Black mantle

Hi all!
My name is Chris and I'm a lamp-a-holic!!
Seriously though, I've always had a bit of a thing for anything paraffin related since my grandad used hurricane lamps to light his sheds.
Only recently though have I bought my first Tilley a red 246B. It's in generally good condition but needed a new mantle fitted. So after watching several YouTube videos I bought a new genuine mantle, fitted it and burned it off with the preheat torch.
I then repeated the preheat process and lit the lamp which worked perfectly and ran for about three hours

However, after using for the second time, I noticed that a good half of the mantle had gone black and of course isn't giving any light off.
Can anyone tell me why this might be please?!
Thanks Chris.

 

Welcome aboard!

There could be a few reasons, but the vapouriser's cleaning wire may be clogged with carbon and if so, that can effect how the lamp burns and if that is the case then carefully scrape the wire clean, but stay away from the point because if it breaks then the cleaning wire will no longer function.

The vapouriser and or the burner may be approaching the end of their working lives.

The control cock's wire mesh filter may be partially blocked, so the control cock needs to be unscrewed and cleaned and while it's unscrewed it's wise to run a wire down through the fuel feed tube until it touches the bottom of the tank and repeat that action a few times as muck builds up in the tube over time and give the tank a good clean too and then refill it with fresh paraffin.

The paraffin which is removed from the tank can be put into a clear container for a few weeks until any muck which is in it has settled to the bottom, it can then be gently poured through a filter into a clean container and even the dirty paraffin can be reused for cleaning paint brushes or starting a bonfire etc..

If there is a strong smell of paraffin when the lamp is lit, then the most likely cause is that part of the burner is loose and all parts of the burner need to be properly tightened.

Progress reports are welcomed here.

 

Thanks for that definitely gives me a couple of things to look at so I'll have a play and let you know how it goes.

 

@MasseyMan

Welcome to the forum. Jeff has given good advice and hopefully you should have her up and running after a quick fettle.

When i first started using Tilley lamps I lost several mantles when I had to clean or tighten burner parts. Now I always run a lamp for a while without a mantle and will only fit one if I have a nicely formed Bunsen flame.

Good luck with your project.

Regards Jeremy

 

Welcome Chris,
I only have one Tilley. A 1972 X246B.
I was having pretty much the same problem that you've described. Like what Jeff said, check out all the obvious points especially the cleanliness of the cleaning needle, generator, jet, fount, control cock mesh and tightness among other things.
Unfortunately for me, these were alright.
I found that the generator has reached the end of its working life. Its worn.
I've got no spare parts for it in the place that I live.
I flouted the rules(a serious one, which contradicts to what I've been advising everyone else against)...and lit the lantern meant to burn kerosene with...gasoline.
Well, it burned with the brilliance it was supposed to have after that.
Still, I'd be advising against this. Its too dangerous and I'm risking my life, limb and property the minute I used gasoline for my X246B. Please do not ever try lighting a kero lantern with petrol/gasoline or napthta.

 

@MYN - You are a brave man to do that.
You are an even braver man to say so here. Will you be able to answer messages tomorrow?

 

@MYN Christ all mighty - You are a brave man indeed, I wouldn't trust a lantern that's designed to run on gasoline, let alone one that isn't! Crazy...

 

Its not exactly bravery. It could even be suicide. I stopped lighting that for now. It was only to verify that the jet is worn and the lantern couldn't work well with kerosene till its fixed.

 

That's my Tilley when running with gasoline:

 

Why ever not? A Coleman gasoline lamp is probably safer in use than a Tilley running on kero. They are designed safe. Steel base plate copper brased in place so it ain't going to fail. Positive needle valve main control valve. Two pump check valves one of which is a lock down needle valve and the pump discharges up at the top of the tank so even if both fail it will just vent air and the lamp goes out. Not really good marketing practice to blow up customers and WC wasn't stupid so trust me they are safe. ::Neil::

 

I agree with Neil.
Those Coleman or similar white gas lanterns were designed and constructed to be safer than any other lanterns I know of.
They were made safe for white gas or gasoline operations.
If they are safe for volatile gasoline, they would also be safe with other commercial fuels which are less flammable such as kerosene.

 

Perhaps so chaps, but not for me, sorry..

 

There will be mixed feelings and views of course.
My opinion would be:
Gasoline lanterns are considered safe from the extra design and constructional features they have over kero ones.

Kerosene lanterns are considered safe by nature of the less volatile/flammable fuel being used on the device.

Anyway, the final regards on safety between the above would still depend on the user's comfort or confidence level with them.

 

On behalf of kero fans, I'll add this:
If all else fails and there's really a fuel leak from whichever part of the lantern (gasoline vs kerosene) during operation, its anyone's guess which one would be more catastrophic.

 

Here's a question: What would happen if Diesel is put in a kero lantern?? I'm thinking lots of smoke and a total blockage? It always makes me wonder, given kerosene will burn nicely in a Diesel engine (totally unrelated I know)

 

Nothing exceptional would happen. If you preheat sufficiently, the lantern would just light. Depending on the fuel type you use the generator might clog early. Diesel was the recommended secondary fuel "if no kerosene is available" for the Bundeswehr Petromax lanterns.
There were tests with some different types of Diesel, the GTL premium types worked very well for a longer period of time than the person doing the tests, did want to work on it.

