Hello I have recently acquired a old tilley lamp and whilst it lights fine there is a dull patch on the mantle. I have tried cleaning all of the tubes in the top as well as a new mantle with no improvement. Is this something i could be doing wrong when installing a new mantle or a possible problem with the lamp. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Harry
@Harry Carvey Is your spigot tight in the burner? Are the holes is the burner nice and circular, or are they worn from years of use? Tony Edit: the photos do look like the mantle had formed well on one side but not the other. How many pumps have you put into the tank?
The spigot fits in to the burner easily and is quite a tight fit with only a little play. all of the holes seem round and in good condition. One does have a slight bur on though.
@Harry Carvey The spigot has “a little play” in its burner fitting? It shouldn’t. Old burners often have their threads corroded by years of use and don’t work as well as they should. Is the burr where the full spot is? If you’ve taken off the mantle, light the lantern without the mantle (20 or so pumps) and see how the flamelets behave. Did you see the “edit” I added to the post above? Cheers Tony
Sounds very like an old well used burner. Tilley and Bialaddin burners often give these dull spots. The gas flow inside the burner is interupted by the air intake tubes so the final downward flow is not even all round. This tends to give three dull or less bright spots on the mantle. This gets worse with the age of the burner and really there is little you can do to improve it other than replacing the burner. Both Tilley and Bialaddin/Vapalux burners die of old age. Tilley rather more so because they are slightly smaller and less solid but they both deteriorate with use. There is a great temptation to dismantle the burner to clean everything out but with a real old burner doing so can be the final act of destruction. You should never disturb the air tubes and certainly never take them out. The threads get heat damaged/burnt and once removed will not screw back in and seal. Very often they won't even screw in and hold in position. Over the years I have tried many times to improve a poor burner unit and it has never worked. Once it starts to die it is terminal so better to live with what you have or scrap it and move on. ::Neil::