Heh Heh! those flames; my exact experience before I learned about the missing starter torch which I was able to get subsequently from Tilley! and again before I learned the proper technique. Experience has taught me you don't need loads of pressure to keep this thing going. Once the paraffin is vaporising it creates its own back-pressure and keeps on going for hours. The flames appear when the paraffin squirts out the top as liquid not as vapour so the knack is to open the regulator first and, once the tubes are hot, pump up the pressure slowly to give the paraffin a chance to vaporise into 'gas' - It's quite a brilliant invention really! I've quickly come to love the Tilley. There's a special quality about its light, the hiss of the gas and the waft of paraffin that evokes simpler times when electricity could not be taken for granted as it is today. A technology that our great and great-great grandparents would have been familiar with. It somehow takes me back closer to them, sharing the light they would have experienced.
Pleased to have helped! That said, I got it worked out and the video that follows this one covers how to do it properly. Please like, share and if you like the channel, subscribe!
Post Brexit Dystopian Britain. We'll all be needing Tilley Lamps again soon enough. But surely not your Flame Thrower Variety, I don't remember them incinerating the Tent back in the day. 😱🔥
Nice 'how not to' video. Good to show what happens if you rush the lighting process. I know you mentioned servicing the lamps - sound like this one has a dry or worm pump washer. Nice light once working temperature is reached.
It does have an issue with the washer, I will be getting spares for it soon. The nice thing about them is they give out a certain amount of heat too. Thanks for the comments.
I got my Tilly lamp down yesterday to start it but thought I should clean it up a bit first. After taking the top piece of I looked down on the central tube and saw what I thought was a very small hole which I attempted to probe to check that it was clear but although I have lots of pieces of wire I could not find one bit small enough to enter the hole. First question. Is there really a hole there and if so is its purpose? Second question. Where about on that pipe does the vapour come out from? Many thanks for all the information.
If you mean down the the tube towards the tank, yes there is, and you will not find a piece of wire fine enough to get past the auto pricker that blocks it when the unit is off. The jets on the Tiley's are cleaned by the auto pricker. There are also other videos on how to light it and change the mantle on my RU-vid channel. Please like and share, and if you like the channel, subscribe!
It's a very small hole at the best of times - .2mm or 8/1000 of an inch. Your best bet for clearing it would be a steel number 8 guitar string which is both stiff enough and the right size.
