as clogging and jet erosion. Certainly tests I did a couple of years back with vapourisers in Bialaddin bowlfire suggested that flaking of that part of the outer surface of the vapouriser situated within the mantle could be an important factor in determining their service life. How far that extends to the various lanterns etc., where vapouriser tip temperatures might be expected to be somewhat lower, remains to be seen...
I was thinking of buying a couple, but in , vapourisers with replaceable jets were discussed, and the consensus seems to be that brass is a poor choice for this application, particularly for Tilley lamps due to the vapouriser's load-bearing design.
Hi Guys Brass is really not the way to go & when used in a Tilley that is off centre ( like most ) it will bend & push the needle off centre breaking off the cleaning wire The original ones were steel for good reason to give them longevity & strength in a very harsh environment , the brass will eventually soften & bulge under pressure of the fuel/air in the fount jamming the vapouriser in the burner , all this i know from experience of making a similar Tilley vapouriser to the one being offered on ebay Stu .
Ditto: I only use the brass Tilley ones I have for testing. The one that I used on an X246 "pork pie" developed a bulge 3/4 up the vaporiser and jammed in the spigot.
