Greetings to everyone here. I am very new to these lamps so I would love some pointers and documents on general lamp finesse. I am looking for some technical know how and wisdom on how to regulate my 200 CP so that it burns cleanly without filling the air with unburnt fumes. Before lighting this lamp I completely disassembled everything and cleaned it inside and out, especially the generator and I managed to get it burning without generating black smoke. I checked the gap (8-9mm) between the jet and curved mixing tube with the lamp tool which after adjusting seems to be correct (?) The pricker height has been adjusted with the adjustable thread of the generator rod to be 0.5mm when closed. I found that I could not open the valve completely as it would saturate the mantle and cause a lot of black soot accumulation. Beyond this I am unsure what else I should adjust and re-adjust. All help and advice is greatly appreciated. Shane
Welcome aboard! I assume that you are preheating the lantern. The vapouriser's jet may be enlarged. There is paperwork shown in the lamp reference library, but that is only open to subscribers.
yes I have already subscribed yes I preheated using alcohol using the full amount in the pre heater font. Are you saying that the jet could be too big for my lamp? Could you give me the name of the document please? i was looking but didn’t find what i needed. Thanks Jeff
It appears to be working okay, but it should have an outer hood and a glass. Jets have a hole in the top of them and that hole can enlarge with use. This link shows the relevant page. Optimus
I'm no expert in any sense with these but, as Jeff says, that appears to be running OK. However, I wonder what it will run like with the glass and the hood replaced. The reason for that is there has been some discussion here about the hoods on these 'Petromax-system-type' lanterns restricting the flow of air (and thus oxygen) into the burner. People have found their lantern burns better when the hood is removed and following on from that, have enlarged the slots in the hood to allow more air inside. In addition to that, the globe when in position will restrict the flow of air to the outside of the mantle at least. Hmmm. BTW, I'd say that it's nipples that have holes in the top of them and those holes are called jets. That's how I see it anyway, rightly or wrongly...
What was the position of the jet cleaner when you took this video? If it was fully down, then it appears to be running correctly. I'm wondering if the air gap between the jet and the mixing tube is correct. From memory I thought it should be 12mm. From the description though it does sound like the jet could be worn. For a 200cp lantern, the hole should only be 0.17mm. Removing the hood does give a better air flow, but the air gap should compensate for this. The original design should have taken this into account and there are enough out there that work well to support that idea. The bit of metal with the hole in it has many different names depending on the country, but my understanding is that the consensus on the forum is that they are called jets. That might not be technically correct, but it's a generally accepted term.
Thank you very much gentlemen for your replies and thoughtful advice. I am sorry I could not reply sooner and I suddenly came down the a strong case of influenza. Currently I am concentrating on regaining my strength so I will be in good shape pretty soon. Nils the jet cleaner was at the position 2/3 open. If I tried to open it further it would flood the mantle with fuel and suffocate the combustion process. I used one of the Swedish tools with the gap diameter on the end of the handle to gauge the gap between valve and mixing tube with is approx 8-9mm. David the brass jet is marked with a 102 with a line directly underneath it and then 28 inscribed under the line. I do not know if this is the correct size jet or not. I am fairly confident the pricker is correct as it came from an Optimus spare parts kit. I should have mentioned also that i tried using a CNC cut solid brass flame spreader rather than the ceramic one. Although it appeared to be burning well it created so much smell from the fumes that it drove my wife out of the apartment. I have been using high grade paraffin (kerosene) as used for indoor heaters. Do these pressure lamps generally burn clean or are they quite smelly to use? Please give me any pointers to direct me in the right direction. Shane
To start with, if a pressure lamp is running correctly there should be almost no smell. There will be some when it is turned off though. I always take them outside to turn them off to keep the wife happy. It definitely sounds like it is getting too much fuel. This could be from a very worn jet (the jet you have is from a Radius but is the correct type), loose parts (jet, flame spreader, etc.) or too small an air gap. Another possibility could be that the vapouriser is blocked with carbon, especially the loop. This could be forcing unvapourised kerosene to the jet making the mixture far too rich and also giving the smell.
Thank you Nils your suggestions are very helpful. I will go through one by one and hopefully get this problem under control. I will try another jet that i have and see if there is any difference. I did break down the vapouriser and clean it using a pipe cleaner nylon brush on wire as well as heating and quenching many times to remove internal carbon. Do you have another method that could be more effective I could try?
Did you get the pipe cleaner through the loop of the vapouriser? One method to clean that is using an old bicycle gear or brake cable. With a bit of fiddling the end can be fed through and using a drill on low speed this can be pushed through and works well.
Geat ideal Nils!!! I will give this a try when my work permits. Give me time and I will post updates with photos of how this project is progressing.
I actually remembered to measure my air gap setting tool and it is 12mm. If you have yours set to 9mm it is too close.
