Aladdin Oil Lamp

[huronscoot]

I am having trouble with an Aladdin oil lamp that I purchased from ebay. It is one of those aluminum ones that has a # 23 burner. It came without a wick or mantle. I purched an aladdin wick from the hardware as well as a mantle. For some reason the wick does not raise up very smoothly. I kind of have to pull back on the knob to raise it and then it stops about flush with the flame spreader. When I light the lamp it burns fine although it is hard to control. The mantle lights nicely (bright white) but all of a sudden it kind of runs away and gets black spots on the mantle. After letting it cool down I take it apart and find like a ball of soot or carbon or whatever it is called laying on top of the flame spreader. I have another aladdin lamp and it is working fine although I have only burned lamp oil in it.
I think I didn't install the wick properly but I don't really know for sure. The wick definetly does not raise and lower as smoothly as the other lamp so I am assuming that the issue is with the wick.
Anyone out there using these lamps that could offer me some advice?
I am an extremely poor nursing student trying to make it through the last 16 weeks of school. I have been using the lamp that is working well as a kind of space heater by the chair that I do my homework at so as to keep the heat turned down low.
I really want to switch to kerosene for both lamps because it is less expensive but I don't know if I can use the kerosene in a lamp that has been burning lamp oil in.
I know that I could buy a real kerosene heater for around 118.00 but I really can't afford the expenditure as I am barely making it now with school being a full time job and only being able to work 20 hours a week for income.
As always I look forward to the wealth of knowledge available on this forum.

[12vman]

Make sure the wick is perfectly level on the top. You should have a wick trimmer but you can use a knife. Take the center insert out of the center, Run the wick just to the top of the wick holder and scrape it flat and even. When lighting, start with a small flame and let the lamp warm up before adjusting. A small adjustment will go a long way. It takes about 10 minutes to get them adjusted correctly. DON'T Try To Push It! Just turn it up enough to keep all of the mantle white. If it starts to get black spots on the mantle, turn it down just a little and the soot will burn off and leave it at this setting. Remember this setting and this is where it will work the best..

These lamps are totally different than normal oil lamps. Aladdin lamps are dangerous! I about burned my house down because a moth went down the chimney. I "HAD" 2 of them and gave them away..

[ASG]

These lamps are totally different than normal oil lamps. Aladdin lamps are dangerous! I about burned my house down because a moth went down the chimney. I "HAD" 2 of them and gave them away..
No more dangerous than a normal lamp. A bug screen on the chimney (about 4 or 5 dollars) would have prevented any large insect from getting down the chimney.

[JAK]

In theory LEDs are the cheapest form of light, and their might be cheaper forms of heat than lamp oil and candle wax, but lamp oil and candle wax might be very competive hybrid systems providing heat and light.

I would first ensure you have a competively priced fuel source. Beeswax is very expensive, but sometimes you can get beeswax candles in bulk very cheap. Orthodox churches use them. You might find out where they get them from and how much they pay. Canola oil is a very viable lamp oil, as is a light coloured extra-virgin olive oil. The canola oil is much cheaper, and is actually better as a lamp oil because it is even lower in acid and lighter in colour. They do not wick quite as well as lamp oil, but they do wick. Lamps have been used for thousands of years. Candles have been used for thousands of years before that. Again, if you find a good bulk source, on sale, you might be able to obtain a very cheap supply of canola oil or beeswax. Canola oil has the advantage over lamp oil that it can also be consumed as food.

When burned as a lamp, or as a candle, for heat and light, the total efficiency is 100%. There is no problem with carbon monoxide poisoning as long as you are burning no more than about 1 ounce per hour and making sure the flame does not smoke. There is a risk of fire, which is best mitigated by not having any such flame unattended. Also, both wax and oil can be EXTREMELY hot before they boil, so avoid spilling. You can burn flesh right to the bone even without the flame. I use very small lamps, or tealights lanterns, or tall candles, with no more than 0.5oz of fuel per lamp or lantern. Candles can be larger as long as they can't pool too much.

