# Oil or kerosene lamps



## EricB (Jul 13, 2013)

Looking to get a couple of oil/kerosene lamps or lanterns and I'm looking at suggestions on brand and type to get.

Thanks
Eric


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## PaulS (Mar 11, 2013)

I would recommend Aladdin lamps. They are made to burn kerosine but will work with liquid paraffin or alcohol too. The paraffin and alcohol don't smell like kerosine does.


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## Denton (Sep 18, 2012)

Being a bit of a Walmart prepper, I stocked up on the lamp oil and the lamps found there. I guess it is not the most efficient, but it is within reach and obtainable for me.


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## inceptor (Nov 19, 2012)

Denton said:


> Being a bit of a Walmart prepper, I stocked up on the lamp oil and the lamps found there. I guess it is not the most efficient, but it is within reach and obtainable for me.


Kinda what I was thinkin. It's not expensive either.


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## HuntingHawk (Dec 16, 2012)

Oil lamps can use citronella oil or mixed with regular lamp oil to help keep skeeters away. Smell of kerosene from a heater or lamp will drive me out of a house.


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## Smitty901 (Nov 16, 2012)

What will you have to use it the real question


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## cmbt engr RET (Jan 14, 2013)

I have a couple old hurricane lamps and one lantern. Have kerosene on hand and plan on stocking some citronella oil. Recently came across an online auction house that is only about 20 miles from home. It's located in a rural location so many of their offerings are from locals cleaning garages, basements and outbuildings. Have my eye on three lanterns and three hurricane lamps that will probably go for a couple bucks each. In any case the quality will be better than walmart's Chinese wares.

It's my experience that as long as the lamp or lantern was made to be used (not decorative) they can be returned to functional condition. 

As HuntingHawk stated the smell of kerosene is not agreeable with me either. I stock up on candles, mostly the type in the tall glass that are popular during the holidays, because they are always plentiful and cheap at St. Vinnies and Goodwill.


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## BlackDog (Nov 23, 2013)

I have had a couple lanterns and several hurricane lamps for years. Great for power outages. I prefer them over candles because the flame is enclosed. Also, the old kerosene lanterns can be carried outside if need be. I do use lamp oil since as has been mentioned kerosene puts out a strong odor. All that said, I do keep a good supply of candles and kerosene on hand as well. One never knows.


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## Inor (Mar 22, 2013)

We have several hurricane lamps; some that we bought and a few that we inherited from my grandparents and Mrs Inor's grandparents. We also have some old railroad lanterns, with tin bodies and red glass. The family legend goes that my dad "found" them discarded by the railroad. My personal opinion is that he stole them, the same as I did with street signs in my misspent youth. Whatever...

Having used them in every power outage we have had in the last 20 years, there are a few things I have noticed:

1 - Kerosene is far more reliable than lamp oil. But it stinks to high heaven.

2 - The quality of the lamp is far less important than the quality of the wick and the quality of fuel. We have spent the extra money and bought wicks in bulk from Lehman's.

3 - The lamp oil that you buy from Wally World or Walmart or whatever discount retailer is near you seems to work fine *IF *you burn the lamp for at least a few hours per month. We had several lamps, loaded up with "lamp oil" that had not been burned for about 6 months last summer, when we had a power outage. They still burned. But we were burning through about an inch of wick every hour, and we were still getting some smoke! When we burn them for about an hour or two a month, it works fine. It is like the flammable part of the lamp oil sinks back down the wick if it is not burned once in a while???

4 - Reading by oil lamp, next to a fire, in the middle of winter is about as close as you can come to heaven on earth without dying first.


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## Just Sayin' (Dec 5, 2013)

We have two hurricane lamps, one coleman propane lantern, and an Aladdin railroad lamp with the caboose mount. I inherited it from my great Aunt, who was a caller on the Illinios Central. It uses the mantle style wicks that are expensive and hard to find, it also throws out a lot of heat, so it is usually only lit during power outages during the winter. The original globe was broken many moves ago, but it was clear and we just scrounged the stores until we found one similar that would fit it.

We burn lamp oil in all of them and keep roughly a couple of gallons for them, and a handful of wicks. We have the mini propane bottles (the short, fat kind) that works in both the lantern and a single burner folding stove. We usually have 30 or so of those on hand and pick up the two packs at walmart.

We also have a couple of the little led camping lanterns that run on 4 AA batteries and run rechargeables in them. We have lots of rechargeable AA and AAA's as well as a couple spare chargers. Two of the chargers are rayovacs that will also charge with a cigarette lighter.

We keep some emergency candles in the house, but most of them are in the BOB's.


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## LunaticFringeInc (Nov 20, 2012)

I did that too and its okay, those lamps if you get the all glass ones are really kind of delicate and don't hold up to use very well. Hence I am looking to "up-grade" to a quality Hurricane Lantern by next Septimber despite the considerable cost difference. The Kerosene is considerably cheaper here than the lamp oil, about a 2 dollar a difference to be exact. The oil does burn a bit cleaner with less smell. There are additives available at Lowe's that are scented that reduce some of the obnoxious smell you have with Kerosene although Kerosene aint bad, once you get it lit and adjusted the flame properly for a good burn. While I can smell a difference to me its negligible. To the more sensitive nose I could see where it might be a bit of an issue to you. Either oil stores very well with few problems or ignitable fumes which makes it great as a fuel source.

But on a serious note, both styles of Lanterns sold by wally world are made in china, very cheaply made and it shows. Do yourself a favor and buy a quality lantern from the get go. You will be much happier with it, trust me on this one. Like my Grandfather used to say about tools, buy quality the first time and youll only have to buy it once. There is a lot of truth to what the old fart had to say. I just wished I would have listened more often and took it for action. But sometimes learning can be a slow and lengthy process...There are some areas where you can cut corners on quality but I don't fell like this is one of them based off my experiences with Lanterns. YMMV...


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## LunaticFringeInc (Nov 20, 2012)

One of the things I like about my lanterns, is I have a small folding grill that will fit comfortably over it with the glass globe off. This allows me to not only use them for additional lighting and heat in a power outage but it will also boil a small pan of water in a few minutes and allow me to make Ramen, minute rice or heat up a can of soup which can come in pretty damn handy. Think outside the box...they can do a lot more than just give you light!


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## EricB (Jul 13, 2013)

Thanks for all the good information. Now time to start looking and shopping.

Thanks
Eric


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## steveparish (Jan 17, 2014)

Lamp Oil is a highly refined and purified kero commonly know as liquid parafin. Hollowick has been the standard in Liquid Parafin since the early 1970's with little smoke or smell as the material burns. When we were youmger we would routinely add a little paint thinner to kero to improve the performance of our navigation lamps although they seemed to burn quite a bit hotter.


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