Proper Wick Trim for Oil Lamp

[zeehag]

liquid paraffin--can be found cheaply and is same stuff lol....walmart ultrapure is the one--any color!!!! i found liquid paraffin at wallys for 4 dollars/qt. i found some stuff i will try at home depot for 10 .95/gallon--lol---i am trying it out--is spozed to be cleaner than kerosene--mebbe is good stiff in a cheepo label--doesnt say anything about what is in it...LOL....wish me luck!!!!oh--i would try mineral spirits but i value my liver..LOL.....

as for trim--i was taught to merely take off the light grey stuff and let the rest be.....same shape as the burner. goood luck.....

[BubbleHeadMd]

Does the ultrapure stuff degrade over time and become smokey? I recently bought a Plath and Weems lamp, and when I lit it off, it smoked like crazy. I had some old stuff that I put into it. Or is it due more to improper wick trimming?

Nevermind, I re-trimmed it like I read here, and it stopped smoking. This place has info on everything.........

[um saudade]

　
I have a kerosene galley stove and oven on board as well as a small Sigmarine boat heater. All can run on regular kerosene and it is the fuel that most of the wick type lamps are designed to burn. Works great in Aladdin lamps too, which put out far more light that a wick lamp.


The Aladdin is the equivalent of a 60-watt bulb if all is clean and the wick trimmed correctly. The mantles are delicate and not cheap, however.

Jet A(JP-4) is about the same thing as kerosene and works well. Number one heating oil will work, it’s about the same as number one diesel and that burns fine too.

I buy kerosene from my local bulk dealer for less than three dollars a gallon. Smells a little like kerosene. Then again it smells a little like a boat too!
Um_Saudade
　

[Tom.B]

um_saudade... That's about what the guy at the lamp store where I bought my replacement burners from said. "Just burn K-1.", he said. Heck, you can get that stuff for just a couple of buck a gallon at a lot of gas stations. I believe him, but was curious if there was something better. I suppose that when you get right down to it, I might not burn enough to, in the grand scheme of things, save more than $20 per year by buying the most expensive versus the cheapest. But I am wanting a pretty clean burn to prevent adding a layer of soot around. Again, maybe I am just being stupid about it. I'm still a n00b!

[sarafina]

I have burned kerosene in coleman lanterns camping for years. The mineral spirits smell less and seem to make less soot.