Erik

 

@Erik Leger Very interesting stuff, many thanks!!

 

Disease-all just smells evil. It would have to be a very dark night emergency to try burning that.
As for "White Gas" versus "Kero"? (excluding Profane and other proper gases)
I am not sure which side of the fence to sit with that.

One needs a very good sealed tank system while the other does not mind a bit of slop - within limits.

One lights more or less straight away and needs a careful watch for 30 seconds to one minute or so. The other makes you wait 2-3 minutes or more, tries to incinerate you unless conditions are absolutely perfect and after that you need "seconds out! round two".

One will not let you refuel when hot (fool if you do) - the other will bury you in a stinky cloud if you try it.

Still cogitating.

 

Hi folks

I have until recently been a paraffin only person much for the same reasoning as @Muzzleflash however a couple of Evening Star and a Kynoch prompted me into purchasing a Coleman 200a to see what a "volatile fuel" lantern is really like and I have to say I am finally won over.

I can only concur withe the build quality and safety features as mentioned by @Mackburner and now have a different view to the one I held for the last 30+ years.

Paraffin is still my preference as it it is the more common fuel for use in the UK and so much cheaper especially when 28sec heating oil is liberated from our heating oil tank.

This situation has once again reminded me "never say never".

Regards Jeremy

 

It's pretty much the other way around for me. I prefer petrol as fuel on my real users.
Simply because they light pretty much at an instant when I really need them, and I actually do that sometimes, but also because alkylate petrol is much cheaper than paraffin here.

But otherwise paraffin is nice with the preheating process and all. Kind of soothing.

 

It depends whether or not the generator in the kerosene lantern is sufficiently efficient to sustain diesel vaporization when its operating. As far as my experience goes, those Petromax-styled lanterns with Preston loop generators would run with diesel just as well as with kerosene except that you'll need to preheat more before lighting up. They'll clog up sooner with diesel too. Here's a picture of the side-by-side comparison between my Butterfly on diesel and my Petromax on kerosene:-

 

I'm mostly a kero guy although I have a couple of Coleman 'gas' models and they do work very well and light so easily!

As for the safety, I think the idea of using 'petrol' in a lantern takes some getting used to particularly in the UK but in practice Coleman lanterns have much better safety features because they need them! In use I find them quieter that kero which I find odd. Anyway, I keep a couple of white gas lanterns in case of emergency.

 

The lanterns are safe enough; any problems are much more likely to happen because of operator and fuel handling errors. And it is common cause here that petrol is less forgiving of errors than paraffin.

 

The well-known Coleman lamp was invented by 1909 and the lantern in 1914, and since that time more than 50 million of the lanterns have been sold throughout the world. I have been using my Coleman lanterns and stoves for a long time, and just recently got my first European style Kero Lantern, a Petromax Clone. The bigest difference besides the instant light, is the ability to control the light output. On the Colemans, you can run them full bright, or dim them down to an amber glow.

I have used them for camping with my now grown children since they were very young.


Even on poorly maintained beater lanterns, I have seen no real issues. Below is a recent picture of my collection



Here is my new PetroMax

 

In the place that I live, kerosene is the 'preferred' fuel for a pressure lamp since the earliest days. Just like in most parts of Europe.
There had been very few gasoline-fueled Coleman or US lanterns in use since those days. So its about the same here as in Europe, that many of us might need some sort of 'familiarization' on gasoline lanterns.

 

The last erupting Coleman that killed a couple of guys was in a county Jail in about 1906. One was a prisoner and the other the Coleman agent playing with the lamp. I am pretty sure that WC being a compassionte and God fearing man made damn sure that after this Coleman product could never go bang. The only other event I do know of was that a Thermos lantern killed a young guy in a tent when the valve gland leaked and caught fire. The design engineer Herman Lahde concluded that because the gland nut was not accesible when the lantern was in use it was not possible to tighten it so it could not be easily maintained and he modified the design thereafter.

So it is a very rare event that a gasoline lamp gets dangerous. Check the seals are good and all will be well. ::Neil::

 

Coleman designed his lanterns for people who had traces of insanity in their family! In other words he tried to make them "idiot proof"! I think he achieved his goal. I love those Tilleys, Vapalux, Petromax, and Aidas but from a safety standpoint you can't get much better than a Coleman! Having said that I know I'm going to draw fire from someone.

 

No fire from me! I've used both but I'm extra careful to think twice before I do anything with one of my 'gasoline' powered Colemans.

BTW, there was a recent fatality with a guy using a Coleman Lantern.

My Heart Goes Out To This Collectors Family.

I have no details about where he was or what happened to cause the problem but I believe it was established that it involved a Coleman lantern- no idea which model, how old it was.

 

Its worth familiarizing oneself with the characteristics of gasoline before using it on anything.
Gasoline is a volatile mixture. If you pour it over the floor and ignite it, the entire wetted area would be set on flames in an instant.
The flaming up is more dramatic if you live in a place with a hot climate(like myself). Its more like a mild explosive "whoomph" rather than just a quick flame up. Here, its almost like lighting up a volume of leaking propane.

 

@george

I just love that comment.

Regards Jeremy