I have a couple of these superb Paraffin heaters and as they need a bit of TLC thought I would start to restore them. I started with the most beat up tank although the bowl is in pretty good condition.
On preparing the tank for painting I found it had two stress cracks near the bottom rim that were seeping Paraffin through. With my soldering skills not up to much I decided to remove some metal along the cracks and fill with JB Weld then sand flush. This fix seems to have worked and the tank pressures up fully with no air bubbles seeping out when I do a dunk test. Whether it will last I don't know but if it fails and starts to leak I will use some POR-15 tank sealer on the inside.
I tried to leave the original cream paint where possible as getting a good key on the brass can be tricky. I filled any dents and marks with auto body filler and sanded down. I applied 2 coats of zinc primer then 4 coats of white primer then 3 coats of top coat which happens to be a Rover colour-Arum White. I have been reliably told this is the closest off the shelf colour match to the original. Tomorrow I will lacquer it if it has dried.
This is the bowlfire as I bought it...
This is the tank with the final colour coat applied and the wire guard sanded and sprayed with heat resistant chrome paint...
And here are all the parts cleaned and polished ready to install long with a new set of washers. Also I removed the Asbestos wick and replaced with some carbon felt tied on with fibreglass string which works very well...
I will update this when it is all back together but want the paint to cure well so it maybe later in the week?
Steve.
On preparing the tank for painting I found it had two stress cracks near the bottom rim that were seeping Paraffin through. With my soldering skills not up to much I decided to remove some metal along the cracks and fill with JB Weld then sand flush. This fix seems to have worked and the tank pressures up fully with no air bubbles seeping out when I do a dunk test. Whether it will last I don't know but if it fails and starts to leak I will use some POR-15 tank sealer on the inside.
I tried to leave the original cream paint where possible as getting a good key on the brass can be tricky. I filled any dents and marks with auto body filler and sanded down. I applied 2 coats of zinc primer then 4 coats of white primer then 3 coats of top coat which happens to be a Rover colour-Arum White. I have been reliably told this is the closest off the shelf colour match to the original. Tomorrow I will lacquer it if it has dried.
This is the bowlfire as I bought it...
This is the tank with the final colour coat applied and the wire guard sanded and sprayed with heat resistant chrome paint...
And here are all the parts cleaned and polished ready to install long with a new set of washers. Also I removed the Asbestos wick and replaced with some carbon felt tied on with fibreglass string which works very well...
I will update this when it is all back together but want the paint to cure well so it maybe later in the week?
Steve.
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