Bernz-O-Matic Repair

Old Model TX from the Otto Bernz Company prior to the name change. I got it at a flea market cheap - for reasons that are now obvious.

I can't get the torch to light. The flow of gas through the tube sounds restricted. If the tube is removed from above the valve, the gas flows pretty freely. Screwing on a new burner tip doesn't fix the problem.

Inside the tube at the bottom end there's a copper colored structure that looks like fine mesh, which I assume is a filter that should be there. Inside the tube at the opposite end is a silver colored obstruction. My eyesight is poor enough that I can't tell if there's a hole in it or not. Should both of those objects be inside the tube? I'm suspicious that the silvery colored one might be solder that someone put in there and melted in place - for reasons unknown. Before I melt or drill it out, I wondered if anyone knows for sure that those inserts should be in the tube?

I did a little Googling, and didn't spot anyone collecting these, but a collector with a similar torch might be able to answer some of these questions. Anybody know of a BernzOMatic collector with a web site?

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Reply to
RWL
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Make sure a bee hasnt clotted it with clay or something.

Reply to
PrecisionMachinisT

Theory: putting too much solder on a pipe joint whith the torch located below it - drip, out goes the torch, troch doesn't light again, after 30 or 40 years of "going to get around to fixing it" the owner dies and the torch finally makes it to the flea market...

Reply to
Ecnerwal

You didn't say whether the "burner tip" you replaced has an "orifice" in it. (Something with a tiny hole maybe .003"-006" in diameter through it.)

If it doesen't, then the torch orifice must be in that "tube" somewhere. You could try blowing it out with high pressure air in the reverse direction to the normal flow, or even with propane from the torch tank if it'll fit on backwards.

I've had more than one Bernz-O-Matic torch suffer from a clogged orifice, but if you can locate it you can usually clean it out somehow.

HTH Jeff

Reply to
Jeff Wisnia

On the various old Bernzomatics I've got, there's a little filter/orfice assembly right under the burner head. These used to be available from hardware stores as a replacement part, you'd get two or three in a little aspirin tin for a buck or so. If this is plugged, you're out of business. One end had a conical sintered bronze filter, the flanged end had the orfice. If you get gas flowing without the head and orfice being in place, but no gas with them on, the orfice is plugged. IIRC, the orfice assembly is about 1/8" or so at the head end, just large enough to fit in the gas tube and about 1/4" long. I don't use those old torch heads anymore, the newer "turbo" or "jet" style burners produce a lot more heat and have built-in lighters. I doubt I could find those old torch heads on short notice, it's been a long time since I've used them. One trick my dad used a couple of times was to turn the orfice around and see if the plug could be blown out that way. After he couldn't clear one out that way, he started carrying spare orfices(and never needed them again).

Stan

Reply to
Stan Schaefer

Good thought, but I'd soaked it overnight in vinegar, which cleaned off the tarnish quite nicely and should have softened any water soluble obstruction. No improvement in gas flow after the soak.

RWL

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Reply to
RWL

That's what I'm thinking, but I didn't want to drill out the distal "obstruction" until I know for sure it wasn't meant to be there since this torch is probably from the 1950s and may have some collector value. If I can get it working, I'll use it though.

RWL

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Reply to
RWL

Reply to
Grant Erwin

There should be a replaceable orifice in that torch. The tube that comes from the valve should be clear all the way to the torch tip. At the end of this tube is the orifice. Removing the torch tip gains access to this part. It may be filled with a sintered metal filter. These will sometimes clog. The hole in the orifice is quite small and drilling to a larger size can prevent the torch from burning clean and hot. I cleaned one by soaking in acetone for a week or two. I don't know how long it would have taken to clean it. I just threw it in and pulled it out next time I thought about it. It had some kind of brown deposit on it. I wonder if it was mercaptan residue? ERS

Reply to
Eric R Snow

I have not attempted to measure the orifice, but I think it is a lot smaller than .003. I can not see the hole......... I have had some luck with soaking in paint thinner. Ultrasonic cleaner would be the ticket.

Dan

Reply to
Dan Caster

The tip does have a tiny orifice in it. There's an inner part of the tip, and at the end of that there's a plug with an orifice of a little more than 0.0035. It will not pass a 0.007 wire. The shroud that screws over the outer part of the tip has a center orifice that is approximately 1/16" guesstimate. When I light the torch, lazy yellow flame shoots out the air intake holes at the base of the tip.

I think the real obstruction is in the angled brass tube that connects the base to the tip.

RWL

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Reply to
RWL

This is sounding like a promising train of thought. I went back and looked again at the obstructions. The one at the tank end of the tube is bronze colored and in the tube about 1/4". The one at the tip end is silver or bronze colored and has a flat grainy surface like the one at the tank end, except it's in about 1/2" so I can't see it as well. If removed, would the torch operate? What risk is there to operating the torch without the filters in place? Any chance of a backfire going back to the valve or tank?

RWL

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Reply to
RWL

RWL wrote: ... What risk is there to operating

No chance of backfire: there is no oxygen in the tank or tube before the tip. Bob

Reply to
Bob Engelhardt

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The torch tip can be screwed apart. At the distal end is a plug with a tiny hole somewhere about 0.004" in it, and it can be probed with a

0.0035 wire, so it's open. The other part of the tip is a shroud that surrounds the central core of the torch tip. It's difficult to describe. Here's where a picture would be worth 1,000 words. I'm wondering if there isn't another orifice that should be before the air intake holes and that that orifice is missing.

Hmmm. This old torch seems to be built differently - or the orifice is missing from the tube. I emailed Bernz-O-Matic Saturday with a request for a parts breakdown for this old Model TX. After re-reading the company history, it looks like this torch was manufactured some time in the 1930s or 1940s.

I tried over night - about 12 hours in acetone without effect. During the day on Saturday I put it in lacquer thinner for 8-10 hours without effect.

The Mercaptan sounds like a good thought about what could potentially occlude a sintered filter, particularly if the torch flame was tipped downward to that liquid propane had been pushed into the filters.

RWL

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Reply to
RWL

replying to Eric R Snow, emily wrote: brake cleaner 123

Reply to
emily

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