Tilley Pressure Lamp X246A - Not very illuminative
DKVIKING007
I have just become the owner of a vintage Tilley pressure lamp which I
bought on eBay.
I have never before owned or operated a pressure lamp, so its
difficult to know what to expect. However it's safe to say that my
first experience failed to deliver much joy. However this could well
be due to the operator.
The lamp came with a new mantel. Replacing teh old one wasnt too hard,
but igniting the lamp took a while. I do not have the torch that
allegedly seem to be a necesarry tool, so I had to do it using just
matches.
I succeeded after quite a few attempts, just to find that the mantel
caught fire, and flames came up through the lit, and activated the
smoke alarm. Well, I had assumed this could be by the book, so I left
it to burn out, and the lamp actually did start to glow like I had
expected it to. However....
The lamp has now been burning for maybe 3 hours. The glow has about
the same intensity as a lit match. and there are no chance etc I'd be
able to read by the light of the Tilley. The mantel glows in various
colors, with light brown being the darkest at about 50% of the surface
of the mantel, oraange at about 30% of the surface, and yellow at the
rest. There's no close to white colors anywhere to be seen. It is in
particular the upper half an inch of the mantel that glows in the
brighter colors.
The regulator is set on full throttle, and if I apply further
pressure, the lamp increases the hissing sound, but it does not result
in any better glow.
As fuel, I am using Morrisons BBQ Lighting Fluid, and the bottle does
not reveal the real content, but the smell does seem to suggest that
petrolium is the main ingredient.
Any ideas as to what I can do to be able to produce adequate
illumination to be able to read a book by new new Tilley lamp will be
received with great appreciation.
Thank you.
Carsten
Don Aitken
You seem to have made several mistakes, but the obvious one is using
the wrong fuel. The Tilley lamp runs on paraffin, and nothing but.
The other point is that it only works if the fuel is delivered as
vapour, not liquid. This means it must be adequately preheated as it
comes up the tube from the fuel tank. The preheater torch is required
to ensure the tube is hot enough when the lamp is lit. You could
probably improvise a substitute, but a substantial amount of external
heat is required - matches won't do.
Instructions are on-line at several places, including
http://www.base-camp.co.uk/instruction.html
If and when you get it working you will almost certainly find that it
produces more light (and much more heat, and significantly more noise)
than you really need.
I don't like the things, but if treated right they do work.
Ensure that the old fuel is throughly washed out with paraffin before
trying it again.
--
Don Aitken
Mail to the From: address is not read.
To email me, substitute "clara.co.uk" for "freeuk.com"
David Morris
I've got several of this style of lamp, but mine are Vapalux lamps. Don
is quite correct. It needs to be hot to make sure the paraffin
vapourises and it has to be paraffin.
I've had a couple of instances where I pressurised the lamp too early
and the system wasn't hot enough and you can get soot deposits on the
mantle. I believe this is impossible to remove because the mantle
becomes fragile to the touch. This results in poor light output. The
only solution is to try again with another mantle.
I use mine in the summer when we're having barbecues. They're great for
keeping the night-time insect population under control, simply because
they get so damned hot!
I also recommend base-camp for supplies. I got all the bits for a
complete refurb on my first lamp, a Vapalux 320.
They do have the potential to be dangerous if misused and I don't think
I'd ever consider using mine indoors; strictly outdoors only, and only
light them when completely sober.
--
David Morris
Adrian Stott
<carsten....@gmail.com> wrote:
>Hello folks.
>
>I have just become the owner of a vintage Tilley pressure lamp which I
>bought on eBay.
>Any ideas as to what I can do to be able to produce adequate
>illumination to be able to read a book by new new Tilley lamp will be
>received with great appreciation.
Wow! I can *just* remember one of these being used during power cuts
in England in the mid 1900s. However, we used to use the similar
Coleman lanterns a lot in Canada on camping holidays.
The instructions Don refers to are just right. But you do need to
follow *all* of them
http://www.base-camp.co.uk/instruction.html
In particular, the mantles are *incredibly* fragile once they have
been "burned". Any knock to the lamp can cause them to fall apart.
The Colemans didn't/don't have the pre-heating arrangement described
for the Tilleys. Primus stoves, which work much the same way, have a
little reservoir below the mantle which you fill with meths. The
Colemans just burned with a worryingly-large yellow flame until the
incoming paraffin became hot enough to vapourise, and then suddenly
the mantle started glowing white and brightly.
These lamps are noisy, give off a lot of heat (with the Colemans, you
*had* to remember never to leave the handle upright when the lamp was
burning, as it would become too hot to hold), fragile, subject to
sooting (of themselves and their surroundings), and sometimes
dangerous. But they provide very good light.
