Greetings forum members,
I have a few Tilley lamps and a Vaporlux all of which give little trouble, a while ago I bought a new cheap Chinese Solar 500 lamp. I have never managed to get it working properly for more than a minute or so.
I have fitted a new nipple and china burner holder (Petromax parts) but gave up trying to get it to work reliabley. This week I'm having another go after reading up a bit more about how to adjust the mixing chamber gap, it was set to about 10mm but my Petromax instructions led me to make it just over 14mm so this is what I have done. The fault remains.
The problem appears after priming and the lamp is lit, it starts out fine and builds up light for about 30 seconds but then it starts to blow out, the flame dissapears from the mantle starting to go out at the bottom until it eventually all goes out and there is just vapour coming out.
There is always plenty of pressure, it seems a little better if I pump to about 3/4 of max. The butterfly valve need to be at the horizontal setting for best results.
If this was an engine |I'd say it was too weak a mixture but its a lamp and I don't have the experiance to diagnose the problem. I know these lamps are not the best quality items made, but I would expect them of being capable or running for an hour or two - not just a minute.
What I really want is a good ex military lamp in its own case but I'm going to get this one working first.
Any advice greatly appreciated. Best regards, David.
