Coleman 285 lantern

[Jamie N]

Hi,
Does anyone have a lot of experience with petrol lanterns and/or is a phycisist?
I'm having quite a bit of trouble with mine as a result of leaving it half full of fuel for 2 years.
First problem was: would light ok, but lost pressure and cut out after less than a minute. I concluded this must be the fuel/air tube picking up only air (actually fuel vapour above the liquid fuel line) so removed and cleaned it. After reassembly, a different problem. Now it lights with a yellow flame that burns well outside the mantles andwill not settle. Conclusion: very rich mixture. But why? Ihave cleaned the air intake tube (which is far too big to ever block anyway) so think it must still be a generator or fuel/air tubeproblem.
Any ideas or advice most welcome

 

[Nomad64]

Hi Jamie,

Although I wouldn't describe myself as an expert, I've used a Coleman 295 for many years.

Not sure why leaving fuel in it would cause problems to the stove, although petrol does go off so if you have not done so, put some new fuel in, preferably Coleman white gas.

Its a while since I stripped mine down but if you have been running the lantern on unleaded petrol rather than Coleman white gas then the generator gets clogged up with "varnish". I've found that adding a dash of carb/fuel injector cleaner to petrol helps prevent/remove the "varnish" but if the generator is clogged, "varnish" can be removed with a bit of fine emery cloth if you take care not to bend the thin needle.

If its not a clogged generator, a yellow (sooty) flame could still be down to a lack of pressure - are all the seals in the pump, filler, generator etc. air tight or is pressure leaking away?

If you don't get any joy here, there are some friendly Coleman forums in the US of A (just don't get them started on the infamous 275 "turd" model!) which I found helpful when I was rebuilding my 424 stove.

Good luck and let us know how you get on.