Cooking with a Kerosene Lamp?

[GrayWhale]

I'm thinking of removing the glass and cutting it up to use the bottom to cook: http://www.walmart.com/ip/Stansport-127-Kerosene-Lantern/21799095

Like a Trangia alcohol stove. Good or bad idea?

 

[Zil]

Bad idea. If you change the draft by modifying the lantern housing, you will get a lot of fume and smoke. There are kero stoves but they are different than just a lantern without a chimney.

 

[PastTense]

If you do the math I think you would find kerosene would save very little money over the course of a year compared to propane--you just don't use that much cooking fuel. And propane is much cleaner and won't smell up the place.

 

[steamjam1]

If you like paraffin, then you cant go wrong with Primus 96 stoves, or an optimus 210.

 

[WheelEstate USA]

I gotta go along with "bad idea" on this one :s
If I had to smell those sooty fumes I'm afraid I'd lose what appetite I had mustered.

 

[SoulRaven]

I think any old time off gridder will tell you that kerosene is the only way to go, but you don't want the pressurized type, you want the wick type. Stoves, heaters, lamps, fridges, kerosene is the best choice for off grid cabins or RV's. One reason they're so popular is that about the only thing that can go wrong with them is to need a new wick, and I've got stuff with 10+ year old wicks still in use.

A kerosene lamp will not make a good stove, but you can get good kerosene wick stoves fairly cheap on ebay. Those same stoves make probably the best heaters for small spaces too, because the heat is a dry heat unlike the wetter propane heat. Just turn a clay flower pot upside down over a burner.

Keep your lamp as a lamp, they use very little fuel, and many people prefer them to the LED or other types of lamps that give off a much harsher light. They are easily dimmable too which I like.

As with any fuel burning devices, make sure that you have carbon monoxide and of course smoke detectors. To date I've never had the carbon monoxide alarm go off while using kerosene, even if I had everything buttoned up tight, but I do not recommend that to others.

 

[SoulRaven]

I gotta go along with "bad idea" on this one :s
If I had to smell those sooty fumes I'm afraid I'd lose what appetite I had mustered.

If you're getting sooty fumes, you've got problems, either the wrong kind of wick, or contaminated fuel. Proper working kerosene appliances should only give off a tiny amount of fumes when being lit or extinguished, and none while in actual operation.

I do have a cousin who is actually allergic to both kerosene and propane fumes though. So it could be allergies. As we get older we seem to get more allergies.

 

[Zil]

I grew up with kerosine lamps, stoves, and heaters. If you burn a lamp with out the chimney your space will smell of kerosine, even the "water-white" grade will smell if the device is modified. The only kerosine burner that I know will not smell is a inclosed and vented outside unit.

 

[WheelEstate USA]

Off Grid...As Zil sez, its a modified lamp that I'm opposed to. The lamp must have the chimney (globe) in place and clear updraft vents to operate properly.
Kero heat, cooking and lighting is reliable, inexpensive, and relatively maintenance free in the longrun.

 

[SoulRaven]

Off Grid...As Zil sez, its a modified lamp that I'm opposed to. The lamp must have the chimney (globe) in place and clear updraft vents to operate properly.
Kero heat, cooking and lighting is reliable, inexpensive, and relatively maintenance free in the longrun.

Cool, I just felt I needed to comment, because I have seen posts elsewhere about dirty kerosene appliances, and the people just didn't understand that their problems were the exception rather than the norm, and that the fix was usually cheap and easy.

It is not uncommon for people to buy used appliances with old kerosene in them that has collected moisture, and then when they fire them up they are unhappy with the results, and blame the technology.

 

[WheelEstate USA]

Cool, I just felt I needed to comment, because I have seen posts elsewhere about dirty kerosene appliances, and the people just didn't understand that their problems were the exception rather than the norm, and that the fix was usually cheap and easy.

It is not uncommon for people to buy used appliances with old kerosene in them that has collected moisture, and then when they fire them up they are unhappy with the results, and blame the technology.

Very true

 

[akrvbob]

Kerosene cook stoves seem like a good idea but they are not at all common. Ebay only lists two new ones--one from China ($30) and one from India ($50). Lehmans lists one from korea for $120.

Obviously they aren't common or very popular.
Bob

 

[Starlight]

This link is about wax lamps and stoves.
Some notes are about carcinogens -- some notes are about how a burning flame helps eliminate harmful ions, dusts, etc in the air.

http://zenstoves.net/Wax.htm

 

[SoulRaven]

Kerosene cook stoves seem like a good idea but they are not at all common. Ebay only lists two new ones--one from China ($30) and one from India ($50). Lehmans lists one from korea for $120.

Obviously they aren't common or very popular.
Bob

It looks like St. Paul Mercantile was the main US distributor for off grid appliances, and a trip to one of my favorite places found all kerosene appliances out of stock. They said they were top sellers but now they don't have a source of supply.

A different source told me that the propane industry was putting up a fuss about kerosene appliances too, although I can't seem to find any references to back that up.

Hopefully someone will be able to fill the gap left by St. Paul Mercantile, and soon.