At the local steam and vintage rally this morning, I spotted a brand new, never-used Vapalux M320 complete with two new mantles and the glass still wrapped in paper. I asked the price, then tried to hide my delight when the seller asked for £20. He then produced the original box and instruction leaflet! I soaked the pump washer in oil for half an hour tonight, then fired up the lamp, but the fitted mantle had a crack in it through which a flame impinged on the glass, so I'm waiting for it to cool down so I can fit the spare mantle and try again. This is my first non-Tilley pressure lamp and I'm impressed with its quality, although I have a couple of questions: 1. Is there a way of servicing the pump non-return valve? It's at the bottom of an ostensibly irremovable pump tube fixed into the fount. 2. Are there any recommended 'best' mantles for durability and light output? The fixed spirit cup and wick seems to hold more meths and burn far longer than the typical Tilley torch, so I guess that the preheat is more thorough and the chances of experiencing flaring are far less. Cheers all, Phil
I'm pretty pleased! The Vapalux gives a good account of itself against my Tilley 500 series. The light from the Vapalux is slightly yellow/pink compared to the Tilley's greenish tinge. I like the Vapalux and will be on the lookout for more... Phil
Hello Phil, the Vapalux/Bialaddin/Imber Research pump valve has a slot in it, so that it can be removed with a screwdriver and the valve can be taken apart so that the spring and pip can be renewed. Vapalux/Bialaddin mantles are the ones to use, but other companies also made mantles for the Willis & Bates lanterns and lamps. The lanterns are all well made, but I prefer the older ones which have brass cages as they do not transfer so much heat to the tanks, but that is not so much of a problem if the lanterns are used outside, Jeff.
Nice catch you did there, Phil. £20 for an unlit Vapalux is very cheap. It seems to be a military one and of a quit resent manufacture. If you look at the collar a bow the tank you will probably see the manufacturing date. I will think that most of the resent ones that was sold from military stocks where made in 2005. Vapalux/Bialaddin is a favourite of mine but I like Tilley too even that the quality of Vapalux is far better. Michael
Yes, the date of manufacture is 2003 and it was obviously made for the military, with the olive green colour scheme and pheon (broad arrow) markings. Not sure about the mantles though. After a one-hour burn last night I noticed that the mantle had burned through again, just below the burner jets around one side. When first lit, the mantle took quite a time to inflate properly so I suspect the flame jets were impinging on the mantle material rather than burning internally. I have some Vapalux V42 mantles on order, but it looks like a Tilley mantle will fit; has anyone tried this? Phil
Pre tied Tilley mantles are slightly too tight for Vapalux lamps, you'll end up breaking the string... I've noticed the difference in colour too and have always put it down to the mantles rather than any other factor but I could be wrong. I've found that a few/most my Bialaddin/Vapalux lamps take a while to reach full brightness, Tilleys seem much quicker to me. The trouble is that there are so many variables it would be hard to narrow it down to any one thing. I'd be interested to see how many pump strokes your instructions suggest as the instructions with my M320 state less than half as many as I give my Tilleys. It suggests 12 plus a further 20-30 once the lamp has warmed up. With regard to the mantles I just get them from a prominent eBay seller who also sells Tilley and Aladdin mantles. The same mantles have now made two trips to Newark and a couple of other places and are still going strong...
Thanks for the info. I discovered tonight that if you follow the Vapalux mantle fitting instructions and unscrew the spigot first, it's possible carefully to thread the spigot through a Tilley Happy Mantle, replace the spigot then slip the metal ring round the burner without too much difficulty. However I think the Happy Mantle weave is a bit coarser than the proper Vapalux one and it's not so evenly incandescent all the way round. Mine's the same. There seems to be little if any increase in brightness by giving more pumps; I tried up to 40. The shape of the fount probably leaves a smaller air gap above the fuel when full of paraffin, so that fewer strokes of the pump are needed to achieve a given pressure. Phil
I personally find the vapalux mantle to be a tad unreliable as well. My lamps seem quite bright and happy running on the Tilley happy mantle. Thats a good buy you got there btw, well done.
Hello Phil, A great bargain for a lantern that is quite sought after outside the UK! I have had some success in using the Peerless 111 mantles on my Tilleys. I unraveled the stitching at the closed end of the bag, inverted it, tied it to the spigot end with salvaged excess string from a Butterfly mantle and then tied the other end as normal. The light is a brilliant white and the durability seems to be superior to other mantles I have used. -another Phil
Hi Phil and John, Thanks for the advice. I'm probably not classed as an 'advanced user' and haven't tried tying my own mantles, but I have experimented with numerous different types of Tilley mantle with differing results. Most types work okay, but the best in terms of brightness are some old stock Tilley X mantles shown in the second photo. I have come to the conclusion that, all other things being equal, a pressure lamp's light output performance depends largely on the mantle. Whilst the Vapalux puts out a perfectly good bright light when fitted with a Happy Mantle, there is a small patch on the mantle that's not fully lit. To be honest, that mantle was old stock and the metal ring had gone a bit rusty (as they do) and some of the rust had got onto the fabric. I also think I stretched the fabric during fitting. Never mind, it's good enough for now till the proper Vapalux ones arrive. And yes, I've noticed that the light has got brighter since the lamp was lit about 20 minutes ago. Phil
A lot of people don't like the 164H mantles because the clips are prone to give up and break the mantle in use...
I don't like them much myself. It was just that I had one left which was a bit scruffy and needed using up! The worst thing is their tendency to go rusty whilst still in the wrapping Phil
