Light adjustment/pulsing

    Hello everybody.


    I just bought a new old stock Hipolito 500HK.


    I've been surprised on how much bright its light can be.
    I just serviced whit some gasket from Pelam.de and everything seems to work fine.


    Just a little concern:
    The lamp cannot work unless the main valve wheel (#111) is completely opened (6oclock). I tried to rotate it in both sides: Nothing appens until the whell points at 3oclock or 9oclock. Then the pressure starts going down. I stop rotating and pressure continues decreasing until it's not even enough to subsatin a regular functioning. Now I have to re-open otherwise the flame will estinguish. Just a millimeter and the mantle 'explodes' at full power.


    In few words there are not middle ways:
    This is my question to experienced Petromax users: are these lamp designed to work at many intermediate power level?
    If yes, what could be wrong?


    PS:changed #68, #193, #83.


    Just to be sure: are these lamps supposed to pulse or there can be a right setting in order to make them run regurarly?



    Grazie
    Francesco

    Hi Francesco
    Welcome to the board,
    I will try and answer some of your question until the more experienced members jump in


    Zitat

    In few words there are not middle ways:
    This is my question to experienced Petromax users: are these lamp designed to work at many intermediate power level?


    Well the Petromax type lantern is not an "adjustable lantern" it has an on and off positions only so that is normal :]


    Zitat

    Just to be sure: are these lamps supposed to pulse or there can be a right setting in order to make them run regularly?


    Lantern should burn steady without pulsating there are few things to check
    1. Do you have enough pressure?
    2. Are all the parts are tightly closed - burner, mixing chamber. (Parts 33, 34, 3)
    3. is the space between the nipple and the inner casing is correct?
    4. Did you try adjusting the mixture screw in the mixing tube?
    5. You are sure there are no pressure leaks?
    6. There is no dirt in the tank?


    Let us know and you will get more answers from the more experienced too :hail:

    Thank you for your quick reply..


    About the first concern, nothing to say, just on/off, now I know.


    About the pulsing:
    1- The problem persists at 2/more atmosphere.
    2- I just opened all parts of the lamp and close them tightly (is vaporizer gasket #90 supposed to be changed all the times: I unscrewed the vaporizer without changing it)
    3- space between the nipple and the inner casing: verified, correct!
    4- Yes, I did. Just more/less light
    5- I left the lamp in full pressure for hours. The pressure remains constant.
    6- I just washed the tank (several times with fresh water and the last with kerosene): inspecting the tank I stated its surface is just nude brass, very clean.


    ... trying furtherly the lamp I discovered another (small) lack:


    after making it run at full temperature, close the main valve (12oclock) a very tiny flow of kerosene kept on coming out. No ways, I must take off pressure on tank.
    As I sayd vaporizer valve gasket #193 is new.

    Hi
    Well this is a problem well try more before we beg for help from the masters ;)

    Zitat

    (Is vaporizer gasket #90 supposed to be changed all the times: I unscrewed the vaporizer without changing it)


    Only if there is a leak but it is recommended to change it if you take the vaporizer apart, but don’t take the vaporizer apart again to replace it.


    Another question - did the lantern pulse for the whole time when lighted?
    And yet another is the Vaporizer nipple is tight and clean?


    Try starting with only half a tank and see if pulsating happens

    Lamp was 'new old stock' when I bought it. It has worked for something like 3/4hours.
    Nipple and needle were clean. Now I can only see a greasy black material inside the nipple, I think it's due to impure kerosene, but I can guess it's normal.


    The pulses are strong and 'aggressive'. They start from the beginning. Sometimes the lamp stop pulsing for some minutes then starts again.
    There is no difference from the beginning to an hour working.

    Hi Again lets try some more
    a lantern requires an exact fuel and air to operate. A flicker often means that air is being allowed in somewhere where it is not supposed to. In other words, you may have an air leak.


    Lets try this:
    Take the lantern outside. Pressurize it but do not fire it up. Light a match or take your lighter and waive it under the main valve and around the gaskets and blowtorch (if you have one).If the flame all of a sudden gets much larger or waves then you found your leak. If it doesn't, fire up the lantern and let it burn for a minute or two until it starts flickering. The do the wave-the-flame trick again. If the flame grows, or if the lantern's light becomes steady, you've found your leak-and problem. You'll need to tighten and/or replace the valve stem packing or the gasket.
    This usualy works better with white gas lanters but could give it a try on a kerosene one


    Another thing is that the rod inside the vaporizer dose not fully open the lower valve in the tank not allowing the right amount of fuel up the tube


    Check the seal on the fuel cap has no air leaks of gasket is ald and dry


    well I hope this helps because I am running out of ides - all of the abouve ususaly helped me.


    More help form the experts is welcome ;) ;)

    Hi Francesco,



    Lanterns often are stocked with a little amount of kerosene in the tank. Kerosene is not stable over a long time, it starts to degenerate after some time. This is where the black bulk comes from.


    In order to get rid of the problem, you have to take the lantern apart and clean out the tank and the vaporizer with Aceton.


    A good way to clean the tank is to fill a hand sharp sand in, add half a litre of Aceton, close all vents and shake the hole thing. Washing machine works quite well, make sure that your wife does not notice it ;-). Put the tank in some old cloth and skid the construction in w-machine. Sounds weird but works well.



    Be careful with Aceton it is quite aggressive against plastic, avoid skin contact.


    Yours Jonas

    Thanks to both you Jonas and 'steelkingdom'.


    I'm going to try all the said operation on next hours..


    I still have some doubts about how to lock up gasket #90 in case I would need a replacing.
    That gasket is made on soft metal and needs somehow to be shaped on the exact interstice between tank and vaporizer lower part.. How to do it? Just screw and let it go?


    Thank you again for your precious tips!


    Francesco

    Hi, you are welcome
    As for the gasket it is made out of lead.
    When replacing use a new one the will fit on the tank (a bit smaller in diameter) and close the vaporizer tight- but not to tight, until the gasket fills the space the vaporizer is the right way and you don’t have any air or fuel leaks.

    This evening I made a further test.
    Since I finished my kerosene supply, I put special liquid for stoves inside.
    First of all, I tried suggestions of steelkingdom. (No lacks, nowhere).


    So I went on testing how it runned (this time).
    The lamp this time has shown a complete range of conducts..


    At the beginning it started working very smoothly.. no pulses, surprise!


    It went on this way for half an hour, I really tought all problems had gone. The light was good but not so bright as with kerosene.. after this it went down slowly for about five minutes until its power wasn't even enough to support a good combustion process. It went down.


    At this point I lighted up the preater for a while, and... the mantle newly popped up (without main valve being opened!).


    I opened valve.
    Than followed a ten minutes pulsing light... and then newly a bright (brighter than before) and regular light!.. crazy!!!



    Anyway, I stated that the lamp is in general ok.
    This is confirmed by the relatively long period of very good working... I will start from the beginning with a general fitting, tank cleaning, and so.


    I also will change spring #194: since the valve is sometimes lacking kerosene and the #193 washer is new, I think it's the only think to do.



    Thank you