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1979 Coleman 220K Dual Mantle Lantern rebuild project

Started by TelePlay, November 05, 2017, 04:20:33 PM

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TelePlay

I bought this lantern brand new in 1980. Used it for maybe 5 years and it's been it its original box ever since. Near NOS condition with just a few very small minor paint chips on the bottom ring of the tank, but not rusted.

Still had a full gallon of Coleman Fuel, now 30 some years old, and since the can was full and the cap was tight, is still good. Since I had this lantern well before buying kerosene lanterns, this restoration does not violate my "no more" pledge to my wife.

Put new mantles on it about two years ago and tried to light it. Sputtered and died. Emptied the tank and looked inside. Saw a rust red coating. Found a lot of help on the internet on how to restore these. The hardest part was breaking the red thread-lock seal on the fuel tank to get the fuel/air tube out for cleaning. Finally got around to doing this lantern (did all the Dietz stuff first) and found a small butane torch and bench vise worked well to loosen that fitting. While flame heating, I blew compressed air into the tank to prevent any fuel still in the tank from igniting. Wrapped the bottom of the tank with a bicycle inner tube, put my strap wrench over that, heated the fitting and broke it loose.

Looking inside the tank, I thought the red was rust. Started with vinegar and BB's to rinse the tank. Small pieces of red came out but still red. Moved on to Evapo-Rust which removed 90% of the red in the first 24 hour soak. It wasn't rust. Coleman experimented with different tank liners of different colors. This lantern had a red liner which over the years of non-use dried out and began to flake off, probably causing blockage of the fuel tube.

It was interesting in that after the vinegar, I used acetone to dry out the tank and the liner did not come off at all. However, the water based  Evapo-Rust took the liner off in just two overnight soaks (filled the tank, let it sit, drained it through a aluminum home-brew window screen strainer to catch the sheets of liner and saved the the Evapo-Rust for re-use - the stuff is expensive but it can be reused so a gallon goes a long way). Used the BB's with an ounce of Evapo-rust after each soaking to "bead blast" the inner surface and get all of the liner off. After rinsing with distilled water and acetone to dry out the water, I sprayed, as suggested, some WD-40 in the tank to keep it from developing a flash rust situation while working on the other parts.

The air pump was in great shape. The leather was oil damp and flexible so nothing to do with that other than a light cleaning. The Evapo-Rust cleaned out the check valve at the bottom of the pump without have to remove the valve.

The two major parts to be cleaner were the in tank fuel/air tube and the generator fuel tube and cleaner. When I took the fuel/air tube apart, I did find some surface corrosion on the fuel rod. Cleaned that and the metal surfaces to get any varnish off. Also cleaned out the generator tube the same way.

The two packings for the fuel valve and generator cleaner were good so no need to remove those items. I ran lacquer thinner and carburetor cleaner through the valve assemble to clean out any varnish. The cleaner ran through the valve so there was no blockage there.

All images below annotated in case anyone else get the urge to rebuild a Coleman lantern for the first time.

Put it all back together (using Loctite Red for the tank fount fitting), put a  new Coleman decal on the front, two new mantles (which were preburned outside) and filled it up.

One mistake, forgot to flush out the WD-40. That turned out to be a bit of fun on first lighting. The WD-40 gave me one or two quick pops or flare ups on lighting but after that, the lantern burned well. The big problem was the WD-40 pops blew out one of the new mantles.

Replaced the blown mantle and it now works, burns as bright and hot, as it did when brand new. Will set this aside for use this winter should we have a power outage.

While I prefer the Dietz lanterns for effect and mood settings, their 10 Candle Power is dwarfed by the 300 Candle Power of a Coleman 220 type lantern. The Coleman lights up the room, not just the area around the lantern. So, for light, the Coleman is better. For mood lighting or feeling like living back in the day (100 years ago) the Dietz is much better.

Rebuild done, restoration complete, done with lanterns forever, other than using them. On to the next dungeon project . . .

twocvbloke

Looks like another success story there, good job on getting it going again... :)

Tank liners can be sketchy depending on the age of them, I was impressed to see the liner in my Aladdinette heater was still in perfect shape, so, fingers crossed that one lasts a lifetime... :)

And I keep thinking of getting a Coleman lamp, the only drawback is Coleman fuel over here is stupidly expensive given that it's just petrol without the ethanol and engine-related additives, and I wouldn't like to damage a lamp running ethanol-poisoned unleaded fuel through one given the damage ethanol does to various things... :-\

AL_as_needed

Does this mean lanternitis has further mutated?! If so I'm in real trouble...

Nice work, I have always avoided even the older coleman gas lanterns due to their complexity. Not a huge believer in a pressurized gas in my lanterns....yet.... My carbide lamp with determine my level of faith. 
TWinbrook7

TelePlay

Quote from: AL_as_needed on December 17, 2017, 08:45:35 AM
Does this mean lanternitis has further mutated?! If so I'm in real trouble...

No, not for met. I bought that lantern in 1980 and it's been in deep, dry storage since the mid 80s, well before buying my Dietz collection.

I kept putting off its restoration because at first it looked really complex, even with good YouTube videos. The biggest fear was doing something wrong and have it go bad at first lighting (which was a careful, nervous point in the restoration).

