Petromax 500CP is pulsating and leaking cerosine from the generator bottom

Zitat von magnuken

....

- The generator is leaking kerosene from its lower part I think. This happen only when the lamp is burning. When it is pressurized but not burning there is no kerosene leakage. Could the fault be in the lead washer (also renewed
this)?

Please check, WHERE there is a leak. You can put the lamp (not burning, but under pressure) in a bucket of water.
Are you sure, the generator is fastend enough with the lead-seal #90 ?

Zitat von magnuken

- When the lamp is burning it has a somewhat pulsating noise (once a half second) and also the light intensity is slightly pulsating. Is this normal?

This is well known, it´s called "Leidenfrost-Effekt", but should not occur. You can fix this with adding a little roll of brass-gaze into the upper part of the generator. You have to probaly try out different sizes.

Zitat von magnuken

- After every burning of my lamp I have to change the mantle because there has become some holes in the top of the mantle. Is this normal?

No it´s not, what kind of mantles do you use ?

Zitat von magnuken

- What are the best mantles for Petromax 829 Rapid 500CP?

The best mantles are quality mantles from well known manufactureres, as Petromx ("PX501"), Luxor ("400-600 CP"), Coleman ("Gold Top") or Peerless ("Type 111"). Some use old german army mantles from Geniol or Petromax (radioactive).

That looks lite a mantle for a 150hk lamp. The 500hk mantle is much bigger than the burner.

Ok. then it should fit in the system of the 500HK lamp. Is there every part of the lantern at the right place? i`ve just look at the picture and think that the Nozzle or clay burner is missing.Clay Burner

I got the experience that the mantles shrink too much, when the gas mixture is too saturated.

If the mantle is too small, it might have several negative effect.
- risk of beeing blast away (as in your case)
- risk of flame turning back into mixing chamber and mixing tube, overheating the tube (glowing red)
- risk of flame corona outside the mantle, overheating the mixing tube from outside
etc.

check, if air can flow freely:
- mixing tube free (no insects)
- burner holes all open and no ridges
- test with new mantle with larger air gap between jet and mixing tube (up to 16-18 mm)

about the underwater test:
- empty tank (only when air is leaking you see bubbles)
- you can also check the upper vapouriser part under pressure, when you open the valve and fast put your thumb onto the jet; push entire lamp under water; look for bubbles coming out

A typical point of failure is also the seal of the rapid burner.

good luck
willi

Hi Petromax-Fan from Finland,

Concerning mantle damage:
It is very difficult to judge from this perspective of your photo, but are you sure you fixed
the mantle in the right position ? The thread has to be fixed to the last ledge of the clay burner only -
it almost looks as if it is way up too high ... tied to the mixing chamber (part of brass) ?

Do you use a metal replacement for the clay burner ? If those become corroded, the ledge turns into a real "killer" for the mantles just like the type of a damage in your photo. Replace with a new one, or change back to a clay part.

Edit: And yes , I also agree the mantle looks "very small".
Edit 2: You smoke too much (Just like me)

Good luck , Matt

Zitat von magnuken

.. i have fixed it to the first ledge of the burner! ...

That should be ok then. Strange, nevertheless.
Check the clay burner for damages / sharp edges anyway.
Even the clay part suffers some degradation after time (by the heat),
and as this is where the mantle has direct contact, it works like a little "saw" cutting the mantle.
Using a fresh spare isn't too expensive

Good luck ...
/Matt.

Zitat von magnuken

- The generator is leaking kerosene from its lower part I think. This happen only when the lamp is burning. When it is pressurized but not burning there is no kerosene leakage. Could the fault be in the lead washer (also renewed
this)?

hi Keneth,
did you remove the old lead washer coplete before remounting the new lead washer, becuse you should have to do this every time when changing the lead washer.

Zitat von magnuken

- When the lamp is burning it has a somewhat pulsating noise (once a half second) and also the light intensity is slightly pulsating. Is this normal?

please ckeck if the nozzle spray vertical upside, but be careful and catch the outgoing gasoline with a towel or tissue:
Mischrohrglühen, schon alles versucht..

When you do the underwater test, you should take off the glass of the manometer. Then you get the water better out again, after the test.
If you had no bubbles after dial had filled, then there is no leakage at the manometer.

