Humphrey gas light not working properly

[bmklawt]

I tried my propane light today and it is not working like it did last year.
The mantel only gets the white glow on the bottom half, blue flames barely visible, lick around the out side of the mantel and it has a barley visible pulse to it.
The light was NOS last year and I have only used it a few hours.
I tore it apart and check for spider webs and stuff and all is clean even the orifice
No kinks in the lines
Full propane tanks
All other appliances work fine
I taped off the furnace with a 1/4" line, but it did work fine last year.

Any ideas how I check this?

Your help is greatly appreciated,

[Jammer]

It's nearly always some sort of partial blockage in the venturi or burner nose. You have to take the light off the bracket and remove the mantle in order to be sure. I would use compressed air or perhaps a pipe cleaner being careful to work outside since the mantle dust is toxic if inhaled.

Failing that you can replace the jet and valve and see if that helps. I believe Lehman's has parts for these.

[Jim Foster]

Propane contains wax. Over time the wax will build up and partially plug the lamp. I found this out some years ago with our Caravel.

Remove the globe and mantel. Turn off the gas and disconnect the propane line. Use a spray cleaner such as brake cleaner to spray into the lamp works and clean it out, turning the valve on and off as you spray. Get everything cleaned out. Let it dry, then put it all back together.

Never put any hard object into the orifice.

I did that to mine about seven years ago, and it has been just fine since.

[bmklawt]

Took the lamp apart and blew air through the main body and now it works fine.
Previously I just looked through it and could tell it was clean as a whistle, obviously I was wrong
Thanks for the help.

[litlgeezer]

Can anyone help?

The two lamps on my 1972 International weren't working when I bought this camper a month ago. Today, I removed the small brass plug and blew out the lines. Gas seems to be working fine. However, I am a little hesitent about firing them off since I don't have a diagram of the lamp. Is there a male tube or anything that captures and directs the gas to the mantle? I am afraid that gas will escape behind the lamp housing and catch fire while the mantle is burning. I have no operation document for the lamp itself. Also, will a Coleman gas lantern mantle work with these lamps. The manufacturer is Humphrey, Kalamazoo, MI.

[litlgeezer]

Should anyone be interested, shortly after entering this thread, I tried firing up each of the two gas lamps. I tied Coleman 'filaments'? onto the lamps. Both lamps behave the same when I attempted to light them:

I first put the lighter inside the glass and slowly turned the gas on. To my delight the filament began to glow, however, as I increased the gas, a yellow flame began to appear and grew as I increased the gas further - along with the associated smoke.
I don't know if it the Coleman filament, but the lamp will not take the increased gas. And, it will eventually go out on its own and not stay lit, even with the small volume of gas.
Would appreciate any suggestions.

[Jammer]

litlgeezer,

The "small brass plug" is the orifice. It has a tiny hole in it. You have to have that in place for the lamp to work. Replacement orifices are available for $7 from gas-lights.com as well as many other sources, including Lehman's (888-438-5346, they don't list them in their online catalog).

The Coleman mantles are too small and will not work correctly. You can get tie-on or clip-on mantles from the two sources listed above as well as many other places.