Hi all. I'm a camping virgin and I need your help!! I've just bought my first gas lantern and tried to get it going as soon as I got it home. I followed the instructions with the mantle (or so I thought), lighting it with a match and waiting for it to ignite and turn into a hard black ball, as shown on the instruction sheet. It gave off a lot of smoke but nothing else-it just stayed like white tissue-y material, not hard or black. I've tried it twice now and it's been the same both times. I don't know the science behind these odd little devices so I don't know how important this is. Can anyone help me please?
I always thought that you had the gas turned on when you burnt off mantles, but I have noticed on some packages recently that they say burn them before turning on the gas. Try it the old way, turn the gas on a little before putting a match to it
No, the white "tissue paper" look is exactly what should happen!!!
This is what glows when you light the lamp. We even put a tiny hole in the "white stuff", and continued to use it for ages and ages afterwards, with no problem. Just be careful how you put the globe on, and the "tissue paper" mantle can last for years.
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