Hello, This question will seem heretical to all those seasoned fettlers with their endless patience and sooty fingers, but I'm wondering if there's anyone who offers repair/refurb/restoration as a paid service? I'd love to ship my parent's ancient Tilley lamp off to someone and have it come back all fixed up. I see lots of ads for various parts, but nothing for actual overhaul services. Am I missing something? Thank you!
Welcome to the forum. Well most Tilleys are very simple devices. A seal kit (Service pack), mantles and a cleanup is normally all that is needed. The Vaporisers (Generators) were originally designed to be disposable but many here keep them going. New old stock ones turn up frequently. You may wish to tackle it yourself - plenty of help here and you might surprise yourself. Start with a picture here for more advice.
Welcome to CPL @Sooty Tilley As fireexit1 said, help is available here. Don't know of a rebuild service in USA but I believe base-camp.co.uk offer the service.
Yes they do but the postage both ways across the Atlantic will make it a very expensive project indeed. @Sooty Tilley there's a great commonality of parts in Tilley lamps and lanterns which, for the most part, aren't too difficult to strip down, clean, service and re-build. Have a look at this and other videos from Broadlander https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=servicing+a+tilley+lamp+ Beware of videos with restoration in the title, some are O.K. but most of them are exactly what NOT do do.
Thanks to everyone for your encouragement! I have two lamps: 1) a Petromax 523, bought new on Ebay several years ago (apparently the Chinese version, I've just learned). 2) a vintage Tilley model X246A in good condition, used by my parents in the 1950's-60's. I'm thinking the Petromax would be good for refurb practice. It has no sentimental value to me. It ran ok for the first few years, but then became hard to maintain an even flame, and quickly reduces a new mantle to a blackened mess. After I have a bit more experience, then maybe I'll be ready to work on the Tilley, which does have real sentimental value. Would welcome any suggestions. A few pictures attached View attachment 131244
Hi and welcome, thats a nice example of a Tilley X246A you have there. If you look underneath your Tilley X246A, you will see some numbers and letters this will tell you the manufacturer date. An example: (860XA) 8 is for the month so August, 60 is the year 1960, don't worry about the letters, I'm pretty sure no one knows what they mean. Tilley lamps are very easy to Fettle (work on). Goodluck.
Both worth getting going. But the Tilley and the Petromax (Px) are quite different beasts. Sooty mantles like yours are and indicator of: lack of pre-heating or too low a pressure or worn jet or blocked airways - or a combination of any of the above. There can be other less common issues but those are the main ones. The Px mantle looks like it never got fully formed by enough pressure. It has a pressure guage and the indicator should be at about 2 bar. The "valve" is an on/off affair - and does not lower/increase light. it should be up or down. To switch it off - release the pressure in the tank. The Tilley has a pressure indicator - a small pip that moves up hidden in a small stud on the top of the tank. When the inner pip is level it is at the correct pressure. The cock can be used to swtich the lantern off but also do release the pressure afterwards as they have a habit of dribbling. So - as I mentioned earlier I like to change all the seals. You can get a Px "service kit" in the USA easily enough. For the Tilley you need the equivalent of a "SP1" BUT two of the seals will be incorrect. I would recommend ordering a seal kit from Tilley Washer Kit - The Fettlebox - this has all the correct seals for your model.
Welcome @Sooty Tilley Thanks for showing your lanterns and its nice to have a family lamp Hope you can get them working again
Thank you all for your encouragement and advice - much appreciated! Here's another question: I'm considering buying the lamp shown in the attached 3 pictures. Am I right to assume this a pressurized kerosene lamp (versus an oil lamp). I don't see any wick, so I'm assuming it's a pressurized lamp, and a mantle would be installed over the perforated steel burner. It that right? Is this type of lamp worthy of repair? Thanks again!
@Sooty Tilley @Fireexit1 is right.. I think it’s a Miller caboose lamp maybe for a harp type set up? maybe an ornate ‘M’ on the top of the burner? looks in good condition.. it may need a wick Regards pb
