Bored... Failed 220 kero experiment.

[Tgarner01]

Thought I would share my failed attempt at converting a 220F into a Kero burner. I started off with this ratty ole 220 That had been sitting on the floor. I remembered it running fine the last time I fired it up so I immediately pulled the generator apart and started swapping parts.



Here's the generator guts on the right with donor 200 pieces on the left.



In the past I have used choke cable housing for generator guts on RUG burners. I thought it would work just fine here in a kero conversion.









Here we are all reassembled ready for a preheat.





An original 220 orfice is .008 the 200 orfice is .007. I was getting a very yellow with slight over burning mantles with this setup, so I decided I would try the pricker and orfice from a 201 generator which is smaller yet at .006. It was still dim, with a yellow color to it but no over burning now. Scratching my head I decided to put it all back to factory, with clean white gas to make sure I hadn't imagined this thing running good in the past. Sure enough, it run like it's supposed to.

With a .006 orfice on kero:



With a factory .008 orfice on Crown:



This was never anything I was going to keep, just more of an experiment and to have a little fun. Curious though as Coleman had burners very similar to this without air restrictors that run fine on kerosene... Thoughts?...

PS what a pain to install a generator in a 220 with a preheat cup and a burner cage! Ham hands!!

[Ridge Runner]

I like the choke cable idea for the genny spring. Very resourceful!

Never converted one yet myself, but read a lot that the burners with the pancake-type mixing chamber seem to work well. Something about it possibly grabbed more heat being wider or larger in diameter than the style that’s in the F.

Run your next experiment on an J/K lantern!

[Gavercronos]

Run your next experiment on an J/K lantern!

Seconded. I did it on a J once and it took to it quite well.

[Tgarner01]

Run your next experiment on an J/K lantern!

Seconded. I did it on a J once and it took to it quite well.

I've read this in the past. What doesn't make sense to me is the fact that Coleman had a 129 lamp and a 152 lamp with very similar burners as the 220F I was working on that both would burn kerosene using T44K generators that used a .008 orfice... Head scratcher for sure

[74HARLEY]

Maybe a different packing material with the .008 orifice...

[Mister_Wilson]

I've only converted one 220, and it's an F. I did basically what you did, swapped the tip with a 200 and a coil in place of the packing. The coil was from a Coleman generator, but I don't know which one, I have a little bin of miscellaneous ones. It runs steady, nice and bright. Is that choke cable housing steel? Maybe it's not getting hot enough to fully vaporize the kerosene? Try a different coil material before you give up.

[JimL]

Did you have the valve wide open so no air would be drawn up through the F/A tube? If not, try preheating again with the valve wide open and the fuel cap loose so there is no pressure in the fount. When ready to light, tighten the fuel cap and start pumping.

[Tgarner01]

I've only converted one 220, and it's an F. I did basically what you did, swapped the tip with a 200 and a coil in place of the packing. The coil was from a Coleman generator, but I don't know which one, I have a little bin of miscellaneous ones. It runs steady, nice and bright. Is that choke cable housing steel? Maybe it's not getting hot enough to fully vaporize the kerosene? Try a different coil material before you give up.

John it is steel and that thought had crossed my mind as well. While it was running I used a propane torch at the base of the generators for a good while with no noticable change in the way it run.

Did you have the valve wide open so no air would be drawn up through the F/A tube? If not, try preheating again with the valve wide open and the fuel cap loose so there is no pressure in the fount. When ready to light, tighten the fuel cap and start pumping.

Yes Jim I run it exactly as you described. I find the soft start to be the best way to fire up a Kero Lantern.

[JimL]

The only other failure I recall of conversions is with the F/A tube. Some folks need to remove the rod and plug the hole at the top of the F/A tube. I did this with my 200A conversion, essentially making it a straight pickup. By doing do, a quarter turn is all that's needed for operation.

I'm not certain, but it seems to me that it's 220's that are more susceptible to needing this F/A tube mod. I've not converted a 220 myself so can't state for certain.

[Tgarner01]

The only other failure I recall of conversions is with the F/A tube. Some folks need to remove the rod and plug the hole at the top of the F/A tube. I did this with my 200A conversion, essentially making it a straight pickup. By doing do, a quarter turn is all that's needed for operation.

I'm not certain, but it seems to me that it's 220's that are more susceptible to needing this F/A tube mod. I've not converted a 220 myself so can't state for certain.

I've heard this before also Jim. Also never made much sense either . I go back to the 152 lamp... They are instant lighting, but can be preheated to run on kero as well. Valve all the way open of course. To me they appear to be the exact same setup as any 220B-F just on a lamp fount. Isn't experimenting fun?

[JimL]

>> Isn't experimenting fun?

Yes. I was thinking of starting a post for failed experiments. I've got lots and I'm sure there are plenty of others out there. We can learn from each other, but in many cases, we have to fail for ourselves.

[mcdugal2]

I believe the 152 had an air restrictor that had to be installed to run on kero... Like the Leacock lamps have that restrictor that is screwed onto the bottom of the air tube for kero burning...

[Tgarner01]

I believe the 152 had an air restrictor that had to be installed to run on kero... Like the Leacock lamps have that restrictor that is screwed onto the bottom of the air tube for kero burning...

Phil you could be right. I'm not personally familiar with the 152 myself, but do have a 159X that uses a restrictor for one and not the other.

[Hot_Diggity]

Here you go ham hands. The fix for fumbly fingers.

Lisle Carb tool.jpg

Break into your father's old carburetor tool drawer. He probably has one of these. (Look next to the ignition point files. )

Lisle tool.jpg

Try a copper stranded coil. Heat transfer may be better. (But remember I'm nearly at sea level here, so everything I try works great.)

285 gen kero packing.jpg

[Hot_Diggity]

I think it was Timm that had put a piece of heat shrink over the air hole to make a straight pick-up that's reversible if it's no longer needed.

I just open the valve all the way. Kerosene is way less exciting than CF when you have a leaking packing or something else unexpected.

[Tgarner01]

Here you go ham hands. The fix for fumbly fingers.

Lisle Carb tool.jpg

Break into your father's old carburetor tool drawer. He probably has one of these. (Look next to the ignition point files. )

Lisle tool.jpg

Try a copper stranded coil. Heat transfer may be better. (But remember I'm nearly at sea level here, so everything I try works great.)

285 gen kero packing.jpg

Great idea Chuck! I'll have to find ours.. I ended up using needle nose pliers as my fingers kept pushing the preheat cup up into the mantles... Aggravating to say the least needing 3 hands and eyeballs on two different objects at once

[Majicwrench]

I did a 220K a few years ago, didn't mess with FA tube, was super easy and burns like a champ.