Wick type oil or "kerosene" lamps from Walmart or other places. They put out some heat. But, how much?
Any idea how to figure out the BTU per hour? My thought is that they burn about an ounce of oil an hour. More or less. So, on the web some where has to be the heat content of lamp oil. Figure it out from there.
If it's enough, then an oil lamp or two or more. Could be used for heat when the power is off, or the propane tank is empty.
Wick type oil or "kerosene" lamps from Walmart or other places. They put out some heat. But, how much?
Any idea how to figure out the BTU per hour? My thought is that they burn about an ounce of oil an hour. More or less. So, on the web some where has to be the heat content of lamp oil. Figure it out from there.
If it's enough, then an oil lamp or two or more. Could be used for heat when the power is off, or the propane tank is empty.
*****************************************************Gallon of kerosene is 135,000 Btu. 1 gallon = 128 oz. or 1055 Btu per oz. For comparison, a typical electric space heater is 5000 Btu per hour so you'd have to burn about 5 oz. per hour to give off that much heat.
A few votive candles will keep you from freezing to death. Even Tea Lights, but they don't last as long. Lamp oil is about 45Mj/kg. or roughly 43000 BTU per Kg With a Specific Gravity of .82, 1Kg of Kero/lamp oil is .roughly a quart - so figure 43000/32 = roughly 95 BTU/hour if your calculations and mine are both close to real-world. I believe a single wick candle is roughly 50 BTU, so I suspect your consumption figure is a bit low, unless you are talking a pretty small Kero lamp (1/4" wick, more or less?)
I just checked Vermont oil lamps, and they claim thair 1/2" wick lamps consume roughly 1/2 ounce per hour - so a 1" wick should burn an ounce an hour. Either my numbers for a candle are off or the heat value of wax is a lot higher than kero - which is POSSIBLE, but liquid parrafin puts out less LIGHT than kero in a wick lamp, so?????
They will give you enough heat to warm your hands if the air isn't real cold.
I had a friend who lived in the woods for a while. On a cold night he would light a few candles.
Even Tea
I think, perhaps, one too many conversions in the calculations somewhere. Ed's figure looks about right. In the neighborhood of 1000 BTUs/Hr for a standard oil lamp. Perhaps a bit less.
It may not be worth cleaning up the smoke and smudge.
Jeff
OK, that give me something to work with. Thank you.
A few votive candles will keep you from freezing to death. Even Tea Lights, but they don't last as long.
CY: The time in 2003 when the power was out, four days. My 11,000 BTU per hour kerosene heater did some good, but it was still painfully cold.
Lamp oil is about 45Mj/kg. or roughly 43000 BTU per Kg With a Specific Gravity of .82, 1Kg of Kero/lamp oil is .roughly a quart - so figure 43000/32 = roughly 95 BTU/hour if your calculations and mine are both close to real-world.
CY: Yes, that sounds in the ball park. Close enough.
I believe a single wick candle is roughly 50 BTU, so I suspect your consumption figure is a bit low, unless you are talking a pretty small Kero lamp (1/4" wick, more or less?)
CY: About an ounce an hour was what I got with a lamp I tried. I can't remember the wick width.
I just checked Vermont oil lamps, and they claim thair 1/2" wick lamps consume roughly 1/2 ounce per hour - so a 1" wick should burn an ounce an hour. Either my numbers for a candle are off or the heat value of wax is a lot higher than kero - which is POSSIBLE, but liquid parrafin puts out less LIGHT than kero in a wick lamp, so?????
CY: Still, it gives me a rough idea. I figured it was some heat, but not a lot. At an ounce an hour, it can't be all that much. Compared to the kerosene heater which uses a galon in 12 hours, or about 10 ounces an hour. Actually, if I figure 11 ounces an hour puts out 11,000 BTU an hour. That gives me some numbers to work with. Thanks for helping me figure out a reasonable answer.
That's about what I've been finding. Some heat, but not a lot. Except for summer time, when it's too much heat.
its probably a good idea to have a small very well insulated disaster room in your home, the size of say a walk in closet...
stocked with shelf stable food some bottled water etc.
if well insulated enough minmial additional heat would be needed
I had a friend who lived in the woods for a while. On a cold night he would light a few candles.
