Hello. this is my first post here. I got interested in GPA's after buying a lot of coleman lamps i had no idea about. After fixing them all and learning i also got into stoves, i post on classiccampstoves. Anyway, i have this peak 1 brown model 222 coleman lantern. It hasnt been nearly as bright recently and harder to start and it even died on me. I took the generator off for a little cleaning, removed the needle orifice, dunked it in brake clean, got the needle itself clean, and shot the generator tube itself through with brake cleaner. When i remoced the cleaning needle it was inside a coil spring which is inside.. a roll tube piece of cardboard...??????? do my eyes decieve me? is this proper or right at all? please anyone explain this. This little white and brown cylinder. It pulls out completely, it sheathes a small wound up spring that the needle slides through. Its quite longer its not wuite pulled out fully in this photo. I swear i think its cardboard. After this cleaning it took a while to light and lit weakly but got going and seemed to be running pretty bright. Any pointers are appreciated..
"Cardboard" is normal, it's actually some kind of heat resistant pressed and rolled ceramic fibers of sort. They come out like this from the factory. You can carefully burn away the blackness with a gentle application of a blowtorch though I find it easier for me to just tightly wrap fine weave brass mesh around the spring and reinsert it back inside the generator. Ensure you wrap enough around the spring so when reinserting, it's slightly snugged vs loose.
That is incredible and makes alot of sense. Actual fibreboard box material would never ever survive in there i can imagine. Are there any concerns with running improper size mantles on these? I bought some knockoff "American Mantle" (made in india) single tie mantles at the local hardware store because thats all they had. I know i think these take #20 but only #21 coleman is available within my area for purchase in-store without going online.
I think they at one point instructed to use #21 right on the lantern, you could hot burn them in to shrink them if they're too big. (You burn them in with the lantern running vs pre-burning)
Thank you i appreciate the sagely advice. and warm welcome. The mantle in it has shrunk to a good size but i was curious if it could cause too much load on it or something if it was oversized, or of low quality.
From the looks of it, it seems you have the original generator made for it, please do take care as the original generators are out of production and these original 222 generators have a much longer runtime in-between pumping and efficiency over the current production 226 ones. The original 222 generators are more sought after.
Speak of the devil it wasnt running well at all. I wasnt getting anything to come out. I use the lantern daily to give me some light by the chicken coop and check on them and lock em up for the night. I took it apart again and the needle was bent horribly and twisted. I took a pair of tweezers and got it straighter, it curled on itself. Reinstalled it and it works... trying to keep it going.
