Humphrey Radiantfire no. 103 lighting

frmnsal

This has been sitting in my garage for years and i would like to fire it up finally.  I ordered some parts years ago from someone online who i cant find now. Anyway, is there supposed to be some sort of tube between the valve needle and the inlet of the gas on the heater?  Seems like there should be, and if so, where can i find one online 🤔 

Larry Weingarten

Hi, I think I'd start by finding literature on your heater, and see if it has some detail about just how this was built originally. www.addall.com is a good used book search engine. I did find this: https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/humphrey-radiantfire-general-gas-1823970646 It gives something to look for. Also, I see these units for sale. Maybe photos of the equipment will give you enough detail to know what you need.

Yours, Larry

mattmia2

Looks like it might regulate the fuel with the needle instead of the air with a shutter to control the mixture. also looks super dangerous on many levels

EdTheHeaterMan

It appears to be a gas appliance that was built prior to the regulations that require the manufacturer to have a safety device that automatically shuts off the flow of natural gas if there is no flame detected. Just open the valve and light a really long match stick. Then let that flame at the end of that stick, pass thru the flow of gas somewhere where you want the flame to burn. If it were me, and I wanted the antique look of that device to actually burn in my home, I would find a way to add the ODS pilot system to that appliance. That is the minimum for non vented gas appliances today. That may also mean that the original gas valve with that fancy handle is not useable. Some serious redesigning and adapting would be needed to make that thing safe enough for my home.

I might just set it as a conversation piece on the living room floor without actually running a gas pipe to it.

It operates on the same principal as the old gas street lamps, where someone was employed to go down the street with a valve key and a lighting pole with a small kerosene flame wick at the end of the pole, used to light the gas in the lamp. The safety device was the human who turned off the valve with the key each morning at dawn. How many gas lamp streets are left today? I wonder why?