CY: Well, candles do have flame, and do put out "a little" heat. Another writer says maybe 50 BTU per hour.
I think, perhaps, one too many conversions in the calculations somewhere. Ed's figure looks about right. In the neighborhood of 1000 BTUs/Hr for a standard oil lamp. Perhaps a bit less.
CY: I ran some numbers, and 1,000 BTU per ounce is more or less correct.
It may not be worth cleaning up the smoke and smudge.
CY: Yes, candles do put out a lot of soot. I would only use candles for emergency heat. And then as a last resort.
I use a couple to light my entertainment room in the evening. They do noticeably so keep the furnace from coming on as often. There are what i would call standard size wick lamps that I use K1 in. Back when K1 wasn't
3 bucks a gallon I heated my house in the evening with a 100K BTU heater. It could be 10F outside and the furnace set at 68F would not come on. These days it's pretty expensive to supplement the main heat source with a portable K1 heater. More so than natural gas at $6.47 per MCF. And i was pretty serious about it too buying K1 from a local petro dealer by the 55 gallon drum. Can't afford it these days.
The human body emits about 400 BTU/hr.
So, if you could get a couple of hotties to snuggle up to you in "sandwich mode", perhaps with an insulating wrap around the three of you, you'd not need to worry about the output of oil lamps would you?
Jeff
I suspect before the end of the Oh Bomb Us administration. We'll all be wearing sweatters indoors like Jimmuh Kottah. We'll be driving clown cars, and wishing we could afford to both heat and eat.
Hmm. That's a good idea. Now, I just need a couple more wives.
On 10/23/2010 4:03 PM Stormin Mormon spake thus:
Planning on moving up to Northern Arizona, are you?
FWIW, according to:
"An Aladdin mantle lamp will use, at full bore, about one gallon of kerosene for every 50 hours of use. Output is 3500 BTU's... more than enough to heat one well-insulated room in winter. In addition to light, you can cook on one... the heat escaping the chimney is over
400 degrees F. Inventive minds can design a sturdy, tall stand to hold a skillet for cooking. Don't have an inventive mind? Better cultivate one, or make close acquaintance with one soon... you'll need it to get through what's coming."Northe
Naah, just staying where I am. I don't have the money to buy my own fundamentalist compound.
On 10/24/2010 1:26 PM Stormin Mormon spake thus:
OK, Stormie: I've got a few minutes on my hands I can afford to waste here, so I'm going to try to drill into that rather thick skull of yours just why your posts are so annoyingly malformed.
It's not just the top-posting, though that's one strike against you to start. Even the other top-posters here have their news clients set up to respond properly to posts; you don't.
I'll show you why. Below is your message, the one I replied to here, copied and pasted, with various parts labeled. Here's an explanation:
(A) This is your (top-posted) reply. (B) This is your sig. (This is your sig on drugs ...) (C) This is the text of THE MESSAGE YOU WERE REPLYING TO.
Now, I've put that last part in ALL CAPS to point out why your replies are malformed. You see, by widely-agreed-upon Usenet convention, one's sig is the last part of the message. *Everything* below the sig delimiter (the "-- " at the top of the sig) is considered part of the sig.
Also by Usenet convention, sigs are discarded when one replies to a message containing one. This is built into the behavior of *most* news clients. (Not sure about the one you're using, which happens to be Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2900.5931.)
Therefore, when you reply to someone, top-posting as you do, everything they wrote becomes part of your sig.
Therefore, when someone replies to one of *your* messages, any previous text that you replied to gets thrown away.
Which makes your postings here unique. Just not in a good way.
You're welcome.
Here's your message, with parts labeled: ================================================================= (A) Naah, just staying where I am. I don't have the money to buy my own fundamentalist compound.
(B)
Whoops, screwed up. Here's your message with parts labeled, set up so your sig doesn't behave like a real sig (had to fix the sig delimiter so it isn't a real sig delimiter anymore--kinda like trying to put "" into an HTML tutorial on HTML ...):
Your message labeled: ================================================================= (A) Naah, just staying where I am. I don't have the money to buy my own fundamentalist compound.
(B) --- Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus
Planning on moving up to Northern Arizona, are you?
=================================================================
(snip) It's pointless. We've all tried. He just doesn't care.
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