Canola oil and Beeswax are both ~17,000 BTU/lb. A 'good' price for energy is 50,000 BTU per $. That is comparable to about $0.067/kwh. So a 'good' price would be about $0.33/pound. You might pay $1/litre, or about $0.50/pound. That is comparable to about $0.10/kwh. Still at 1 ounce/hour that is only about $0.06/hour. Six or seven tealights will burn about 1 ounce/hour. Beeswax is best, though just about any candle will do, but keep in mind that if a 'good' price for candles is $0.30 to $0.50 per pound, you really don't want to pay much more than $3 for 100 0.5oz tealights.

Beyond using such fuels as a light source, you should find a cheaper and cleaner heat source. The next step to consider is what you are using to heat up your hot water for making your pot of tea, and hot water bottle, and warm bath. A small wood stove is good for this, but is usually not suitable for a student apartment. Find out which is cheaper in your situation, the hot water tap, or the cold water tap and the kettle. It depends on how your hot water is heated, and how your kettle is heated. You could consider small candle or oil lamp stoves. Getting a decent burn rate without smoking can be an issue, but for heating or simmering a small pot for tea it is possible to do so in 15 minutes or so, and still stay below the 1 oz per hour rule of thumb. Of course for taking a bath you really need some other solution, but as a student you can always use the gymnasium.

[JAK]

Safe vegetable oil burner for making tea:

The safest least smokey vegetable oil burner I have come up with so far is a metal cap from a 2 litre wine bottle. I find a tealight tine too large in diameter and too shallow. For a wick I take paper towel and accordion fold it and then coil it up so it is the same diameter and of the same height as the cap. Then fill it with the oil. It holds about 1/3 oz which is 333 BTU and should be enough to heat up a 16oz kettle. For a larger kettle you could use 3 burners. It is best to light it with a long candle and if you drip some wax it will make the burner a little more permament and less messy between uses. You might be able to get a tealight to work for a bigger burner.

This is a good thing for anyone to try in a power outage, preferably before a power outage. I use canola oil, but any vegetable oil should do. The lighter colours are less smokey. Remember that vegetable oil can be EXTREMELY hot without boiling or burning. That is why it is so unsafe. All fuels are unsafe, but oil and waxes are unsafe not so much because they are so volatile, but more because they aren't.

On the subject of oil and wax as fuels for lamps and lanterns and stoves, of course you want to reduce smoking, though a little when it goes out is normal and OK. The thing to keep in mind however is that even if you are able to have them burn without smoke, it is still possible that combustion is incomplete, which wastes fuel and is also not very healthy. This is because the triglicerides and other such complex hydrocarbons are hard to crack, and so really high temperatures are required. The flame of a candle provides these high temperatures, but when you start heating up a cold kettle you can suck too much heat from the flame. Soot on the bottom of your pot or kettle is evidence of incomplete combustion. This is a good test by the way, even for a candle or lantern. The solution is to raise the pot or kettle higher somehow, and to shield the combustion zone better with a metal or glass lantern, while still allowing enough air in the bottom, which isn't much, but is some. In other words a well designed lamp or lantern is also a good stove, as long as it is not too tippy.

Then there are pressurized or gravity fed stoves, that is getting more complicated, but there are many good resources out there, usually for hikers, but also for the third world, which is all of us now I suppose. Of course there are also alcohol stoves which can be very simple, or just as complex, and just as much fun.

Here are perhaps the two best links:
http://zenstoves.net/
http://www.spiritburner.com/index.htm

Have fun and play safe. :)

[Weezin]

Huronscout:

Does'nt look like you've posted for awhile, but here goes.
Aladdin lamps are not oil lamps, they are kerosene lamps. That oil you buy in the Qt. bottles will cause those carbon balls you wrote about.
You need K-1 clear kerosene...........Dennis