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A guide to
self reliant living
7. Lighting
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Just
a few of the simple but elegant kerosene lanterns
& lamps owned by Mr. & Mrs. Miles Stair.
Decorative, yes -- but functional. From
left to right: Dietz Little Wizard lantern;
Round wick (9/64") decorative night light; Kosmos
Concierge with #15 burner; Lamplighter Farms
lamp with #2 burner; Czech Mirror Wall Lamp;
and the Mason Jar Burner with #2 burner on an
antique blue pint canning jar. |
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By
Miles Stair
We
now enjoy the benefits of electric lighting, powered by
electricity delivered to our homes through the national
power grid, giving no more thought to lighting than it takes
to flip a switch or write a check to pay the monthly electric
bill. Few realize
the
grid is very fragile: a few years ago a tree
fell in the mountains, touched several high voltage lines,
and the ripple effect took out the power to 9 western states.
In January, 2000, someone sabotaged a single transmission
tower in central Oregon by simply cutting a guy wire support,
and when the tower fell parts of three states lost electricity.
The power grid intertie works both ways! It can feed power
from one part of the country to another, but if one segment
goes down, it can pull the entire system down with it.
Imagine
the scenario if a group of dedicated terrorists made a concerted
effort to sabotage the grid - no electricity for a long
time. But far worse is planned. Spetznaz troops were actually
caught several years ago on top of Hoover Dam. Alexander
Lunov has stated that Russian backpack nukes are already
buried on American soil -- and targeted for Grand Coulee
on the Columbia River and Hoover on the Colorado, among
other infrastructure targets. Recent reports say that
Osama bin Laden has purchased 20 of the Russian backpack
nukes, some of them already on American soil. The Chinese military has published
articles on how they would target America's infrastructure
PRIOR to any conflict. By any measure, our electrical grid
is a fragile, far flung target -- a tempting target for any
terrorists, and one relatively easy to take out.
It
is therefore entirely prudent to plan on living without
electricity provided by the national power grid. But how
are we to provide lighting for our homes? The vast majority
of American homes would get really dark after the remains
of pine scented Christmas candles were used up -- perhaps
a few hours at best. The answer, of course, is to provide
lighting for ourselves.
 
An
array of emergency flashlights, hand-cranked
lighting, and battery chargers used by the author.
The $80.00 yellow BayGen windup radio in the back of
the center photo is now a bad joke compared to the
flashlight I sell at the link below!
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Running
a generator for electric lighting can work for a short power
outage, but is a gross waste of precious fuel for any prolonged
use. For nonelectric lighting we must return to advanced
19thCentury technology - kerosene lamps.
B & H
"Trophy" lamp, one of the finest lamps ever made. Circa
1890. Photographed in our living room. Click on the
photo to enlarge. You can see more of my B & H and P & A
lamps at
www.milesstair.com/B_&_H_lamps.html
Pressure
gas
lanterns, such as the Coleman, are commonly
used for camp lighting, and are widely available. But these
gasoline fueled lanterns are NOT designed for indoor use,
are noisy, produce noxious fumes, and require fuel which
may not be available. The unprepared will use Coleman lanterns
until the supply of fuel or parts disappear, so it would
be a wise choice to stock up on
mantles
as barter stock, as most campers only keep a few spares
around. Coleman did make a good kerosene pressure
lantern: these
operating instructions are courtesy of Farmerik.
The
best possible pressure lantern is the
Petromax
,
followed closely by its clone, the Butterfly 828R
(right, above). Either of
these units are so well made and versatile as to make the
Coleman appear to be a toy (Coleman single mantle left
above, double mantle in the center). And the Petromax has been perking
along virtually unchanged for over 80 years, providing reliable
lighting in the bush under extremely adverse conditions.
They burn just about anything that could reasonably be called
a fuel - kerosene, diesel, gasoline, corn oil, alcohol,
etc, although for indoor use only kerosene should be used.
I highly recommend the Petromax or its
"Butterfly" clone,
providing one follows the
Petromax
operating instructions and the
Owner's
Manual very carefully. In the event of hostilities
or dangerous conditions, however, it is would be wise to
keep the Petromax out of use for a time, as they produce
sufficient light to act as a beacon to have - nots. Why
advertise?
Rebuilt Petromax lanterns are now available for very
reasonable prices from one source. I have not checked
them out, merely provide you with the
link to
GENIOL U.S.A.,
Inc. for your information.
For
average use, regular wick style kerosene
lamps and lanterns will provide the greatest
use. Exotic models such as the Aladdin provide excellent
light output, but the mantles and chimneys are quite fragile.
At over $100.00 each, these models are also expensive.
The
Kosmos provides less light
than an Aladdin, but is incredibly
sturdy and half the price of an Aladdin. The wicks and
chimneys for
Kosmos
lamps are about a quarter the cost of similar
parts for an Aladdin lamp. No contest there at all.
The
Czech
mirror wall lamp is an excellent lamp,
designed for years of service. They provide sufficient light
to illuminate a room - while hanging safely from a wall. At
a cost of only about $20.00, these units are highly
recommended. They do look cheap compared with a Kosmos
lamp, but they work, and you can get 4 of them for the price
of one Kosmos Consierge!!!
The best buy for quality and light is the
Mason
Jar Burner
lamp from
Lehman's -
if they still have them.
These units consist of a short, hooded chimney, a #2 burner,
an adaptor to fit a small mouth Mason jar, and a wick. See the
Kerosene
Lamp Test
for more details.
