Hipolito H502 Automatic

Hi folks, this is my first post so be gentle with me

I recently bought this Hipolito for XXX. Please NO prices her ein the forum Eugen j.Keusen - the friendly mod

I've been reading around and finding out as much as I can about pressure lanterns and the Hipolto/Petromax as, although I've used pressure stoves in the past this is my first lantern. I had planned to strip it down and clean and refurb but on further inspection, the pump does seem to be holding pressure ok. Now I'm wondering if I should just stick some fuel in it, a new mantle and see what happens?? Is that a good idea or should I clean and strip it just to be on the safe side??

Many thanks in advance for any advice

I've just replaced the pump washer and the pressure gauge washer is in perfect condition. To be honest, even the pump washer was soft and hadn't really dried out at all. I shone a torch inside the tank and it looks spotless. While it's definitely holding pressure the needle on the gauge wouldn't move. I've done the check with the butane cylinder and the needle moved fine then so my guess is that with an empty tank I simply wasn't getting enough pressure.

I think I might just give it a go

And then there was light

I might just be a little happy as after the mantle settled down it worked fine I think I might have been a bit impatient with the preheating as well as there was a bit of flame to begin with but as it warmed up properly it just sat there making a lovely hissing noise and lots of light

Going to try that once it gets properly dark

Well, just nipped out to the garden to try and fire it up again but unfortunately rain stopped play I did manage to get this pic of the preheater running

but then by the time we had it properly alight the heavens opened and as I don't quite trust my lighting technique enough yet to light it indoors we decided discretion was the better part of valour

I think there might still be an issue with the pump yet as it doesn't seem to pressurize with every stroke which is making things a bit heavy going. Any ideas what might be causing this and how to fix it? It's got a new leather pump seal, do they need bedding in a little or something?

Zitat von KSBulli

Well that´s a known problem: The leather seal dosn´t spread to the tube of the pump for a 100% so you will have "blind" strokes while pumping...

You will find some spreader feathers sometime named "Lederspreader with nut" or so. These will spread the seal to the pump wall so that it will work at every stroke.

You can find them at Pelam´s as well as at Ernst from Switzerland here on this site. One of those will fix your problem...

Have fun whith the lantern, it´s worth the energy to put it on duty. It is the one of last from the Petromax type manufactured in europe until Pelam was founded. A peace of good quality at least...

Christian

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Many thanks Christian (Your English is excellent by the way!)

I did wonder about some kind of spreader and just looked at Pelam, unfortunately their postage to me in England is more than twice the cost of the spreader Maybe I need to see if someone wants to share postage for a larger order. At least I know it's a known issue and not something broken

I am definitely enjoying getting it going and just waiting for some nice weather to have an excuse to go sit in the garden with it going

Zitat von KSBulli

... don´t forget a glass of a tasteful malt whisky or a good pint ...

and dont´t forget the

You will find some examples at the "gerade eben" thread in the german part of the site

Christian

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Oh absolutely Maybe even a nice single malt followed by a good beer

Definitely going to take some more photos as well!

Zitat von johnmsmithfd

Glad to hear you had success, these beasts can be so temperamental when you first get them, especially second hand. Sorry my post is a bit historic, havn't had much time lately to log in. However my three pen'orth is do all what the others have said but in addition: give the tank a good flush out with fuel just in case there is any sludge which will come through and blow holes in your mantle! Do check the tightness of the burner as sometimes they work loose and drop off (remember it's ceramic so go gentle and you will have to wait until the next mantle change to do this). Check that the needle is tight and that the nipple is as well a loose one is notorious for causing flare ups. Personally I always start my beasts with meth as its kinder on the mantles. Lastly try and print out Jan M's how to renovate a Petromax it's a blindingly useful little tome, it's so handy as a reference manual.
Have fun
John.

