Oil Lanterns

[Jay106n]

Any oil lantern collectors here? Tonight I had to move some wood in the dark. I lit up my Nier Feuerhand 270 lantern made in Germany pre world war to give me the light I needed at the stacks. It did the trick.

 

[DodgyNomad]

We have 3, that we frankly don't use, and I have about 15 coleman gas lanterns of different sizes and shapes that I do occasionally use.

 

[Osage]

I remember as kid I would go with grandpa to lock the chickens up using a kerosene lantern. I really miss those simpler days, crank phone on the wall which never needed a reboot and no one calling to sell you extended warranty on your team of horses. House was quiet with no tv. So you read or conversed with those in the room.
While technology has made life easier it will take something away from us if we allow it to. Maybe thats why alot of us here heat with wood, just trying to hold onto a piece of th past.
Thanks for bringing back those memories.

 

[SpaceBus]

I love oil lamps, but hate the toxic fumes. Some day I'd like to get a modern reproduction and modify it to work with olive oil for a smokeless non toxic burn. I think castor oil will also burn without smoke or toxins.

 

[stoveliker]

I've been looking for a kerosene lamp. Not for light but for heat, a little bit... I read somewhere that some of them can put out a few thousand BTU per hour. But their package is much smaller than the kerosene heaters.

Has anyone used them like this before? What lamp? (And are there CO issues?)

 

[SpaceBus]

I've been looking for a kerosene lamp. Not for light but for heat, a little bit... I read somewhere that some of them can put out a few thousand BTU per hour. But their package is much smaller than the kerosene heaters.

Has anyone used them like this before? What lamp? (And are there CO issues?)

Kerosene lamps emit fine particulates, carbon monoxide, nitric oxides (NOx), and sulfur dioxide when burned.

Kerosene lantern - Energy Education

energyeducation.ca

That's pretty much the number one reason I don't use oil lamps. You may be better off with one of those propane mantle lanterns. Still have CO and water emissions, but probably not quite as bad? Candles are also a bad choice due to the emissions, which are worse than kerosene if using paraffin candles. Soy candles are also not that great, and most still use leaded wicks, like most paraffin candles. Beeswax candles with 100% cotton wicks should make a little heat and decent light without emitting anything toxic.

 

[stoveliker]

Ok, thanks. No go for me.

It'd be for my garage when I'm putzing around. I.e. worse than e.g. when camping, but better than in a home.

The kerosene heaters have the same technology? (Those that people use in homes...?)

 

[stoveliker]

I'm not sure burning wax or olive oil does not release harmful substances. Making oil too hot is bad. See cooking (in particular frying with olive oil rather than e.g. rapeseed oil), and air quality data while cooking...

 

[SpaceBus]

I'm not sure burning wax or olive oil does not release harmful substances. Making oil too hot is bad. See cooking (in particular frying with olive oil rather than e.g. rapeseed oil), and air quality data while cooking...

Beeswax, olive oil, and castor oil all burn without smoke. If you just heat them up without burning them, then yes, there will be lots of smoke. The problem is none of them wick particularly well, at least when cold, and don't work in the tall kerosene lamps because of this. I've seen people add copper tubing loops around where the wick comes out on a kerosene lamp that also go into the oil reservoir, and apparently that heats the oil enough to make it wick the long distance up to the top of a kerosene lamp wick. Lamps made to burn olive oil are very short and wide, think Aladdin type lamps. The wick lays on a flat part slightly raised above the oil reservoir and these are actually safer than kerosene lamps. When spilled the olive oil lamps just put themselves out, and usually beeswax candles and castor oil will do the same. Those three things were the only smokeless illumination fuel I could find that also had no toxic emissions.


Here's an abstract about burning low quality olive residues left over from making oil: https://www.researchgate.net/public...lysis_and_combustion_of_olive_oil_solid_waste

Even burning the solid residues resulted in no toxic emissions, due to the O2 present in the combustion process. When olive oil is heated to the point of smoking, but not burning, that's when you get all the nasties. Same goes for crude oil, and that's how you "crack" or refine it into useable products.

Without the O2 reduction, it would be just like burning gasoline or something else. If olive oil could be made to flow like gasoline in cold temperatures, it could probably be used as a liquid fuel for cars and such. Would be super clean and possibly even devoid of NOx.

