Want to get a small paraffin lamp going. Is the lamp oil you can buy marketed for lamps simply like white spirit or turpentine you buy in hardware stores? It seems more expensive, but is it any different? Thanks.
no, its deodorised paraffin
NT
I'll say it's different. If you light lamp oil, it sucks all the light out of the room, so that you can't see a bleedin' thing.
Yes, use lamp oil. Avoid boutiques and the price isn't too bad. Using various other paraffin or kerosene grades will be dim, sooty and smelly.
If you want useful light from it, get a lamp like an old Aladdin that uses an incandescent mantle. Lamp: =A35+ any car boot Lamp with glass chimney: =A310+, better car boots New glass chimney: =A320 New mantle =A35-10, old-school hardware shops or eBay
Onceuponatime maybe Ebay has had an big impact on both price and availability of things like that at car boot sales. But i agree if you are going to use an oil lamp, Aladdin is the one to have.
-
Real olive oil also works as a lamp oil, whereas some of the fake olive oils won't. (It's one of the tests for fake olive oils.) Probably won't work as well as real lamp oil though.
Aladdin for looks, Coleman for performance?
Aladdin for silence. When correctly trimmed, they give off about the same light as a 100 watt incandescent and about a kilowatt of heat, but are totally silent. All the Coleman ones I've seen have hissed.
Silence, light and heat makes them good as standby for long power cuts. The only habit with them that can cause problems is if you leave them unused for long periods with oil in them, as it migrates up the wick and spreads all over the lamp and its surroundings.
Incidentally, if you can find an Aladdin lamp in reasonable condition with the original blue flame burner, even without a mantle they're approaching fifty quid in shops. Mantles are rapidly approaching fifteen quid each. If you've got a white bakelite one, they're worth more, as they're collectable on account of being only slightly more common than hens' teeth.
True, the Coleman is a pressure system (like a proper blowlamp, although they run on white spirit or petrol, which sounds a bit alarming).
They run on white gasoline, aka Coleman fuel. They're a bit temperamental on pump petrol.
If you want a Coleman (i.e. a pressure burner), get a Tilley. Bigger, brighter and more solidly made. Less fussy about fuel too.
White gas, surely? (Naphtha.) Or maybe white gasoline?
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.