Aladdin Mantle Lamps

[RobbieB]

I saw one of these at the hardware store 30 years ago. Thought it was very cool, but too expensive for me at that stage of my wealth. Last week I ordered one up;

Yup, a kerosene lamp that uses a mantle. Very bright too, I had to turn it way down to take this pic, they say 3X the output of a standard straight wick lamp and I would agree. I would say it's as bright as a gas (Coleman) style w/o the roaring noise.

Pretty cool -

 

[sportbikerider78]

Interesting...for $30 but not for $130.

 

[RobbieB]

Hehe, yeah, exactly my thoughts 30 years ago. Then I had a new mortgage, little savings and a career that was just getting started.

Now I'm retired, the mortgage is paid off and a lifetime of savings allows for more toys!

 

[begreen]

We used one for power outages for many years. Still have it. If the wick is trimmed right it works very well. Keeping the wick trimmed right over the years can be a challenge. If it isn't perfect the lamp starts burning lopsided in the mantle and it will soot up there quickly. Keep an eye on it.

Cheez, are they really $130 now? When I got ours it really was more like $30.

 

[velvetfoot]

I have the aluminum version. I got it because it won't break if dropped, but not seeing the fuel level is not good.

 

[RobbieB]

Yes, it came with this cool little rotary wick trimmer that removes the carbon from the wick and squares it off.

We used to have a lot of power outs when the city was growing fast, not so many now. I still have a few of the cheap straight wicks around with no oil in them. I'm thinking of getting a couple more of these along with the wall brackets just in case and also just because they look so cool.

 

[semipro]

Ditto on what BeGreen said about the wick. The wicks are also fragile once burned so keep a spare around as well as the wick trimming tool..
I also found it best to remove the oil and store it in an airtight container between uses otherwise the oil evaporates away - you can smell it.
We have used these for power outages but now primarily use LED lamps instead.

 

[begreen]

Yes, we've switched to LED too and swapped out the white gas Coleman lantern for a propane version.

 

[velvetfoot]

The lower tech kerosene (lamp oil) lamps are okay with me. No worry about the mantle.

 

[firefighterjake]

The lower tech kerosene (lamp oil) lamps are okay with me. No worry about the mantle.

Same here . . .

 

[semipro]

I have both the old style lamps and the Aladdins and the latter burn much brighter and with much less smoke and odor.
I find the smoke and smell really obnoxious, especially as we've sealed the many air leaks in our house.

 

[RobbieB]

I found this to be true, the lamp only smells when you extinguish it, never while it's burning. I'm using K1 kerosene as it and Aladdin fuel are the only ones recommended. So I'm going to buy the genuine Aladdin stuff at 4X the price of kerosene as they say the smell is even less.

Looking back I see I made an error. These things are not 3X the output of a straight wick but 6 to 7X.