Problems with Santrax (Petromax copy) lantern

[carrier82]

Hello everyone.

I have a Santrax 829/500CP (a Petromax 500CP copy, not sure about the brand though because it does not read anywhere) kerosene lantern, and I'm experiencing difficulties with it. It works fine for a few minutes (valve adjustment down), but then it starts to dim and eventually shuts off. Adjusting the valve helps, but if left unattended it won't stay on for very long. It is quite new, and the first couple of hours it worked just fine.

Is there something i should do to make it work better? Can the jets be clogged with only a couple of hours use? I am using very cheap kerosene, could that be it? I was very happy with the light output at first, but now the lantern is quite useless as it is not reliable.

 

[Yukon_MkI]

Take a look at the steps listed here http://www.britelyt.com/cleanparts.htm there are a lot of troubleshooting steps there if that one doesn't work. I have a 500cp Petromax myself. At first they are a bit tricky, but when you figure it out they run bright!

And I can absolutely believe that it is already dirty. My Petromax had crud in the tank straight from the factory. I used a handful of bb's swished around in the tank with a little bit of white gas and that seemed to take care of it

 

[carrier82]

Thank you for your advice! Had to order some spare mantles, I suppose one cannot clean this thing up without ruining the mantle.