My old tilley lamp was pulsing and if I turned the knob on full it would dim down, it never really gave off a full bright light. So , today I put a new vaporiser in it and a new mantel and on first light it just put out orange flame around the mantle. Pressure is Ok and consistent hiss. Have I done something wrong?
First check that the components of the vapouriser are tight (be careful of your new mantle. Second, make sure that you have primed it properly; give it 15 pumps, and then light it. Let it warm for a minute longer before pumping to gull pressure (85 pumps more). By the way, what mantle are you using? Cheers Tony
Tony,I was wondering about the mantle too. To do the 15 pumps the tank would need to be about 3/4 full otherwise the pressure would be too low. I was also wondering if the fuel pick up was getting blocked.
It won't hurt to clean out the fuel feed tube, but the new vapouriser may have an enlarged jet and it's also possible that the burner has reached the end of it's working life.
Thanks guys, the mantle is the one with the string, not the happy mantle. I put the old vaporiser back in and it ran much better, so I'm thinking I might have bought a bad vaporiser. I will swap them over again to make sure though.
If yours is anything like my recent experience the pricker wire was too long and opened up the jet hole. Did it have a tight spot as the control reached the end? On mine this was the pricker jamming up against the hole- eventually it forced through. I peened the jet back to size and filed off enough brass from the bottom of the pricker it only just protruded through the jet. All was OK until I dinged it again changing the mantle - but this was my fault. Now the pricker has no end...Grr.
That was an interesting (dangerous) morning, I put the new vap in , started to heat it, and with the control cock in the off position. As it warmed it started to hiss, in the off position, suddenly I had burning fuel streaming down the side of the vaporiser and flaring out the top of the lamp, I couldn't shut it off! I quickly dumped the pressure via the pump and the flames slowly burned out. I let it cool , pulled the vaporiser out and had a closer look at it. It would seem the wire going up through the vaporiser is in two parts, the upper half being somewhere inside the tube, the lower half could not move up the tube far enough and when hot was putting pressure on the control cock forcing it to open.
It's true they seem to be made in 2 parts with a butt weld at about 2/3rds the way up. Mine is poorly aligned at the weld too, 0.5mm or more offset. No idea why they would do that but at a guess it's so the pricker point can be formed separately to the rest.
Hi, if you don't prime a tilley with pressure in the tank then you don't need to worry about the cock being open - it also makes it easier to start the lantern as you can ramp up the pressure slowly.
Ok guys, I got a replacement from Tilley, put it in and it helped, a great deal , no more flames, however it still wasn't as bright as I remember it being. So I put a new burner in it, now its a lot brighter. Except its pulsing again. So I drained the fuel out and found some water in it and some crud/bits. I separated the water and refuelled, its still pulsing. Is this down to bad fuel? Also, I pumped it up empty and lowered it into a basin of water to check for leaks, there isn't any. What do you think guys? bad fuel? Strip it down and clean it out? The hiss is very consistent, the pulsing/hunting isn't and the hiss isn't effected by it, so I'm thinking there is still some bad fuel in there.
Robgil If your new burner was all tight and you've got a new vapouriser, I would first eliminate the fuel as an issue. Get rid of the old stuff; rinse it out with a bit of new fuel a few times; then fill with clean kerosene. Let it burn for a few minutes before running it a full pressure. Cheers Tony
