I've been working on a Petromax clone and now that my vaporizer issue is corrected I'm possibly facing an air / fuel mix issue. The lantern is a Wenzel and I've used the multi-tool to set the gap jet-to-mix chamber. The mantle has an excess aura/corona around the mantle and curious if this needs some fine tuning on the tube height to get things optimize. I recognize that there is also the chance that I need to run a few tanks of clean fuel through the ole' gal just to make sure nothing is gumming up the works still. It's also worth noting that it's got new jet & pricker installed. Is there a method that would help diagnose rich/lean and raise/lower the mix tube. Thanks, Andy
First of all make sure everything is tight ie nozzle, mixing chamber, i have cleaned numerous Preston loops with wire you think you got all crud out an when you run it the fuel an heat breaks off the bits you never got an blocks something, I would flush loop through again an then Wang air line through it one more time but that's me. If gap is right an there is new jet an needle in it it must be blockage or air leak. Hope it works perfectly soon. Gozzy
The Hipolito version of these has a butterfly vane in the u tube just above the jet/air inlet. Adjusted by a screwdriver slot on the outer of the tube. Why? I dunno. It only messes things up as far as I can tell. If you have one set it edge on to the flow, for min obstruction, and forget about it.
Petromax style lanterns have a screw with paddle in the air mixing tube. Normally it stands in the most un-obstructable position. But if you want to adjust the light output this is the way to do it: Make sure the lantern works fine, let it run for some time 30min or so. To make sure that the temperature is stable. Then take a piece of white paper and adjust the screw looking at the light reflected on the paper. So not by looking direct into the light ;-) This method was told to me by a guy that maintained lanterns for the enemy and by doing so survived the war....
If everything else is good, sometimes it just needs a larger mantle. Many rosette type mantles form much smaller than their supposed candlepower rating.
I've opened the gap from ~14mm to ~15.5mm and the light output seems to been whiter. There is still an aura/corona. What effect will raising the gap have?
I suspect that's what I need to do to reduce the corona. Still have about 3/8" (6-8mm) plume that exceeds the mantel.
Brand new jet and needle from Britelyt. Mantel is an off brand from Taiwan or Philippines. They are LARGE socks intended for 500cp I had some mantels years ago that were marked 750cp IIRC that these big lanterns seemed to like better.
