I've been fettling my newly purchased M320's and i've got a couple of questions if you don't mind, one of them has got a slight barely visible halo which i haven't noticed on the others, it also pulses now and then, they are all very lightly used and i kept rinsing out the founts/tanks until the paraffin ran clear and i blew through the cock assemblies (i haven't got round to trying a different one on this lamp yet) i've swapped over the hood, burner and vapouriser from a better working one but it still pulses now and then and seems to need more pumps than the others it also pulses/flutters in a light breeze when running next to an open window if that's normal? its got all new viton washers, passed the dunk test and has a new mantle with no black spots and runs brightly, any ideas greatly appreciated
The hoods on these, in my opinion, seem to make these lamps much more sensitive to the wind than earlier models... If you have to keep pumping it then it has an air leak. A soapy brush around the filler cap, pressure release screw and the base of the stop cock will soon reveal it if there is one.
Hi Gneiss, So you think the breeze effecting it is quite normal, that's one issue solved then, not sure they would work great in strong winds very well or maybe their not meant to? I take your point about the air leak although i did test it under water plus i've just tried some soapy water around the joints and no bubbles, I have just swapped to another cock assembly and vapouriser and although there is still a bit of a halo it seems to work better if i only give it five pumps at a time instead of five pumps to start it, wait for thirty seconds and then up to forty strokes as per basecamp instructions
Hi, Did you give the burner assembly a good clean out? Perhaps a cobweb or also it could be sucking air from a loose joint? Just a thought... p
Hi, Yes luckily as it is lightly used it unscrewed nicely and i gave it a good clean out although it wasn't very dirty, if i only give it five pumps at a time then wait thirty seconds in between it definitely runs better and after a while (i ran it for an hour earlier) the halo diminishes significantly so i'm thinking it will be ok, so that's six M320's and two Tilleys i've fettled and one Coleman generator i've messed up in a few weeks, in another six months i might become a junior apprentice fettler with any luck I think i will try a washer and seal kit from The Fettle Box next time as had a few issues with the one i bought.
That's not enough pressure, even if Base-Camp says so. Essentially, the tanks are pretty indestructible on Bialaddins and Vapaluxes so just pump until your thumb hurts. In reality about 100 pumpstrokes should just about do it - it ain't a Tilley X246B!
I think i read one of your posts from a few years back saying 70 pumps was ok, thanks very much for the info its handy to know and i presume up to 100 pumps should last quite a while too.
There's no absolute number - both are OK, probably, depending on the amount of fuel in the tank. The less fuel then the more air you need to pump in to get the same pressure - and vice-versa...