 

[clancey]

Years ago I had two kerosene lamps (glass ones) and my late husband used to cut the wick in shape and i just loved them not knowing about pollution of them...I wonder how Ghee oil would work in them--just curious and suppose to be really good for cooking but it clouds up like olive air at room temperature and harder in quality...I often think back years before all of this time session we had two houses down at the shore and every spring still cold we would go to them and my step dad used to heat summer house up with a metal thing on the floor but what I am curious about is what was it because it had little cloth booty type of material inside of them to heat. I was only about 11 years old so my memory could be lax here--but just wanted to see if anyone knows what I am talking about...clancey

 

[SpaceBus]

Oh, I forgot about animal fat oils. If rendered properly animal fats can be burned with no odor, but are solid at room temperature and have to be treated like beeswax. Technically you can burn any seed oil or animal fat, but not all will burn with no toxic emissions and some will make a ton of smoke.

 

[velvetfoot]

I have one Aladdin lamp that burns lamp oil (high class kero, I think), as well as some decorative glass wick lamps. I have a couple of cheap windproof (or whatever they're called) kero lamps in the garage, but never really used them.
edit: The Aladdin will put out some heat.

 

[Corey]

If you want a decent amount of light (and heat) and a relatively clean burn, it is hard to go wrong with an Aladdin! I've collected a half dozen or so over the years and you can generally find anything from nice vintage examples to more modern 'workhorse' models.

Believe I heard it mentioned that running full bore, they put out about 3000 btu of heat and light roughly equivalent to 60-100 watt incandescent light bulb. Since all the 'exhaust' is going through the white-hot mantle, you get a very clean burn - as long as you keep the wick trimmed and the flame height reasonable.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

We have oil lamps for when the power goes out. I used to use them in the winter up at the cabin. I had a rude experience once when I went up to find the oil that my grandmother bought was a solid block of wax! A little research informed me that some lamp oil is paraffin based. Straight kero is run in them now! Lol.

We used to use them in the summer too when a storm knocked out the power.

 

[Corey]

Hard to have too many sources of light and heat. If you're up for a 'deep dive' into several gas, oil and mantle lamps, I enjoyed these presentations:

Aladdin Lamp


Dietz / Hurricane Lanterns


Gas Lanterns

 

[velvetfoot]

How about this one?

Britelyt Green Science & Innovations Inc

LIGHT. HEAT. COOK.

britelyt.com

 

[velvetfoot]

Any oil lantern collectors here? Tonight I had to move some wood in the dark. I lit up my Nier Feuerhand 270 lantern made in Germany pre world war to give me the light I needed at the stacks. It did the trick.

View attachment 287156

Do you use any kind of a dip stick of some sort to fill up a metal lantern? I lit up my aluminum font Aladdin last night and used piece of paper as a makeshift dip stick. There has to be something more functional.

 

[Corey]

Well, there is always switching to a glass font! Other than that, don't know that I've seen a formal dipstick. Wonder if a person could solder a bit of brass, copper or steel rod to the underside of the fill cap? ...or possibly even JB Weld it, since the cap wouldn't generally be soaked in the lamp oil.

 

[velvetfoot]

I just got a MaxBrite version of the aluminum shelf lamp to match the existing one, a Model 23. The chimney might be a little wider at the bottom, and the knob is a bit wider, but other than that, they look the same to me.

I managed to find a lamp shop near me that had Aladdin lamps. The 'supply chain issues', (ha), seem to be affecting Aladdin. A couple online places at first accepted my payment, but then said they didn't have it the next day. They're all probably languishing in a container off the coast of California.

Something got screwed up with the gallery assembly on my old one: it wouldn't unscrew. My subsequent machinations, which I'd rather not discuss, managed to adequately free it up. Now I have to look for some mantles (they ain't cheap).

Nice lamp you have there. Am I paranoid in thinking the higher center of gravity makes them easier to tip? I don't have a table model, so I can't do my own experimenting.

I think my mantle it too high and my ceiling too low to put the shelf lanterns on it. The exhaust is still pretty hot at 3 feet above the chimney exit, as tested by my hand.

Here's my new one on its maiden voyage:

 

[velvetfoot]

The guy at the lamp store says he uses paraffin, but you can't let it get cold, as in <32F, or it'll solidify. There's some confusion on my part because I thought the British use the word instead of kerosene, and that it referred to a type of wax over here.

 

[velvetfoot]

As an additional note, I broke the mantle when removing the (stuck) gallery/globe assembly. Apparently there are no Aladdin mantles being manufactured. I think Summer of 2022 is what's projected. Just to replace it, I paid $45 on eBay! Crazy, and highlights that mantles are the Achilles heel of these things.

 

[salecker]

There must be a latern site where maybe someone has a workaround for the mantles.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Hardware stores in the country carry them, no idea if they'd match the broken one though!

 

[SpaceBus]

I didn't know liquid fuel lamps could use a mantle, I assumed that was a propane lantern thing.

 

[velvetfoot]

I bought a mantle for an old Coleman Kero-Lite and I'm going to see if I can make it work. It was 20 bucks.