Once I got my other lanterns projects out of my system, took this one off the back burner. Getting the tank apart from the fuel/air red thread lock was the most difficult. Heat and careful torque on the tank. Once that was free, it turned out to be quite an easy restoration. All my parts were good but if not, there are many places to get NOS replacement parts for everything. Went back together easily. Lit the first time and have fired it up once a month for a few minutes just for fun and to keep it working.

It's nice to have a bright lantern that puts out a lot of heat for winter power failures, and now that I've told you they are easy to restore given a solid lantern to begin with, you can fulfill the tangent lanternitis easily at any antique mall, all of which seem to have anywhere from 5 to 10 for sale.

Post pictures  . . .   ;)

dsk

I love both the Coleman stoves, and the lamps. Here in Norway they never sold them. (Except for some smaller companies importing a few, but had no service) Much easier to handle a Coleman fuel lamp than a pressurized kerosene lamp, and less smelly.

For those who are interested it is at least one specialized forum for Coleman too: http://www.colemancollectorsforum.com/
I have got lots of help there!


dsk

TelePlay

Quote from: dsk on December 17, 2017, 01:59:35 PM
I love both the Coleman stoves, and the lamps. Here in Norway they never sold them. (Except for some smaller companies importing a few, but had no service) Much easier to handle a Coleman fuel lamp than a pressurized kerosene lamp, and less smelly.

I think the Coleman fuel is just Naptha. I'll have to check the msds of the fuel and flashpoints of feedline Naptha to see if they are the same. When I opened my gallon can of Coleman fuel, I took a whiff and it did smell similar to Naptha.

Anyway, yes, burns cleaner and with no odor versus pressurized kerosene.

The old blow torches used by plumbers and other were pressurized kerosene, right? Those are the ones with the cup under the torch head in which fuel was put and lit to heat up the torch head to vaporize the kerosene for use (similar, I guess, to the fuel air tube that runs between the two Coleman mantles to vaporize the fuel before entering the mantles). These are readily available in antique malls and plenty on eBay for cheap. Some of the eBay listings say "gasoline fueled" torch but I highly doubt that. I remember seeing these used and didn't think they used gasoline. Anyone know for sure?

19and41

The Coleman fuel is "white" or unadulterated gasoline.  I believe the blow torches used kerosene.  Gasoline in those things would be the bomb!  The plumbers used to melt their lead for pipe unions and such things.  They seemed quite happy to get rid of them when the gas cylinder torches came along in the 50s/60s.  The blow torches were somewhat erratic in their operation and had a nasty habit of setting things on fire.
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
— Arthur C. Clarke

TelePlay

Quote from: 19and41 on December 18, 2017, 03:35:38 PM
The Coleman fuel is "white" or unadulterated gasoline.  I believe the blow torches used kerosene.  Gasoline in those things would be the bomb!  The plumbers used to melt their lead for pipe unions and such things.  They seemed quite happy to get rid of them when the gas cylinder torches came along in the 50s/60s.  The blow torches were somewhat erratic in their operation and had a nasty habit of setting things on fire.

That's what I remember from the 50s when I was quite young. The plumber would start the fuel filled boat on fire to heat the torch for use and I was told to stay away from it. When the lit the torch it make quite a loud noise as it burned. Sweating pipes together, IIRC, with lead and since the flame was so big, yes, a fire hazard. When lit, it was like standing next to a large bonfire.

========

Looked up the MSDS for White Gas and Coleman Lantern Fuel and they said the same thing. Different name, same stuff. Straight chain light hydrocarbons between C5 and C9 (Pentane, Hexane, Heptane, Octane and Nonane) separated by distillation at the cracking plants (where they breaking down crude oil into smaller hydrocarbons and distill off the mixture of the day).

Both MSDS sheets had the flash point of this light hydrocarbon at less than 0 degrees F - it starts burning easily in cold temperatures.

I remember being able to buy White Gas at the local gas station in the 50s/60s. Wouldn't know where to look for it bulk today.

For reference, the last image is the chromatography spectrum of gasoline showing components lighter and heavier than the more pure, or unadulterated, white gas. They mix it for volatility and octane rating, not chemical purity. Was listening to some OTR early episodes of "The Whistler" which were produced during the war and their main sponsor was Signal Gasoline (a California distributor). After the war, their on air ads promoted that the special additives developed during the war to make airplanes fly faster were now available in corner station gasoline for public use, would get no knock, higher mileage performance. Interesting commercials to listen to as they changed after the war.

19and41

The white gas doesn't seem to lose it's viability nor potency as gasoline motor fuel does, as well.  That is a good feature for a lamp's shelf life.
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
— Arthur C. Clarke

dsk

Quote from: 19and41 on December 18, 2017, 03:35:38 PM
The Coleman fuel is "white" or unadulterated gasoline.  I believe the blow torches used kerosene.  Gasoline in those things would be the bomb!  The plumbers used to melt their lead for pipe unions and such things.  They seemed quite happy to get rid of them when the gas cylinder torches came along in the 50s/60s.  The blow torches were somewhat erratic in their operation and had a nasty habit of setting things on fire.
They made blow torches for kerosene and for gasoline, the kerosene ones had a preheating tube to better evaporate the kerosene, and they had a vent screw close to the lid to release the air pressure. Gasoline blow torches had not those.

dsk