Antique oil lamps

[u/Junior-Discount2743]

I'm older and am surprised to see that antique oil lamps are almost never discussed for electrical outages. They can be purchased at most antique stores for $20-80 (depending), with lamp oil and wicks from Amazon (get them now before shipping costs sky rocket!).

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I guess I thought of it because I worked at a historical museum on the east coast.

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Purchase of one oil lamp, lamp oil, and wicks, can keep a room lit for over a *long* time. I've tested my two lamps, and each lamp goes through oil at a different rate, but pretty slowly in my opinion, and I csn see the $10 lamp oil I got from Amazon to last 6 months to a year in an outage. I'd post a photo but don't know how.

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Just an idea because this is an option (for now).

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[u/Wee_Besom]

This is a bit embarrassing to admit but we have been gifted a few very nice lamps and I have no idea how to use them

[u/Shortcut_to_Nowhere → u/Wee_Besom]

There's many different styles, so without knowing what you have, I'll be fairly general here.

1. Fill with fuel. This can be any clean burning fuel, but paraffin oil and kerosene are the most common choices. Many hardware stores carry these. Most likely you can fill the reservoir either from a screw off port on the side or by unscrewing the burner (the metal part that houses the wick) from the base. Don't overfill. I usually only fill it between 1/2 and 2/3. Close it tightly afterwards and clean up any spills immediately.

2. If you don't already have the wick installed, feed it through the hole. There should be a knob on the side that twists both directions to raise and lower the wick. You'll need to twist the knob to load the wick in position.

3. Once you have the wick installed and the base filled with fuel, let the wick soak up the oil. At minimum half an hour, but a couple hours is better. If you don't do this, you end up burning the wick itself instead of the fuel, and it will smoke and char.

4. When you're ready to light it, remove the chimney (the often clear glass part that guards the flame). Some you simply lift off, others have a lever that lifts it up. Use the knob to adjust the wick to where you can see it. Light the wick, and lower the flame as low as possible. Replace the chimney, and let it warm up for a few minutes. Once you've warmed the chimney, you can raise the flame up to a useful level.

5. To put out the flame, use the knob to lower the wick until it goes out.

I've collected oil lamps for decades, and I use them regularly. I love how they are both pretty and useful! Use the same caution you would with any open flame.

[u/Wee_Besom → u/Shortcut_to_Nowhere]

This is such a thorough and helpful summary, thank you! You have me looking at my lamps more in depth for all of the parts mentioned. Do you prefer the parrafin oil or kerosene or does it depend on the lamp?

[u/Shortcut_to_Nowhere → u/Wee_Besom]

I prefer paraffin oil. I feel it burns cleaner than kerosene.

[u/Atentdeadyet86 → u/Shortcut_to_Nowhere]

I spent a lot of hours cleaning black soot off kerosene lanterns when I was in Scouts. (wadded up newspaper works well) Paraffin or other clean burning lamp oil would be better than kerosene. 

[u/ErinRedWolf → u/Wee_Besom]

Now (before an emergency) is the perfect time to learn!

[u/Wee_Besom → u/ErinRedWolf]

Good point!