Emergency candles?

Google "Petromax Lantern". If 150 watts of light isn't enough, they have them in 400w also. Runs off kerosene. I bought one years ago at an auction for about $30 and it's the absolute brightest lantern you'd ever want. It's like running a 100w light bulb, or two, even.
 
if you decide to use a kerosene lantern in stead of a candle...I've switched my emergency cooking and heating to propane, with a HMN110 kero radiant heater included...over the years of non use, the mantle lanterns have typically deteriorated by the time I need them, and are hot to run in a house without A/C and 90+ degrees until after midnight.... I use small LED lantern for immediate lighting, and kero wick lanterns for long term... one of them with citronella for use out doors.... I have several Dietz lanterns around, and they did good service in the 9 day power outage during 2004...I recently obtained a small Feuerhand lantern with a very efficient globe, and am highly impressed, though it is about 3x the price of a Chinese Dietz... pic of the quality of light transmission of the 1/2" wick on the tin coated Feuerhand compared to an American Dietz Little Wizard with a 5/8" wick, which appears to more yellow to me

 
Some day I plan on getting a Dietz lantern or two for myself. But with the shipping charges at one of the usual distributor sites, costing just as much or even more than some of the available models, you sort of have to buy more than one to justify the price.

For the time being the two Wal-Mart brand lanterns are holding their own. Their founts are sealed tight, and there's no sign of the tanks rusting out. And to be fair, the light output isn't all that bad on them.

 
There are some real long burning, scent free candles online for fairly cheap. The votives that churches use burn for ever and are scent free. I haven't tried them but have been told the religious ones in jars at the dollar store burn for about a week, but I don't know what's in them.
We like to light some candles if the power goes out. Always put them out if they would be unattended. You can put a couple clay pots over them upside down and get some decent heat also.
 
I like to have lots of options. A couple of candle lanterns, LED lamps, candles, and at some point I'd like to pick up some good oil lanterns as well. One thing I know from experience is that oil lamps get real painful after a few days. No matter how good the oil, unless you have very good ventilation, the stink is really pretty bad. One winter we had nothing but oil light for about a week. It wasn't fun. But that might have been re-fueling the genny every three hours to keep the water pump on the wood boiler running. Hard to remember stuff from 20 years ago, and I'm not that many more winters than that old!
 
I went on a kerosene lantern kick a couple years ago. I ended up with two Den Haan solid brass oil burning lanterns. The price is quite high, about $350 for the pair. They use a flat wick that is twisted into a circle at the top of the burner. (If that makes any sense.) They are much brighter than the Wal-mart varieties, and being solid brass I expect them to outlive me. The smaller of the two, Den Haan berth lamp, is mounted on a gimbal, allowing it to stay level. (Originally designed for lighting in boats) I keep that one on my desk and light it regularly, using it as a desk light. It has an advertised burn time of about 50 hours on 11 oz of fuel. I've never timed mine, but that seems about right if the lamp is left turned down low using high quality fuel. More light than a candle, enough to comfortably read by, and being protected by a glass chimney, safer and easier to carry around for light.

I know it's terribly old school to turn to kerosene as lighting for an emergency, especially with LED lamps that burn into he hundreds of hours on a single set of batteries. But my lamps are part decoration, solid brass beauties; part testament to the quality workmanship of the past, these were the best/safest lamps available on boats and ships prior to the use of electricity; and finally I've found them to be ultra reliable.

I do have a couple candle lanterns around too, use them mostly when camping, but never have liked those for inside. The small bases seem more likely to be tipped and no good places to hang them. (In the middle of the room off the ceiling fan they are OK as a mood light, but other than keeping you from tripping over the recliner, not really enough light to do anything by.)

Like Gadgetgeek, I too like having multiple options. The thing is with a full bottle of kerosene in the cupboard, and my lanterns, lighting and some heat generation are possible for several weeks. (My larger lantern puts off a good amount of heat as is, and in an emergency could be Mcguyvered with a flower pot to give more.

