Jim Dandy portable space heater problems & repairs needed

[jwales]

I have an OLD Kerosene heater (90000 btu/hr.) that belonged to my dad. Brand name is Jim Dandy. I can read a label that says manufactured by Century Engineering Corp., Cedar Rapids Iowa; model # PHO-100 A; serial # 102624.

It has not been operated for 3 years. up until then it worked fine.

Last winter I fired it up. It was taking a while to get it to ignite, and I noticed that there was kerosene "spitting" out the end of the "heater cone" before it would light. I did not use it any more last winter. Decided to try it again before it gets cold here and it did still hesitate to ignite and spitting kerosene before ignition.

I want to see if I can get it running well again, but I can't find brand or parts on the google machine. Any ideas/help would be appreciated on where I may look for parts and maybe what type of parts I should be looking for. Are there may be some other brands that might be similar that I could check.

Thanks, Joe

[bgsengine]

Most of these torpedo heaters all work on the same principle - venturi effect of air (by the air pump) blowing through the nozzle , which suctions up the fuel into nozzle - If you got spitting out the front without it lighting, then I would be checking first the igniter (typically a RN11YC spark plug with a large gap) and make sure there's a consistent spark when it first starts up before the pump starts pumping fuel, if there is, then you got a nozzle or mixture problem , would have to remove the nozzle (carefully) and see if you can clean up the tiny pinhole orifices... Also want to check the prssure (should be a label on there somewhere stating operating pressure ,usually somewhere around 2.3 - 3.8 PSI - Yes that's tenth of a PSI values, you need a very low pressure gauge for that- They aren't terribly expensive, and should thread in to the 1/8 NPT pipe fittings) If you have too high of pressure, your air pressure pop-off valve is stuck (that's the screw slotted plug on the back of the air pump with a hole through the center of it - screw slots are for adjustment of pressure) Too much pressure typically results in blowing the flame out because it sprays fuel harder and faster than the spark can ignite it. Also, water in fuel can cause flame-out, so make sure you have fresh fuel and no water in tank.