1) Has a tube going from the base up to the top of the fuel tank.

Dunno about the others.

1. If you blow air in at the bottom of the tank, the pressure will increase – it doesn't matter that this is full of paraffin – and the bubbles will rise to the top.

2. There should be no air vent – in the sense that a mower or motorcycle has – there should be a screw-in pressure release valve which allows you to 'switch off' after use. If your release valve is missing its pointy-ended scrwew you will never get up to pressure.

3. Don't know.

You can tell that the pump is working by listening for the squeak as the bubbles rise, and feeling the load on the pump handle getting harder as the pressure goes up. Much like a bicycle pump.

The valve in the pump is often a cone on the spindle which fits in a matching taper in the piston. Easy to sort, usually.

Hope this helps

Cheers, Tim

If the blow lamp is cold and pressurised you should be able to squirt some paraffin out of the jet.

If you pressurise it before it is hot enough and the meths around the heater loops is still burning you can shoot a jet of burning paraffin out. I have seen this done with a Primus stove which works on the same principle, straight up onto an awning that was rapidly destroyed , so be careful where you point it. Fun in the scouts, good job it was not a tent.

I don't know what instructions you have but it should include reference to the vent. Heat the thing up with the vent open, just before the meths burn out close the vent valve and apply a small amount of pressure. The paraffin should be vapourised and burn as it comes out of the nozzle, if it remains liquid the heating process has not got everything hot enough so open the vent to release the pressure at that point. Do not add more meths unless you are absolutely sure there is no flame or nasty burns may result. If the paraffin is vapourised and burns pump a bit more but not too fast, you don't want to blow the flame out, gradually bring the pressure and thus the heat up to a point you can use the blow lamp. My dad always preheated the burner area with a gas hob to make the lighting easier, this is without fuel in it for safety. My uncle had a petrol blow lamp and that sounds far too risky to me, cold paraffin is a lot harder to have an accident with.

Martin

Pricking the jet just pushes the debris back into the delivery pipe and it inevitably comes back again to block the jet. If your problem was caused by a blocked jet, far better to unscrew the jet and clean it out backwards. Then pump a slug of paraffin through the delivery pipe to clear any remaining debris. After 30-odd years I would be inclined to flush out the whole tank and load it with fresh paraffin.

That said, the non-return valve in the pump sounds a likely culprit (it might even have debris trapped in it…)

George

If you can't buy a washer the right size, it is possible to make your own, the leather from the tongue of an old shoe is about right.

My old lamp is a petrol one (about 1/2 pint size), the last time I used it the valve leaked and ignited, I dropped it onto my toe and kicked it across the yard, when it cooled down I put it away and got a gas bottle and torch.

Ian S C

Nothing wrong with a paraffin blowlamp . You need to strip it and clean out thoroughly. A new pump washer can be made, see Ianc above. Half fill and close vent plug, pump gently and should see liquid come from the jet, and nowhere else. If all is well dry surfaces and fill the well with meths , light meths and when nearly burnt away and the tube is hot close the vent and slowly pump until flame is lit. I tend to use a rag or the proper clamp thing instead of meths. There are a lot of different lamps with small differences but all use same principles. Use it outside for safety, until you are familiar with it. They can be very useful for extra heat when s. soldering etc.

Bob,

I use my paraffin camping stoves regularly, if I do use a gas stove it goes through the canisters quickly where as paraffin lasts for a long time and produces greater heat, the burner can easily glow red.

Martin P

If the valve chamber is brass and it didn't free when sitting in paraffin then I don't think that WD40 will help. Instead tap the joint maybe with a brass bar keep tapping and it will break open the joint.

Edited By David Standing 1 on 13/04/2017 23:49:38

I think the old paraffin blowlamp is hugely underated these days.

I did all my silver soldering with a brass half pint paraffin blowlamp for 2 years due to being skint as a schoolboy/student, and an ex WD 1 gallon paraffin blowlamp to do the first few joints on my first miniature loco boiler. That beast could be a real flame thrower when starting up!

Then I shelled out on a secondhand seivert propane set that is still in use.

The half pint blow lamp was the same my Dad used to thaw out pipes in the winter of 1962/3.

I grew up with Dad's primus camping stove in it's tin in the back of the car, and paraffin lamps when very young during the power cuts in the early 1970s.

We also had a paraffin heater on the upstairs landing when I was a kid. A sort of slender pyramid affair that was as tall as me as a kid and a mica covered opening on the door.

Cheers,

Julian

Ah, that reminds of the Valor Valiant we had in our house. It always fascinated me as a kid ……

I came home from school one lunchtime, I must have been about 10, and the whole house was filled with black smoke. The Valor Valiant had been left on all morning, and the wick had malfuntioned. The house was covered in a black sooty residue for days, until mum cleaned it up! And that was the last I saw of the Valor Valiant.

Edited By Steven Vine on 14/04/2017 00:50:42

Edited By Steven Vine on 14/04/2017 00:56:16