There are of course cheap and fragile glass kerosene lamps
sold at most discount stores, but these units are NOT
designed for heavy duty use - they are more like occasional
"mood enhancers." Nice to have, lovely to use occasionally,
but I would not want to depend upon these alone for years of
service. Also, extra chimneys are usually not available,
rendering the lamp useless if breakage occurs.
Kerosene lanterns are best defined as the Dietz style, with
a wire bail for easy carrying and wire guards that provide
limited protection for the glass globe. This style of
lantern is known for reliability and sturdiness. Even old
railroad lanterns can provide years of service if
cleaned properly
.
I have a bunch of them in various styles, sizes and
vintages, and recommend them highly. If you have a motor
home, camper or trailer, the sturdiness of this style of
lantern makes them highly desirable for portable lighting.
LAMP FUEL
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All of the kerosene lamps and lanterns (except the Petromax)
mentioned above use wicks and burners designed in the 19th
Century for burning coal oil -- hence they are called "oil
lamps." Kerosene (1K clear) will burn just fine in
FLAT WICK kerosene lamps and lanterns.
Circular wick lamps such as the Kosmos #14 and #15
burners use, the Aladdin, and the old Bradley and
Hubbard (B & H) and Plume and Atwood (P & A) burn far
brighter, cleaner and nicer with "Paint Thinner - Low
Odor Mineral Spirits." Used in flat wick lamps
and lanterns, "Low Odor Mineral Spirits" burns so
cleanly you seldom even have to trim the wicks, and as
of 12.14.07 it costs $5.98 per gallon at my local True
Value Hardware store.
(At left is one of my B & H "Trophy" lamps. The
shade alone is 14" wide.)
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Perhaps one of the
biggest jokes in the world is "Liquid Paraffin Lamp Oil,"
priced at about $20.00 per gallon. As few people these
days have any familiarity with the history of lamps, their
design, or their fuel, they actually buy "Liquid Paraffin
Lamp Oil" to burn in kerosene lamps. The lamps were
all basically designed before 1890 to burn coal oil, so they
are still called "oil lamps" even though coal oil was
replaced by kerosene well over 125 years ago. But some
marketing genius realized that kerosene is called "paraffin"
in England, but by that name is a solid waxy substance in
the US, so why not call clear
kerosene "Liquid Paraffin Lamp Oil" and fleece the unwary?
It worked! Just a few weeks ago (early February, 2006) I
purchased 16 gallons of Low Odor Mineral Spirits at a True
Value hardware store to use in my B & H, P & A and Kosmos
lamps...on sale at $4.19 a gallon. While I was
checking out with the best lamp fuel available, others were
waiting to purchase "Liquid Paraffin Lamp Oil" on sale for
$19.95 a gallon.
If you absolutely must have
scented lamp oil, you can easily make your
own for pennies per gallon.
FLASHLIGHTS AND
LANTERNS
Kerosene lamps do not project a spot or beam of light such
as heavy duty flashlights and lanterns.
Heavy duty battery
lanterns are of great utility outside at
night, while flashlights are very handy indoors. Both
require the use of batteries, and fortunately we have
NiCad batteries available at very reasonable cost.
Most of us have NiCad batteries and solar chargers, and the
flashlights into which they fit. Virtually all flashlights
or lanterns sold these days proudly advertise their super
bright Krypton bulb. And you have undoubtedly discovered
that the amp draw from those Krypton bulbs quickly depletes
NiCad batteries.
Solar chargers
typically only hold two NiCad D cell batteries - and it
takes a full day of sun to recharge them. A problem,
obviously. The solution is to use bulbs that aren't as
bright, but have much less amperage draw (see
LED Lights).
And, in some
cases, to use a lantern with a low light option that really
extends the battery life. See the
Battery
Primer by Farmerik for more details.
For lanterns that use four D cell batteries,
Radio Shack
sells a durable lantern with a high and low power setting.
The model 61-866 comes with a Krypton bulb, of course, but
it can be easily removed and replaced with a standard PR-13
bulb. The combination of the low power setting and a PR-13
bulb greatly extends the useful life of NiCad batteries, and
LED bulbs that replace the standard PR series are even
better.
I have never found a flashlight holding two D cell batteries
with a high low power option, but it isn't required. If you
like to dig around in little bins at a hardware store, you
can find three replacement bulbs for replacing Krypton bulbs
which will extend battery life. The standard bulb for two D
cell flashlights is the PR 2, the heavy duty bulb is a PR 6,
and now there is a special bulb made for NiCad batteries,
the PR 1. The PR 1 will greatly extend battery life of
NiCad's when compared to a Krypton bulb, and is worth the
effort to find.
To keep NiCad batteries charged,
solar chargers will work well. The
chargers come in several styles: pure chargers with a meter,
and chargers with a pigtail which can be used to charge
small appliances or power a radio. As most models of solar
chargers can only charge two batteries at a time, I
recommend one of each type. It is possible to make your own
12 volt battery
adaptors as well.
It is possible to power regular 110 volt AC resistance bulbs
with an inverter powered by a 12 volt DC RV battery, but
that requires a much larger (and vastly more expensive)
solar panel. This system works - for those wealthy enough to
afford it. The rest of us will have to make do with quality
kerosene lamps for regular lighting and battery powered
flashlights and lanterns to project directional light.
A new alternative
for lighting has appeared on the scene -
LED
lights. A few years
ago, LED lights were mere novelties, but now they are
extremely practical, drawing very little energy, and by
selecting the correct LED lights they can be powered
directly from a 12 volt RV battery...recharged from a solar
panel. The pioneer in this field is "Farmerik," and
his comments appear on the link above. Those comments
will be expanded as he writes to me, and soon there will be
photos to go with his comments.
Ultimately, we will all be
making
candles.
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