However, I would rather use one outside as opposed to in a boat cabin.
Good luck.
Adrian
Adrian Stott
07956-299966
Uncle Marvo
4jtss39dt4coqk3ou...@4ax.com, I, Marvo, say :
> On Wed, 05 Mar 2008 10:01:14 +0000, .mother <nos...@nominet.name>
> wrote:
>
>> On Wed, 05 Mar 2008 10:18:17 +0100, Martin <m...@address.invalid>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Some Tilley lamps were supplied with a sort of wick collar on a
>>> clip that you dipped in meths. The meths is used to preheat the lamp
>>
>> Crumbs, I'd forgotten about that - the stove had a collar 'bowl' that
>> was filled with a capfull of meths to preheat.
>
> Those too. The one I remember from the nineteen fifties had an
> asbestos wick on a spring clip that lived in a bottle of meths when
> not in use. One had to remember not to put the wick collar back in
> the meths until it was cold.
>
>> Vague memories of just
>> stopping a friend trying to light it after filling the tank with
>> meths and the bowl with paraffin.
>
> and the ignorant person who picked up a Primus stove that had flared
> while I was lighting it and heroically threw it down the hill that we
> were camping on.
And the complete berk who tried to remove the plastic price tag from his
incinerator while it was red hot, resulting in the tag becoming firmly
welded to his finger, and most painfully.
Yesterday.
Yes, it was I. And whilst I was hopping around looking for something cold to
stick it in, the box of confidential papers I was incinerating caught fire.
Followed by the pallet they were on, then the box of firewood. Luckily the
van was several feet away.
sprocket
> However this could well
> be due to the operator.
>
That or the condition of the lamp. They shoine better than the sun
inspring when working properly.
> The lamp came with a new mantel. Replacing teh old one wasnt too hard,
> but igniting the lamp took a while. I do not have the torch that
> allegedly seem to be a necesarry tool, so I had to do it using just
> matches.
>
You need the "torch", which is just a bit of tick wick-type stuff in a
clip-on tray. You soak it in meths- lighter fluid might do, never tried
it, NOT paraffin. It fits round the up-tube just below the mantle when
you're lighting it.
> The regulator is set on full throttle, and if I apply further
> pressure, the lamp increases the hissing sound, but it does not result
> in any better glow.
Throttle? I think that might be the jet cleaner.
>
> As fuel, I am using Morrisons BBQ Lighting Fluid, and the bottle does
> not reveal the real content, but the smell does seem to suggest that
> petrolium is the main ingredient.
Use paraffin as the main fuel, meths as the starter.
The procedure is:
Soak the preheater with meths. Make sure the tank is full of paraffin.
Pressure valve open.
Light the preheater and position on the up- tube. Wait longer than you
think.
When the preheater is getting low, operate the jet cleaner once, close
the pressure valve and pump like f***. There should be a POP and the
mantle should light up light a miniature nuclear test. If you've got it
wrong, and liquid paraffin comes out, release the pressure and repeat
the preocess.
As the lamp runs, the pressure will droop, so a couple of pumps now and
again might be needed.
To turn it off, release the pressure and put outside. When it's cool,
make sure all the glass is clean etc.
JS
Adrian Stott
wrote:
>Battling with one of them during the 'Winter of Discontent' led me to
>two conclusions:
>
>1. Keep it as an interesting historic artefact - never to be used.
>
>2. Buy battery operated lighting!
>
>Actually, I have a few of the Coleman pressure lamps - that run on
>standard unleaded petrol - these give off loads of light in the
>(devoid of leccie) lockup. Can thoroughly recommend them.
>
>I've also still got the post war (2nd, that is) paraffin pressure
>stove somewhere, which also goes under category (1) above!
Yes, we had a Coleman stove for camping too. Very efficient. When
folded it up, it looked like (and was carried like) a green briefcase.
We also borrowed on one occasion a similar (but not briefcaseish)
stove from another manufacturer which had often been fueled with
gasoline (i.e. petrol), but although this had produced heat
appropriately it had apparently the stove somewhat so we were asked to
stick to kerosene (paraffin) on which it worked fine.
Overall, the technology (for stoves and lamps) is OK, if somewhat
carbon-emission-heavy. But it does require care to use safely IMHO,
especially if the use is indoors.
Adrian
Adrian Stott
07956-299966
MatSav
news:fqlv7h$b6$1...@aioe.org...
>
> Use paraffin as the main fuel, meths as the starter.
