Hi Looking for a bit of help. My Tilley is driving me bonkers! I think I have a problem with the burner as I’ve gone through a few vaporisers now and the problem remains. I’ve tried running it without a mantle to see what the flame is like. It’s large orange flames all the time with a tiny bit of blue from the gas holes. With the mantle on large flames come through the mantle as well. The more I pump it the larger the flames get. I’ve tried various starting pressures but the result is always exactly the same. I’m pulling my hair out now. I’ve preheated up to 10 times in a row. I found the mixing dome was leaking around the threads so I’ve sealed it with PTFE temporarily. It’s now air tight. I’ve cleaned the burner too. I’ve seen paraffin travel along the threads between the burner and the airtubes. Is this supposed to be airtight and if so how do I seal it? Sometimes flames come through the air holes in the gallery too. You can see the smoke that emits from the holes prior to them catching fire. I realise the mantle isn’t fully inflated in the picture but if I pump anymore I’ll have 3 foot flames licking the garage roof. Am I better off buying a new complete burner (if such a thing is available) or hit it with a large hammer and be done with it?
I’ve also tried different paraffin as I heard Bartoline wasn’t great. Now using Bird brand premium paraffin. In the past 6 months I’ve only got this thing to emit light and not flames once.
That looks to me like insufficient preheating or the wrong fuel (too high vaporizing temperature). That leads to a surplus of liquid fuel in the burner dome and even in the air tubes, as you can see from the wet spots around the holes. And as the lamp is lighting that superfluous fuel gets sucked in, evaporated and makes the mixture too rich, which in turn leads to a large orange sooty flame. Did you already clean the burner dome and air tubes inside? And have you tried using a different sort of fuel? And please beware of using PTFE tape at the burner! That material doesn't stand the high temperatures and above 350 °C (662 °F) deteriorates into poisonous and acidous substances which can harm your health, especially when used indoors (see clause "safety" at this article).
Yeh I’ve preheated it many times in succession. Apart from using oxy acetalyne on the vaporiser I can’t get it much hotter. I’ve changed the fuel as I’ve mentioned but still have the same issues I’ve cleaned the burner and air tubes several times including twice today. At a total loss now. Was supposed to be a present for christmas but it just won’t light.
@Lampost1 I can’t comment on your kerosene (paraffin); but I suspect that your burner is at fault. If, as you say, you have a good vapouriser, but your burner is leaking kerosene, there is something wrong with the burner. PTFE tape won’t fix it. If your burner is complete (including having the “injection tube” and has no blockages (wasp nests; spiders), I would try re-seating all the components with some exhaust sealer. Note: when you need to do this, it usually means you need a new burner. Cheers Tony
If the injector tube has worked its way loose and is too close to the mixing tube, or the mixing tube has screwed too far down, it will make the mix rich.
@Anthony & @Lampost1 Thanks for pointing that out, Anthony. I’ve noticed that, when reconstructing Tilley burners from the ‘spares’ box, you need to be careful to put the right length injector and mixing tubes together. Cheers Tony
Tilley burners do burn out and the simplest way to see if that has happened, is to check the holes on the bottom of the burner body and if they have enlarged then that burner has done it's time and it's only of use for parts.
These are very good and the one I have used burns much brighter than any genuine Tilley burner new or used that I have used to date. Price is very reasonable too and cheaper if purchased direct from Julian's website rather than from eBay. Regards, Jeremy
@JEFF JOHNSON Thanks for that. I think I’ll just a buy a new burner but out of interest what size should the bottom burner holes be?
I'm not certain of the correct diameter, but when the burner holes have enlarged they will be much closer together than they are on a new burner.
Just measured the holes in a little used burner and they're near enough 2.5mm diameter. As an alternative to exhaust sealer, I've had good results with copper grease. Put enough on the threads before re-assembly then wipe off any excess with a cloth. There will usually be a green tinge to the flame after lighting but this will disappear once the last residues of exposed copper grease have oxidised. Henry.
