Petromax 500CO Valve Leak

    Hi All!
    I was recently testing my Petromax 500CP Rapid. It burned perfect for about one hour when I decided to shut it down.
    As I was shutting it down, I noticed the valve wheel nut was slowly dripping kerosene onto the side of the fount. It had to have been leaking the whole time, I just didn't notice it. When I tightened the nut a bit, it became too tight to open the valve freely. However when I back off the nut just a bit, it starts leaking again.
    Does this lanterns fuel valve use packing like a Coleman valve? I don't see anything in the exploded views online.
    Any thoughts?
    -Randall

    Hi Randell and welcome to the forums.


    I don't know the package of a Coleman-lantern, but for a Petromax lantern the fuel-valve package is made out of black-lead ( graphite ). Maybe your'll be able to find some graphite-tape.


    As step one, I would remove the valve-knob, after that the nut and would see, if the package is sitting properly in the tube. If not, try to push it a little bit more inside and try again.


    HTH


    Cheers,
    Wilm

    si tacuisses, philosophus mansisses

    Hello,


    Zitat

    Original von radams
    Does this lanterns fuel valve use packing like a Coleman valve? I don't see anything in the exploded views online.


    Yes, it does (part #108, see http://www.pelam.de/index.php?cPath=30_51_92&language=en), pretty much the same than on the coleman lamps, but i suppose that the sizes differ so a coleman package will not fit. Here in the shop you can get such a package, but shipping this thing (worth about 1$) to the US will cost much more...;-(


    But its easy to build some substitute for it: In the homebrew shops there should be something like teflon tape, looks like adhesive tape but is much thinner. This stuff is used by plumbers to get things tight. It is quite temperature-resistant and is resistive against kerosene, so it is possible to use this thing instead of the original graphite-package. Just roll a lot of it around the valve axle and then press it with the nut, should become tight and the axle should still be movable. If the graphite package is still there, but ruined, to you can try to add this teflon additionally instead of completely removing the old package first.


    Greetings,
    Frank.

    --
    Mehr Licht! (Goethe)

    You are right Frank,
    It DOES appear on the exploded view. I thought it was a metal sleeve of some sort. Now that I look at it, it IS the packing.


    Teflon Tape... This is funny, I already used Teflon Tape as a kind of a Quick temporary fix thinking it was not correct, but I'm happy to see I was on the right track. I'll leave it with the Teflon with your blessing.


    Whaterver works, right?


    Thanks guys.
    -Randall

    Hello Randall,


    The pros here use special graphite tape, about 0,5-1 millimeter thick and roll this in - works also and looks after pressing with the nut totally like the original part, but i never saw such stuff in homebrew shops.


    Greetings and have fun with your petromax :bounce:,
    Frank.

    --
    Mehr Licht! (Goethe)