>
> The procedure is:
You forgot the first step - fit a new mantle, and "burn it off"
first, by applying a match (or, preferrably, using a gas
lighter - it's a "cleaner" flame) BEFORE applying the pre-heat.
<snip the rest>
--
MatSav
Ron Jones
> Hello folks.
>
>
> As fuel, I am using Morrisons BBQ Lighting Fluid, and the bottle does
> not reveal the real content, but the smell does seem to suggest that
> petrolium is the main ingredient.
These lamps should not be run with any fuel that is flammable. Depending on
the design they then can be bl**dy dangerous as the lamp heat up!!!!!. Use
paraffin only.
--
Ron Jones
Process Safety & Development Specialist
Don't repeat history, unreported chemical lab/plant near misses at
http://www.crhf.org.uk Only two things are certain: The universe and
human stupidity; and I'm not certain about the universe. ~ Albert
Einstein
Don Aitken
I know some people do this, but it is definitely *not* recommended by
the manufacturers - far to easy to damage the mantle that way.
Dave Mayall
wrote:
>On Wed, 05 Mar 2008 08:35:00 +0000, Adrian Stott <adr...@spam.com>
>wrote:
>
>>Wow! I can *just* remember one of these being used during power cuts
>>in England in the mid 1900s.
>
>Battling with one of them during the 'Winter of Discontent' led me to
>two conclusions:
>
>1. Keep it as an interesting historic artefact - never to be used.
>
>2. Buy battery operated lighting!
Or alternatively, learn how to light one, and become extremely smug
about it!
Nicholas D. Richards
<r...@ronjones.org.uk> writes
>DKVIKING007 wrote:
>> Hello folks.
>>
>>
>> As fuel, I am using Morrisons BBQ Lighting Fluid, and the bottle does
>> not reveal the real content, but the smell does seem to suggest that
>> petrolium is the main ingredient.
>
>These lamps should not be run with any fuel that is flammable. Depending on
>the design they then can be bl**dy dangerous as the lamp heat up!!!!!. Use
>paraffin only.
>
There were stoves (old ex-army stock when I saw them in the fifties)
that ran off petrol not paraffin, however they were dangerous,
explosively dangerous. Whether there were lamps that ran off petrol I
do not know. The petrol stoves were easily identified, they did not
have a pump.
Petrol in a paraffin lamp or stove could be lethal.
Mantle lamps should only be used in very well ventilated places. As the
oxygen levels drop, at the temperatures that these lamps burn, the
exhaust gas will be heavily laced with carbon monoxide. A boat cabin
with a Tilley lamp burning inside could rapidly turn into a death trap.
--
Nicholas David Richards -
"Oů sont les neiges d'antan?"
Dave Mayall
wrote:
>On Wed, 05 Mar 2008 21:55:05 +0000, Dave Mayall
><david....@ukonline.co.uk> wrote:
>
>>Or alternatively, learn how to light one, and become extremely smug
>>about it!
>
>Yebut that would mean 'reading the manual' - not bloody likely, I'd
>get kicked out of the geeky club!
Reading the manual?!?!
Nonononono!!!
That isn't how you learn to work a pressure lamp.
You have to serve a three year apprenticeship under a master
lamplighter.
Only in that way can the mystic force which causes the lamp to work be
transferred.
Ron Jones
> On Wed, 5 Mar 2008 22:00:21 +0000, "Nicholas D. Richards"
> <nich...@salmiron.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>
>> In article <01cdb6b8$0$11082$c3e...@news.astraweb.com>, Ron Jones
>> <r...@ronjones.org.uk> writes
>>> DKVIKING007 wrote:
>>>> Hello folks.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> As fuel, I am using Morrisons BBQ Lighting Fluid, and the bottle
>>>> does not reveal the real content, but the smell does seem to
>>>> suggest that petrolium is the main ingredient.
>>>
>>> These lamps should not be run with any fuel that is flammable.
>>> Depending on the design they then can be bl**dy dangerous as the
>>> lamp heat up!!!!!. Use paraffin only.
>>>
>>
>>
>> There were stoves (old ex-army stock when I saw them in the fifties)
>> that ran off petrol not paraffin, however they were dangerous,
>> explosively dangerous.
>
> common than paraffin nowadays
> http://zenstoves.net/Petrol.htm
I like their list of "disadvantages" - that would put a lot of people
straight off.
FWIW - the best "fuel" lamp I have used was a simple Camping Gaz one. I
suppose one could store the spare gas canisters in the gas locker?