Grizz
 
Emergency lighting is mainly by battery powered LED or fluorescent lanterns. Emergency cooking via old fashioned Coleman two burner , white gas or kerosene. Couple of large kero lanterns, more for heat than light. I also have about a Dozen 120 hr candles in a can and a folding stove, as double backup light and heat. I think there are some leftover tea light unico lanterns, too.
 
Okay I know this thread is a bit old, but I felt like showing off my latest acquisition for when the lights go off.

 
I have 3 tactical edc lights all with run times(on low) of a few days. Continuous. I really don't need candles. My wife is a big fan of the ikea bulk packs though. I think we're covered for light. :)
 
I have a big supply of candles (and 123 flashlights) because I don't like the idea of storing kerosene or other liquid fuels long term in the house. Candles also put off heat, which is great for winter. I use the Ikea bulk packs of SOY candles, because they are no soot and in a long-term situation I don't want soot on my ceilings/walls or lungs.
 
123 flashlights :eek:
I just got 10 with a lot of batteries and ways to recharge them off the grid.
Also are they all LED? I believe they are more susceptible to EMP than traditional bulbs.
Is it true that some emergency candles can be eaten?
 
you could eat tallow candles if you were hungry enough, but you'd have to work pretty hard to find any of those. If the 1859 Carrington event is any indication, I'm pretty sure traditional bulbs would blow out as well, since voltage induced is a function of the overall size of the circuitry. Not sure if LEDs would survive, but its an odd worth playing I think, since LED is just better in every other circumstance.
 
We own a few candle lanterns used for backpacking-they put out a lot of soft light and last a long time-6-8 hours per candle. We also picked up a huge supply of tea candles for less than $5 at the local Ikea. We have other light sources as well but candles are cheap and easy to store!
 
We use the NuWick 120 hr. candles. They come in a tin, have three wicks and you can use just one, two, or all three for maximum light and heat. On the Dietz lanterns, the ones you want for indoor use are the #10 Monarch "Hot Blast" lanterns. They re-circulate the fumes from the top of the chimney back through the burner unlike the "Cold Blast" ones in the pictures above. They don't stink anywhere near the cold blast lanterns. There is a company called W.T. Kirkman that sells them at a reasonable price and reasonable shipping.
 
Votive candles are designed to burn 10 to 15 hours unattended. Safest to buy them from a church, since churches have a vested interest in not burning down.

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Yahrzeit candles are designed to burn longer, some of them much longer. Here, a sueable brand name is your best assurance of quality control. What you want to avoid are air bubbles in the wax.

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Lurid veladoras from the corner grocery are not recommended, except for Frida Kahlo candles (because she is worth the risk).

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Meditation: The Moment I Wake Up, Before I Put On My Make Up, I Say A Little Prayer For You
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evltcat said:
We use the NuWick 120 hr. candles. They come in a tin, have three wicks and you can use just one, two, or all three for maximum light and heat. On the Dietz lanterns, the ones you want for indoor use are the #10 Monarch "Hot Blast" lanterns. They re-circulate the fumes from the top of the chimney back through the burner unlike the "Cold Blast" ones in the pictures above. They don't stink anywhere near the cold blast lanterns. There is a company called W.T. Kirkman that sells them at a reasonable price and reasonable shipping.
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Reasonable on their prices, but the shipping is a little high for a single lantern. Especially when you can buy two or three lanterns, and the shipping remains relatively the same.
 
Charlie_K said:
Reasonable on their prices, but the shipping is a little high for a single lantern. Especially when you can buy two or three lanterns, and the shipping remains relatively the same.
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Yeah, its the bane of "Dimensional Shipping Weight" FedEx and UPS have started calculating how much a package of a certain sizes "should weigh" for all domestic ground shipping as of Jan. 2015. If it's under that weight they charge a what it "should cost" for a package that size, making shipping lighter and odd size items more expensive for all of us.
 
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