I have a small torch that I used to have a good look inside the tank with and it really was spotless, I was surprised at how clean it looked! Frankly I doubt that this one has seen much use at all judging by some of the others I've seen and the condition of the seals. It looks like it has the stainless burner as it previously had the double ended mantle support which I've removed. At some point in the relatively near future I'll be looking for a ceramic one for it I think as well as a spreader for the pump washer. I need to get some meths as I have a sneaking suspicion that that may not worry Mrs Happymoose quite so much when it comes to lighting it indoors Jan M's little write up was the first thing I downloaded and I now have a little collection of bits and pieces of useful info including a scan of the original manual which has been useful.

All in all, I've a sneaking suspicion that this may just turn into an addiction......like I need another one of those

Zitat von johnmsmithfd

Addictions like these are good, there is always room to add an adiction of this nature! My apologies for assuming you were a complete newbie, you don't see many u.k posts on this site and when you do it's a breath of fresh air. My didn't you get a good buy! I had to pay £50 quid for my 1961 Petromax! My 'Er indoors still thinks I'm nuts, but then she always has, but on a cold ish summer evening our petromax's and Tilley do keep us warm in the gazebo, and (she doesnt moan then) along with the obligatory single malt and her white wine we can suffer the worst the English weather throws as us. Just as a by the by have you realised ( that is if you don't already speak German ) that google translate will translate the German section and there are often some good threads on there to follow, it's not perfect but it's usually followable. Again, have fun.
John.

My other half has not only resigned herself to some of my other hobbies, but has enough of her own as well Fortunately she's as pleased that we have this working as I am. No gazebo here so we're just waiting for a break in the rain to get some photos and to give it a proper run. Fingers crossed I have a Tilley and another as yet unidentified lantern on the way for a similar price each They were for sale at the same time as this one and I'm kicking myself for not just buying all three at the same time now

I have been using google translate and looking through some of the other threads. I don't really speak German but have enough left over from school to work out where google gets it wrong definitely some fun stuff

At last we actually have quite a balmy night and my lighting technique is improving

The globe has sooted up a little from my not so successful lighting attempts and I do intend to take it out and clean it as well as giving the whole thing a good clean and polish, other than that, I think I'm just going to leave it alone! My one concern is the pressure gauge. It's extremely difficult to get it up anywhere near the red line. At an indicated 1 bar there's waaaay too much pressure for the preheater and at about an indicate 1.5 bar the lantern is burning smoothly with no pulsing at all. Is it ok to use that as a guide or should I be pushing for the 2 bar?? Also, when I'm storing the lantern, should I store it full of fuel or if it's not going to be used for a while should I empty it?

These are such an evocative style of lantern. The minute it was lit and we had that unmistakable hissing sound and that mellow, warm light lighting up the garden I was transported to so many family camping trips and trips beach fishing with my Granddad and Mrs Happymoose was taken straight back to the time she spent in Africa. Ok, maybe you need to work a little more for the light, but that just makes it so much more satisfying when it all works

Zitat von johnmsmithfd

Hi you,
Been giving some thought to your pressure gauge problem, my thoughts so far: I tried following the thread on how to calibrate a pressure gauge, I found it all a bit obscure! I guess you want to keep your old period gauge so just replacing with new is not an option, however why not buy a new one anyway just so that you can compare pressures with old and new,this will give you an idea of how many pump strokes you need for a certain pressure, do this a few times, to ensure pump and valve are working correctly and consistently, once you a happy, perhaps then have a go at that re calibration. If all goes tits up you will still have a spare gauge as fallback, if all goes well you will have a spare for your spares box. (I know what your thinking, a new gauge will cost as much or more than what you paid for your lamp, but in the long run, I think you would not regret it and later on if you were to buy another old'n ......)
Achieving the correct pressure for running these beasts without a working pressure gauge is fine for those who have had theirs for years as they know by sound, smell and light output when it's right, not enough pressure and it will not stay lit for very long and will smell, too much and you will shorten the life of your mantles, so having a reasonably reliable gauge, for me is worth while.
John

That's not a bad idea John. I had been considering it and to be honest, as this one will be a user, I'm not too strung up on keeping it original so long as it works properly and reliably. Might just give me that excuse to put an order into Pelam for the pump leather spreader at the same time and make the postage a bit more worth it