Nicholas D. Richards
<david....@ukonline.co.uk> writes
Now there is a blast of nostalgia. I remember the lamplighter appearing
out of the fog (really) carrying his long pole. Pulling the cord and a
weak light came through the gloom.
At the time it seemed a great improvement when they took out the gas
lights and replaced them with electric lights (incandescent bulbs) on
their own timers. Now I am not so sure. A man lost his job and there
was one less person walking down the street.
Who was it said that the past was another country?
sprocket
>
> I remember the lamplighter appearing
> out of the fog (really) carrying his long pole.
Sure it wasn't the neighbourhood flasher?
Tony Haynes
I remember that too at Croxley Green, not far from Batchworth. My
Uncle Bob was the chief fire officer for Dickinson's Mills. When the
lamp-lighter, who was a drinking pal of his in the Sportsman pub, came
round in the morning to turn down the gas supply to the lamp outside
his bedroom, he would knock on the window with his pole to make sure
Uncle Bob hadn't overslept.
Time for porridge for me, then a quick stroll down through the woods
to see what working boats were moving past Walkers Lock, catapult in
hand to gee up the squirrels. They were the days.
They had no electrickery in their cottage. Uncle Bob used to go across
the road to get his accumulator exchanged for his church window type
radio. Aunty Ada thought he had to wait while it was being charged up,
but he'd be in the pub next door. I'd be on the step with a packet of
crisps.
There seemed to be a two pint accumulator, or a three pint one.
Uncle Bob always put on his tie to listen to the BBC news. I had to
sit as quiet as a mouse or I got a bat.
Tone
(with school cap on)
Adrian Stott
<nich...@salmiron.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>At the time it seemed a great improvement when they took out the gas
>lights and replaced them with electric lights (incandescent bulbs) on
>their own timers. Now I am not so sure. A man lost his job and there
>was one less person walking down the street.
Actually, there are a lot more people walking the streets now than
there were then. As part of their jobs. A lot of them are female.
Adrian
Adrian Stott
07956-299966
Nicholas D. Richards
<adr...@spam.com> writes
apparently down my street the ladies of the night are not ladies. I am
glad ladies, or otherwise, of the night are not my taste.
Adrian Stott
<nich...@salmiron.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> I am glad ladies, or otherwise, of the night are not my taste.
You prefer maybe camomile? Or, pehaps, Camomile?
"Lady of the night" is a misnomer/euphemism, surely. Or, perhaps,
Shirley?
Adrian
Adrian Stott
07956-299966
Nicholas D. Richards
<adr...@spam.com> writes
>"Lady of the night" is a misnomer/euphemism, surely. Or, perhaps,
>Shirley?
>
>Adrian
>
>
>
>Adrian Stott
>07956-299966
You are learning
Dave Mayall
wrote:
>Martin wrote:
>> On Wed, 5 Mar 2008 22:00:21 +0000, "Nicholas D. Richards"
>> <nich...@salmiron.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>>
>>> In article <01cdb6b8$0$11082$c3e...@news.astraweb.com>, Ron Jones
>>> <r...@ronjones.org.uk> writes
>>>> DKVIKING007 wrote:
>>>>> Hello folks.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> As fuel, I am using Morrisons BBQ Lighting Fluid, and the bottle
>>>>> does not reveal the real content, but the smell does seem to
>>>>> suggest that petrolium is the main ingredient.
>>>>
>>>> These lamps should not be run with any fuel that is flammable.
>>>> Depending on the design they then can be bl**dy dangerous as the
>>>> lamp heat up!!!!!. Use paraffin only.
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> There were stoves (old ex-army stock when I saw them in the fifties)
>>> that ran off petrol not paraffin, however they were dangerous,
>>> explosively dangerous.
>>
>> There still are. The use of petrol for camping stoves is much more
>> common than paraffin nowadays
>> http://zenstoves.net/Petrol.htm
>
>I like their list of "disadvantages" - that would put a lot of people
>straight off.
>FWIW - the best "fuel" lamp I have used was a simple Camping Gaz one. I
>suppose one could store the spare gas canisters in the gas locker?
FWIW, these are the most ridiculously and wantonly dangerous fuel lamp
ever invented.
Punching a hole in a cas canister, and hoping that the o-ring will
seal, in the sure knowledge that if it fails to seal, you have a big
problem on your hands,
Canisters that a novice user could easily try to put in in a
dangerously incorrect manner.
The possibility of severe cold burns if you attempt to remove a
canister before it is properly empty.
If you must use these, then;
1) Never use them inside the boat.
2) Never bring any part of them inside the boat. Keep them in the gas
locker.