First post so please bear with me, Just finished testing two refurbished floodlights and have noticed one mantle turns to a more orange colour after it has warmed up and the burner dome glows a dull red. It runs ok but the light output is down on the other, both have the same mantles. Is it a vaporiser problem or is the burner at fault or a combination of both. Not had this problem with any of my lanterns so any thoughts would be appreciated. Clive.
Welcome aboard and the jet in the vapouriser may be enlarged, so try a vapouriser which you know is working properly. If that does not cure the problem, then the burner may be burned out.
Clive, I wonder if the air tubes are clear? Perhaps some wasps have or similar have blocked them. I'd certainly have a look and if it's a wild goose chase nothing is lost, just something eliminated.
If the mixing dome is glowing then it is (back burning) the combustion taking place inside the mixer usually you hear a roar, it may be an air leak, loose air tubes or mix dome.
Thank,s for the replies, burning inside the dome looks like the problem, This burner has grip marks and slight indentations where someone has tried to remove stuck dome. Only minor dents but due to the thickness of the dome it could be leaking. Will try the other burner on this lamp , that should eliminate the vaporiser. Clive.
It will absolutely stink if there's a paraffin vapour leak from the burner - you'd definitely know about it. Yes. U-boat captain - Vot is your name? It vill go in ze book alzo. Mainwaring - Don't tell him, Pike!
You stupid boy...Pike! More on topic. A jubilee clip (aka - a hose clamp) tightened around the dome is not a bad way to remove it. It will squeeze the threads slightly freeing them from the body. Then you can clamp it in a vice, over the clip, without making flats on the dome - worked OK for me!
When you put it back on, make sure it is well fitted to the burner. This may require some gentle (repeat: gentle) re-rounding of the threaded area. Cheers Tony
Jubilee clip sounds like a good tip. The indentations did not look to deep to worry about so i thought it would be worth running. I did hear it burning on the inside on my initial run so there must be a leak somewhere. Will post my findings when i have sorted the problem. Thank,s for everyones input Clive.
Update on fl6 burner, managed to dismantle it and clean inside, fitted new mantle and it seems to burn ok but dome still showing a dull red but not as much as before. No smell of parafin so i wonder if it is burning inside the dome still. Does the dome heat anyway as on a lamp it is obscured by the top so i have not noticed this before. Clive.
On the FL6 burner assembly if it had plier marks on it somebody has had it apart before then . when you had it apart before putting the dome cap on did you check the burner tube threads nice and tight .Also was the steel injecter tube nice and tight not just hand tight .thats all I can think of . Bob
Thanks for reply, the air tubes seemed to have been braised into the center column, i dont know if this is the norm but they will not unscrew. Nothing was loose at all on this burner so it has flat sides where it has been trapped but the thread is ok and i have screwed it in further this time. It does work so unless i can find other burner it will have to do. They are smaller than the standard burner so i cannot just change the domes as you know. Clive.
If they are jammed then they are heat damaged which indicates an old well used burner. They are best left in place. If you did unscrew them then they would probably not screw back in because of the damaged threads and you will have destroyed the burner. ::Neil::
Seems to be some molten metal around the thread area so i thought they could have been braised, as i said it does work but a new burner looks like the best option now. Thank,s Clive
Not likley to be braised since that process only involves heat up to water boiling temperature and those burners get a lot hotter than that in normal use. So the molten metal is probably just heat damage although I guess it is possible that some previous owner had either brazed or silver soldered the tubes in place when the threads were heat damaged. ::Neil::
Thank,s for reply, i have now returned the offending lamp to its owner with a note to replace the burner if he requires to use it rather than look at it. As he has two lamps that may be some time unless one becomes available on the auction site or at a lamp festival. Regards Clive.
Hi, Just to say Brazed joints are usually good up to the melt temp of the Brass/Bronze filler metal used which is around 800C, so the molten metal is probably Soft or Lead solder, much lower melt temp? Hope this is useful, Regards, T.
Can't be a lead or soft solder in a burner because the run temp of that part is up around 400 to 600c and way beyond the soft solder melt of around 250c ::Neil::
Hi Neil, Yes, I agree! We may be at cross purposes; I was trying to say if there was molten metal it would have been soft solder? Sorry if I've complicated things, didn't mean to..
I only picked up on that because of the notion of using soft solder in a burner is a strict No NO and I wanted to make sure folk understood that. If you did introduce a lead type solder in there and fire up the lamp the metal would melt and drop through the burner to destroy the mantle. ::Neil::
Thank,s for all input.It looks like the burner has been extremely hot at some point as the reflector chrome has been turned blue at that point near the dome. Clive.
Just had a quick look at the pics of the Tilley Floodlights in the gallery for CPS ratings and couldn't find anything....Does someone know the candlepower they were rated at please? ..
You shouldn't have looked in the gallery... You should have looked in the library. In it says 5000 reflected CP, and in they say 6000 ditto. Mind you, the FL6 use a smaller burner and mantle compared to e.g. X246, so a standalone FL6 burner should give less light than those. I assume the FL6 in reality is around 250CP. Or thereabout.
Have used a standard mantle which gives a compatable light to my 246 lamps, Not sure what increase the large reflector gives. Clive.
A reflector can of course not really increase the amount of light. It does just concentrate the light to a limited area, more or less (spotlight or floodlight). It's still the same light output.
...Thanks Christer, forgot I am now allowed into there.. ...Cool! Hours of perusing ahead! Many thanks, T...
Fl6 rated 5000 mean reflected candle power , Not bad from a 250/300 cp mantle Surely thats a increase in light, as its concentrated into a beam. Clive
