In an X246B that lights well and then starts to pant and after a few minutes the panting calms down but the light brightness diminishes... Is it a dodgy pricker, or a dodgy cock, or a dodgy vapouriser, or all of the above? Also, someone claimed old fuel can cause panting.... true or false?
When that happens it's often because the burner is knackered or part of it has loosened, but if a part is loose then the lamp will smell, Jeff.
Thank you Jeff for your reply. The mystery is I had it running perfectly 3 days ago. I cannot see, after examination any loose parts. There is no smell. But I have an idea there is not enough fuel left in the tank. Does this makes sense ? Another idea that springs to mind (if you will pardon the pun) is the pricker spring...are they known to distort with use ?
Lack of fuel and poor pressure will exacerbate the hunting. All pressure lamps hunt which you can sometimes see as a slight flickering but with lower pressure the flicker slows and then the lamp will start to hunt or as you put it pant. ::Neil::
Pricker wires do distort with use but that would not cause that problem and they can be straightened. Carbon does build up on the wire though and that will affect the performance of the lantern, the carbon can be scraped off but do not damage the point of the wire. The aluminum control cock has a filter on the bottom of it and that may need to be cleaned and the fuel feed pipe from the tank may also need to be cleaned and that can be done with a length of tying wire, just shove the wire down the pipe until it touches the bottom of the tank and repeat that action until the pipe feels clear and then clean out the tank. The X-246-B lantern is not well made and that aluminum pump and control cock leave much to be desired and i improved and X-246-B using older Tilley parts and the link below shows that post, just scroll down to the last post to see the photographs and information. http://0flo.com/index.php?threads/1452
If the burner or vaporiser is carboned up, I spray the whole lot with oven cleaner then stick it in the dishwasher. Wife moans like hell but thats asmall price to pay.
Yes, and the flicker is rhythmic....alternating every 1 1/2 seconds....and then the brightness diminishes implying loss of pressure. Now I will carry out several tests. The first one refers to the vapouriser. As I shut it off, the light goes out and there is no leak out of the top. So it does not seem that that is the direct cause.
I was engaged for several years in the restoration of classic watches so it brings several useful skills. The scraping of the wire I would lay it on a cork tile to lend support with a minute element of springiness, or "give" and I am likely to use the blunt side of a razorblade or suchlike sufficient to scrape off the carbon but not to damage the surface of the metal. I will not interfere with the point, of course.
I have had several Tilley and Vapalux lamps that all exhibit a similar problem. They run bright for around 2 minutes then the light goes dim. Adding extra pressure does not help. I am not sure what the cause is but a new Vapourizer seems to fix it.
Maybe carbon particles will rice up to jet with fuel/fuel vapor and restrict the flow on jet. When lantern is shut down particles will fall down when excess fuel flows to tank from vaporizer. I would take vaporizer out, remove the cleaning wire and sweep vaporizer tube from loose carbon particles. (I do that to all of my Tilley lanters when I get them and I haven't experienced "dim out" after few minutes use)