For cleaning the tank, put half a handful of screwnuts in the tank plus some kerosine. shake the tank throughly. pour out the content through a coffee filter paper. The cleaned kerosine can be used again.

3rd: yes. But also possible that some part of the Carburetor is leaking, which you wont see in underwater test, unless carburetor is under pressure during underwater test.

regards willi

Just to prevent opening of a new thread...
Hi,
I have the same problem with my Petromax 829. Got it brand new 3 years ago
and had only problems with it. Have also Coleman 282, everything with it is fine,
no any issues at all, but it is only 125W. Chinese production of Petromax is terrible,
very low quality and poorly made at all. Bought an upper vapouriser and a stainless
steel mixing pipe (without butterfly) with nozzle from Bri-t-e-l-yt, they have much
better quality compared to those available from Petromax, but still have a lot of
issues with it. Pulsing light and noise, not enough brightness, even with old stock
original radioactive Petromax HK500 mantles. The air gap is about 14mm, i.e. it
should be OK. For the leiderfrost effect that probably causes pulsing already bought
the recommended brass gauze from Petromax, just waiting for delivering and will
report here the results. There is no leakage at all (underwater test under pressure),
the pressure is always >2 bar and the petroleum is not less than 3/4 tank. I tried
various sources for fuel, even petroleum for airplane jet engines. Always the same
sh*t happened. I'm very disappointed at all.
Found an old used chinese Anchor 350, did just a little maintenance and lit it up and
it started to work without any issues with a brighter light, compared to my HK500.
Any suggestions?

Sure.
Increase the distance from nozzle to mixing tube from 14 to 18mm.
Then, instead of using thre brass gauze,
wind the inner copper wires from a loudspeaker cable or similar
loosely round the needle rod within the vaporizer. All the way from the control wheel excenter up to the lower end of the vaporizer loop.
The copper must touch the inside of the vaporizer tube. It leads the heat of the vaporizer tube into the gap between needle rod and vaporizer wall. The copper increases the surface for heat transfer into the kero. The copper spiral should guide the kero or gas on a spiral way upwards in the vaporizer.
It must not be single wire copper from installation cable. It must be this multi thread copper wire as in loudspeaker cables or car wire. Don't know the English term for Litze.

Check the ceramic burner. Are all holes clear and the hole rims round?
You can skip this last measure, if you want to save existing mantle. Check it, when you next mount a new mantle.

Measures 1 and 2 should do most of the job.

Ps. Check that the paddle in the mixing tube is vertical.

Regards
Willi

Thank you for your post, Willi
Litze is a copper core of multi wire cable as I remember.
The english name is "stranded wire" and means an electrical
conductor, consisting of many thin individual wires that are
easy to bend. Think that the coaxial cable's braided shield
will do the job better:

My mixing pipe is already moved to the top end and I have
only 14mm to the nipple. It is not possible to move it further
(to the top). Maybe vapouriser is too long (upper or lower part).
The old one is with the same length. The top burner (# 117) is
also new from Petromax. Frame (# 121) and the tank with pump
were exchanged too. All of parts are with the same dimensions.
I'm attaching a pic of the top burner with nipple an mixing pipe.
It is quite strange why the vapouriser is protruding up nearly to
the half of top burner's mixing chamber. With the original parts
was the same. Bought this lantern brand new from Germany, then
spent the same money for spares and never got this lamp burning
without problems.
The nozzle is the steel one, not original ceramic and it is OK.

P.S.
The conducting rod with cleaning needle is not short, the needle
which is cut to about 3-4mm goes up when the valve is closed.
It means the chamber of top burner is not on its proper place or
... I don't have any idea what the **ck is wrong with this lamp...

Zitat von magnuken

Hi,

- After every burning of my lamp I have to change the mantle because there has become some holes in the top of the mantle. Is this normal?

Dear Lampdestroyer,
the "steel burner" you use is well known for causing different problems, like spreading the mixing chamber till it falls off...and it produces small pieces of scale, that may kill the mantles!

Best regards
Jürgen

Sockenleuchter, you cited the creator of the thread Magnuken.
He wrote that for the mantle more than two years ago (2015).
I just use his thread, because my problem (leiderfrost effect)
is the same
My mantles are OK, just burning is not stable and it's pulsing
whenever I light up my Petromax. It's explained in my previous
posts (they are only 2).