My cute red Coleman 200 is a little but stinky when it runs. It has a brand new genny and I've checked the filler cap washer but although there's no obvious leak. I took the genny off again and gently cleaned the mating surfaces to make sure nothing was wrong but it still smells after a while. Any ideas?
Yeah. Coleman 200 is a gasoline lantern. You might try the correct fuel. They will run on kero but the air tubes are not designed for kero and it sounds like you are getting a mixture that is not fully combusting. I am not a big fan of converting lamps to use alternative fuels. You are messing with the manufacturers design and also changing the authenticity of the lamp with the "wrong" parts. I don't say don't do it. You can do what you like with your own lamps but don't be surprised when it doesn't work right. ::Neil::
Yeah, I did wonder if it was a fuel/air mix problem. It actually has a brand new kero generator with the correct jet size which (theoretically at least) turns it into a 201, but the smell would suggest that it's not a complete solution. I might up the naptha content (I use Amish mix on this and some other lamps) and see if that makes a difference.
I am not sure how the air flow in a 200 compares with 201. I suspect there may be a minor but significant difference. If the burn improves with aditional naphtha the lamp is telling you it likes gasoline. ::Neil::
One of the things i did was to slightly bend the cover at the bottom of the air tube. I have very little odor from my two 200A's
They tend to leak where the U-tube joins the air tube. A tiny smear of muffler cement around the outside of the venturi where it fits into the U-tube and air tube will cure it.
@ColinG You can see the vent cover is bent down on the left (kero). The one on the right is still covering the vent. Hope this helps as well as @phaedrus42 ’s idea to seal the elbow.
Now I see what you mean, thanks! I'll go and have a look at mine and see what I can do. Also, the mantle that was fitted had some holes I hadn't spotted so I replaced it with a Peerless - my go-to if I need quality - and it's definitely improved the smell.
I just looked at my 200 and there's no cover over the air intake like there is on yours. Also, the pricker mechanism is slighty different. So what can I do to get more air into the mix? Restricting the flow is easy but I'm struggling to see a way to get more without making permanent alterations which I'd rather not. Having replaced the mantle the situation is better but not perfect yet. The generator is a brand new Coleman 201 kero and with the new mantle the light output is considerably improved. Have I assembled the lamp incorrectly in some way or maybe my nose is just too sensitive! To be quite honest, my pretty little red 200 one of my favourite lamps so I'm very happy with it the way it is - I just like getting thing runing as good as I can.
My mistake. I thought yours was a 200A. Have you checked the elbow to make sure it’s sealing as @phaedrus42 mentioned? Nice looking lantern.
My kero converted 200 developed a scent to it as well. Turned out to be a leak from the control valve packing. When cold, no leak. When the whole works was well up to temperature, the valve packing started leaking vaporized kero that created quite a pong. Haven't been able to pull my head out from under a welding helmet long enough to fettle that one, yet. I also had a jet crack where it met the generator. the extra fuel flow of course made the lantern run far too rich. Lots of orange flames and soot, black mantle syndrome, etc. I imagine that smelled too, but I never ran it long enough to notice. A new generator and a new jet put it right. Otherwise, mine is a much better lantern on kero. Much brighter, burns cleaner, burns longer on a tank of fuel, burns fuel that costs half what white gas costs. I'm quite pleased with the conversion.
@ColinG , did you remove the needle from the fuel-air pick-up tube in the fount and block off the air holes? Paraffin has a higher viscosity than Coleman Fuel and this can cause some air to be mixed into the liquid fuel going into the generator even when the fuel valve is fully open. The result could be flickering, incorrect mixture and smell. We have all experienced the smell a paraffin pressure lamp makes when it runs out of fuel.
My other kero conversions all run really well so I want to get this one working properly. The lantern certainly flickers quite a bit so I might need to remove the needle from the fuel pickup tume and maybe block off the air holes as you suggest. Right now I'm struggling without a mobile phone and trying to set up my CCTV system having forgotten the passwords that were saved on my Dashlane password keeping software. Dashlane is crap BTW. Unless you pay for the full version your passwords are totally at the mercy of a phone failure or an App 'update' which helpfully deletes all yor passwords. I had both happen at roughly the same time so I'm a bit frazzled right now! Damn bloody technology!
We are digging ourselves a "technology hole"!! We won't be able to pass wind without first assigning the blast a password!!
What I did with my 201 generator is wrap stranded copper wire from an electrical cord around the spring. Just enough to where it still fits in the generator tube. That reduced the flickering a lot.
