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Coleman Liquid Fuel


I must have had some good karma coming after giving that 220 to @85_Ranger4x4 ....

today I stopped at a barn sale looking for cast iron cookware and found this really clean 12/64 220F and 6 packs of old mantels in the box for $5. I will probably put a little time into this one. Bad news... no cast iron cookware.

220F.jpg
 
So I spent a little time cleaning it up... I used a cleaner we use at the pizzeria. Called orange pro and it works really well on Coleman stuff too. It cleaned up really well... I will probably put a bit more effort into it but it looks really good for 56 years old.

Anyway... I lubed the pump leather and added some fuel. Pumped it up and it held. Turned it to light and it sounded good for a few seconds... then started gurgling... then fuel started dripping right out the gas ports. I knew it couldn't be that easy.

So... it appears it's siphoning (or pushing) fuel... never ran across this before. Any ideas on where to go from here?
 
So I spent a little time cleaning it up... I used a cleaner we use at the pizzeria. Called orange pro and it works really well on Coleman stuff too. It cleaned up really well... I will probably put a bit more effort into it but it looks really good for 56 years old.

Anyway... I lubed the pump leather and added some fuel. Pumped it up and it held. Turned it to light and it sounded good for a few seconds... then started gurgling... then fuel started dripping right out the gas ports. I knew it couldn't be that easy.

So... it appears it's siphoning (or pushing) fuel... never ran across this before. Any ideas on where to go from here?
This is a family friendly forum... there’s no need for that kind of talk here!
 
Only have the valve open a quarter turn at startup?
 
I'd love to have a Coleman lantern and one of their older stoves. I have a newer Coleman stove. Had it with me in Attica, but didn't use it. I don't think the newer ones can regulate the flame as well as the older ones can.
 
Only have the valve open a quarter turn at startup?

You know... This could be a situation of operator error. I need to refresh my memory on the lighting instructions of these. You can see the control knob doesn't have lighting instructions label any longer. I looked at my other 220 after I typed my last message and seen the 1/4 turn to light then wide open after it's going. I know I had it open several turns before it started dripping. I'm going to give it another try following the proper procedure. I'm sure having the generator hot keeps the fuel atomized... and helps or eliminates fuel dripping.

I'd love to have a Coleman lantern and one of their older stoves. I have a newer Coleman stove. Had it with me in Attica, but didn't use it. I don't think the newer ones can regulate the flame as well as the older ones can.

They're still out there... try to avoid over paying on ebay... some of those folks believe they're gold plated. The real trick to this game is to find your birthday lantern... made in the same month and year you were born. My search continues for that one.
 
I bet if you get the generator hot it'll work fine. Try it again. Nice find by the way!!

eBay is a joke for run of the mill Coleman stuff. Everything I have I found locally and none of it I paid very much for although I have a fair bit of coin tied up in repair parts. The thing to keep in mind with Coleman is that virtually everything made after 1960 or so was made by the millions... so it's all readily available at good prices if you're patient. That also means that you can afford to be picky and wait for the right item. I can't tell you how many nasty, rusty, gross stoves and lanterns I've passed up just because I don't feel like cleaning them.
 
You know... This could be a situation of operator error. I need to refresh my memory on the lighting instructions of these. You can see the control knob doesn't have lighting instructions label any longer. I looked at my other 220 after I typed my last message and seen the 1/4 turn to light then wide open after it's going. I know I had it open several turns before it started dripping. I'm going to give it another try following the proper procedure. I'm sure having the generator hot keeps the fuel atomized... and helps or eliminates fuel dripping.

They can't burn fuel in a liquid state. The old old ones you had to actually preheat. The newer old ones, when you give them a quarter turn... they start on the fuel laden air above the fuel in the fount. You run them on that setting until they quit flickering and they steady out, that means the generator is warm. Then when you open the valve all the way it switches from sucking off the top to straight liquid off the bottom. The liquid fuel is boiled in the generator and switches to a gaseous state so it will burn correctly.

The hole at the top of the fuel/air tube right below the threads, that is where it sucks the vapor at startup. At the tip of the bottom there is a hole where it takes in the liquid. For lanterns that have sat a long time that can get plugged up with dried fuel deposits (as pictured lol)



Fun fact, propane tractors start the same way. They start on "the vapor" and when they are warmed up they switch to liquid.

They're still out there... try to avoid over paying on ebay... some of those folks believe they're gold plated. The real trick to this game is to find your birthday lantern... made in the same month and year you were born. My search continues for that one.

I think they were on strike or something on my birthday month, ebay or otherwise I have never seen mine. NIB stoves for $150 yes but nothing smaller and for sure nothing in the wild. Lots of 3/6/9 of 84 but no 7-84. I do have my truck's birthday lantern and since we are about the same age that is good enough for now.

Stoves are cheap, if one isn't let it go. I picked up a 425 from the 90's for my brother that needed nothing but a light for $2. My main one now is a 413 from the 70's that was $15... I love that thing.

If a lantern doesn't work when you get it figure it will need at least a little fiddling. If it has been in a case... usually it will look cherry have not be full of bugs which will help a lot. Regionally the red ones can be worth a lot of money to some people. I have seen some really trashy looking ones listed for more than I have in the working one I imported from South Dakota.
 
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Fun little side note regarding those ovens:

The early part of my childhood was spent more or less off the grid... my parents did not have electricity or running water for a long time. They got electricity at the house when I was 7. They cooked on either a big wood fired kitchen stove or a Coleman stove and we had Coleman lanterns and kerosene oil lamps for light in the house. They had one of those ovens and I remember them using it. I remember being fascinated with how it folded up.

I'd maybe think about using one with a propane camp stove. Not sure about white gas. Fresh, hot cinnamon rolls in the morning would be great at camp but it seems to me that the white gas fumes would affect the taste. Maybe not though.

I don't have an oven. I should ask my parents if they still have theirs. I know they got rid of their stove and lantern recently, said they got tired of the smell and hadn't used them in years.
 
They have pretty good reviews online, nobody mentions fuel smell in what is being baked. I did see an older one on ebay had a sticker not to use with leaded gas...


I thought it would be nice to have, either for my coleman stove or the propane stove in my camper.
 
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Piping hot biscuits and gravy with a side of lead... yum!
 
You mean this thing? Looks like Dad got it on sale for $7.69.

img20201009_132135.jpg



img20201009_132158.jpg


img20201009_132218.jpg
 
Damn, has it even been used?
 

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