Hi folks, After firing up a fully restored 300x, its still giving out little light and has dark patches on the mantle. This is after several heating/quenching sessions. It also has that flame halo around the mantle which i thought was a result of over fueling. Is it time to consider a new vapouriser?
..Hi Tacho, What i try and do now if i have problems with the vapourisers is to try and narrow it down..... If you have another W/B lamp that works well swap over the hood and burner assembly along with the mantle? With the newly fettled lamp but suspect vapouriser see how it performs ? And with the good lamp you can make sure there are no problems with the burner! That's what i always do if a lamp doesn't settle down or starts playing up, Hope this is of some help to you, Best wishes, PB.
Sounds logical enough. I think I will try that before condeming a good vapouriser to the bin. I can use a hood assembly from a 310 wich works very well. Thanks.
These (and Tilley) vapourisers were never designed to be serviceable but simply replaced when they were past their best. You can mess about with them all you like but any improvement will be marginal and short-lived. The flame/halo effect is due to a rich mixture, most likely due to a worn and thus enlarged jet. No amount of heat and quench is going to put that right and most likely make it even worse. To be honest, I'd have replaced the vapouriser right at the beginning when it was clear the lantern wasn't running properly...
Something that may confirm your theory is that the burner dome can be seen glowing red hot through the hood.
I just replaced the suspect vapouriser with another and same synptoms. flame around the mantle, low power and red hot glow at the burner dome. So tried the new vapouriser on another 300x and works perfectly so obviously not that. Tried the burner assembly on another lamp and that too works without a hitch. the only thing left is the control cock, could that be the cause of this frustrating problem?
Check to see if the cock is clear, certainly. You say that the burner works on another lantern so that should not be the problem...
Tha whole lamp has been recently re-furbished and the tank sprayed. It may be worth pooring the fuel into a jar to check for anything undesireable, and then maybe soaking the control cock in something to clear it. Petrol perhaps? caustic soda? Meths?
Carb cleaner - spray it through from underneath. After that's evaporated and you've washed it (it tastes horrible) blow through it from underneath to make sure that it's clear.
Thanks guys, I had some acetone to hand so I emptied the font and used that to rinse with. What came out was this horrible black gritty stuff. I lit the lamp and the power is still low but the burner dome now has lost its red glow. It starts normal for a while before the power drops off and the flames around the mantle appear. No amount of extra pumping helps, so pressure is not lost. I will try soaking the control cock in the acetone and see if it dissolves any nasties in there.
