BEST SURVIVAL LANTERNS - Gas, Propane, or Flouresent Tubes?

K

KNIFESENSE

Joined
Feb 26, 2005
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What lantern type do you prefer for emergency type situations and why?

Either Unleaded Gas or Coleman Fuel? Propane? or Battery recharageables?

What do the hurricane people prefer, others when the lights and power go out. What are your experiences and preferences.

This question was also posted on another forum.

Are any forums specifically for questions of this type?

Thanks
 
Try a look-up on Aladdin Lamps. They use K-1 (clear kerosene), put out a lot of light (and heat if you need it), and are pretty simple to operate. An Aladdin Lamp will light and heat a room in moderately cold temperatures. I also have several Dietz oil lanterns. They are even simpler than the Aladdin Lamp, but don't put out near the light. The upside is that a Dietz lantern is somewhat inexpensive compared to an Aladdin Lamp. Maybe $35 vs. $85 price difference. Candles "stink" as an emergency light source. We used some during a winter power outage before we got the Aladdin's and the candles, in addition to being dangerous, put out lots of soot.

Anyway, when the power goes out for more than 20 minutes....these are what I grab and light.

Jeff
 
I don't know why but i find using candles during blackouts kind of soothing.

Although in Malaysia you don't need much heat due to the already hot weather.

The last time a blackout happened here in the UK i just switched on my black diamond and petzl head lamp and just hung it around the house. It's quite surprising how much you can see using LED lights in total darkness. Many hours of light using cheapo batteries.
 
I too love candles,they help keep me employed.We get over 30 house fires a year from them!!

FWIW we also get a fair number of fires from stoves that were on when the power went off.See when the power comes back on so does the stove and when folks go to bed or work that leads to fires. So be sure to turn off everything you don't want to come on whenever the power does.
 
I'd think those slow burn emergency candles (or any candles) would be fine as long as they are used carefully. Lanterns that burn easily obtained fuel would be nice as well. Since my vehicles run on unleaded along with my chainsaw, lawn mower and weed whacker, it's nice to know that I have fuel on hand for my lantern and don't have to store or buy anything special.

Our stove, furnace, hot water tank and generator run off a 325 gallon propane tank. and we have two smaller propane tanks for our BBQ. Then there is the wood burning stove and the many flashlights and batteries stuffed all over the place.

So in a (rather long winded, sorry) way I'm trying to say (IMHO), be diverse and try to use things that are easy to get and if possible that you already have.
 
We have blackouts here in Mexico very often, they may last from a few minutes to a few hours, I have a couple of kerosene lamps, several LED flashlights and candles, I really like a LED headlamp (I have an old Petzel Tika) and a LED flashlight that you shake back and forth to recharge, sorry I cannot remember the name/brand of that one right now.

Luis
 
I lived in the Philippines for 23 years. Experienced a lot of blackouts and brownouts. We used Petromax kerosene lanterns most of the time. They were workhorses. Only problem was that the mantles would crumble very easily if the lantern was jarred. We kept lots of mantles handy. They primed pretty much the same way as liquid fuel camp stoves. You'd pour denatured alcohol into the small reservoir inside the mantle area, light it to prime the fuel and aid in vaporization, pump to compress air inside, light, then slowly increase gas/air output using the selector knob. Flames would spout out the top if you didn't prime properly. :D In a situation where a gas main may have ruptured, gas-type lanterns are out of the question. Non-incendive flashlights would be the logical choice.
 
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