Hi all, This is my first post, so I would like to start by saying what an informative and useful site I have found this to be. Although new to the site, I am not new to Tilley lamps and my collection has gradually increased over the years, and I now have four running examples. My latest project is to refurbish an X246B for a friend, it was in a bit of a state, but after polishing, flushing and changing all the washers for new Viton type, it looked pretty good. I cleaned the burner and fettled it with Tilley SP2 and SP3 and treated it to a NOS 606 vapouriser. It ran ok, but not as bright as my X246A, so after a bit of substitution, I found that the aluminium pump was not very efficient, so I changed it for a spare guardsman brass one. I usually start my lamps with 15 pumps and then 85 pumps when lit and it burned perfectly with an old stock mantle, almost too bright to look at and I was pretty pleased with it. However, after a couple of hours use, I turned it off and discovered that the vapouriser had started to bulge around the first ring. I cleaned it up and lit it again (big mistake) and after another hour or so of patchy performance, I found that it would not turn off without releasing the pressure. The vapouriser had ballooned inside the burner mantle tube, to such an extent that it stretched the brass mantle tube and was well and truly stuck (see pictures below). Also, the burner tubes had come loose in the burner, suggesting to me that it may have overheated. I have read about pregnant vapourisers on this site, so I cut this one up to see what happened. As you can see the top part has stretched away from the inner cone holder and the void is packed with solid carbon. This has happened after maybe 3hrs use and failed within two hours of the final trial. I only use good quality BS C1 standard paraffin, that has been fine in all my other lamps, so do not think it is a fuel problem. My questions for you experts are: 1. Is this just an unlucky vapouriser failure, possibly due to defect, age or corrosion? - it looked to be unused to me when I bought it. 2. Have I over pumped it with the guardsman pump? 3. Could this be caused by burner overheating, because the tubes had loosened in operation? Your advice or suggestions would be much appreciated. Kind Regards Graham
Hello Graham, Welcome to the forum. This is what the Germans call a pregnant vaporizer. Happened a lot on the mainland and in fact it is mentioned in the Tilley book. As I remembered well it has to do with high carbon fuel.
Interesting... I've only had that happen with a brass vaporiser. That looks like an older Tilley vaporiser (not the new ones). Does the bottom unscrew or is it crimped? You should dissect the tube and see how much carbon is in there... Cheers Tony
Well, I had an identical problem with a Vapalux last year - and a very expensive problem it turned out to be too, as I had to buy a new vaporiser and a new mantle support / spigot. The lamp had been run on "pre pack" paraffin, that being the stuff bought in a 4 ltr container from a hardware store. There was a suggestion that such stuff may well have been the cause. Anyway, as I have oil central heating, I've raided the tank and am now using that. "28 second heating oil" is what it's called. I understand that most suppliers of heating oil will sell the stuff in a 20 ltr container - which may - or may not - be helpful / practical for you. As to whether it's a real fix I can't say as the lamp only gets used a few times a year and hasn't had any real use since I fitted the new tube and mantle support / spigot.
Up to a few years ago this was not a problem in the UK. It seemed to happen in Germany only and the conclusion was it was the fuel type causing this heavy carbon build up. It is perhaps more likely in a brass vaporiser. Tilley and Vapalux vaporiser tubes are steel for a reason. Inside the mantle the heat is such that brass will get soft and perhaps be more prone to distort. ::Neil::
I had the same thing happen to a Vapalux lamp. I'm still using the exact same fuell in other Tilley and other Vapalux lamps with without issue... I'm convinced to this day that the initial cause was ristricted fuel flow due to a patially blocked feed tube. I've used the same lamp many times since with the same fuel...
Hi to all, Many thanks for all your replies and to Christer for sorting out my pictures. It doesn't sound like I've caused this and, although rare this does seem to just happen sometimes. Wimm - thanks, I can see I'm not alone with this, maybe it was a defective vap that just sat on a shelf for decades until I fired it up. Tony - It was an old one, which looked unused and all I did was clean off some light surface rust. The rest of the tube below the first ring is clear and not distorted, other than some light carbon deposits, it looks ok. Mike - I use the prepack 4l fuel, marked BS2869 C1 and EEC 294-799-5, so it meets BS and EU standards. I understood that C2 is the heavy grade for heating boilers, interesting that it works in your lamps. Do others use C1 or C2? Macburner - agree the burners get hot, but not like this one. If you look at the picture of the mantle tube, the brass has not only stretched, but has been annealed to a copper colour so it must have got very hot indeed. Gneiss - note what you say, and I'm sure if I'd left it much longer the tube would have completely closed off. I wonder if paraffin vapour has got trapped in between the stretched outer tube and the cone holder and actually burnt inside the vapouriser, expanding it more and more, overheating the mantle tube and crushing the inner cone tube. This all happened very quickly, so the lesson is if the top of the vap looks stretched or distorted, throw it away quick. I guess that the only thing to do is to rebuild the burner and try another vapouriser with the same fuel and pump. I'll let you know what happens! Thanks again, Graham
Just picking up, again, on fuel types - I recall when paraffin smelt like paraffin. The prepack doesn't. The central heating oil does. Just saying - -
Give the feed tube a thorough clean out first, parafin that has evaporated away can leave a waxy resedue that can easily block or restrict these tubes... I think what happened on mine is that it caused the lamp to run lean and then overheat. Of course it's very hard to prove the precise mechanism of the failure after the event. Anyway this was the thread I started at the time http://0flo.com/index.php?threads/6955
Hi Mike, I know what you mean, the pre-pack stuff does not smell like the old Esso blue I remember from my youth. I will have a look for an independent garage and see if I can get some of the C2 grade. I also note that mentholated spirits isn't what it was either. The latest EC grade has all sorts of additives to make it undrinkeable and is quite oily compared to the old methylated stuff (or am I just getting old!). Graham
Hi Gneiss Thanks for the advice, I did clean the feed tube with a bit of copper wire when I flushed the tank, but checked it again and it is clean. I have fitted another NOS vapouriser and changed the barrel of the burner for a spare and fired it up. It lit first time and seems to run fine with a Basecamp pro mantle, (which I find are much better than the latest Tilley NRA types that are decidedly dim in comparison) The new vapouriser is showing no signs of distress after after two burns of about 2hrs each so I will see how it goes. I think you are right about fuel flow, and I guess that these vaps rely on the fuel flowing through them quickly and vaporising before it can get too hot. Once it get trapped in the tube I think the high temperature at the top just burns it to carbon inside the tube, causing the failure. Interesting links you include to the other posts on this subject shows that several people have experienced these failures. Many thanks to all, and here is the final effect Graham
Hi Graham - getting old - or having the benefit of wisdom and experience - - - Ideally, you need someone selling the stuff from a bulk container. Really hard to find theses days. I live in Scotland, in the sort of area which still has an old fashioned garage where they come out to serve you petrol. Even they don't have bulk paraffin and when I asked, they said it was too expensive as it had to come up from England. There's also a "proper" hardware store - the sort where you can buy loose nails in a brown paper bag, from a large cardboard box. Same story. Pre-pack only. As I've mentioned elsewhere, my c/h oil supplier did tell me that they could supply 28 sec heating oil in 20 ltr drums. Which is however rather a lot - - Meths - yes, I know what you mean. Mind you, while we yearn for the glory days of proper paraffin, it was also the era of the Morris 1100, and the Ford Anglia - - just sayin' 8) 8)
