Part way into filling the house with lamps and I got my Tilley Iron today. It didn't pump so I greased the pump washer and that worked. I could take it all apart and clean stuff, but no, simply put a bit of paraffin in, added meths (how much should it be? I just filled 'till it overflowed and waited a bit until the excess evaporated) lit it and hey presto it works. By the look of it not used for 30 years, that's good engineering! I have one question, it sits on the 'feet' with the control knob off but when open a bit the knob fouls the surface it is on making it wobbly, normal? By the look of the hole for the pre-heater it has seen some use.
I'd say it's not normal. Either your valve is allowed to open too far, or something is misaligned. Below is what I expect is the normal view when the valve, or rather regulator spindle, is fully opened. Once closed, it sits a couple of mm higher of course:
Had a look and undid the banjo fitting for the vaporizer/knob it went in another 1/8th of an inch. Pipe rebent and now even at full it doesn't rock. Nackered the sealing washers in the process, two new ones made out of stiff card, it works just as well as before. A rather anachronistic bit of kit but at least I will have a nicely ironed shirt on to say goodbye to the world if the balloon goes up!
What - you'd worry about having a nicely ironed shirt!? What about kissing the wife, the kids and the dog?
