Liquid Fuel Lanterns?

K Williams

K Williams

Joined
Nov 17, 1998
Messages
3,296
Hurricane Irene left me without power for a week. Candles didn't cut it, so I decided that some lanterns would be better. Which lanterns would you recommend for home lighting, but still be rugged enough for outdoor use? A readily available liquid fuel that's reasonably safe indoors would be preferred.
 
I would not use a liquid fuel lantern indoors. I keep 3 of these Cree battery lanterns around the house. They will provide very useable light for several hours on 3 AA batteries. They also have a blinking LED so you can find them in the dark. They are about $20. I also have a couple of Coleman MicroPacker Compact Battery Lanterns. I bought them at Wally World for $11 each. They will run for about 100 hours on 3 AA batteries. They don't put out a lot of light, but you can read by them and they keep you from bumping into the furniture. One of those AA battery packs from Costco will keep you going for a long time.

I have several kerosene lanterns that I have used in the past. IMHO, they are dangerous, stink and don't put out anymore light then the Coleman MiniPacker.

 
^^^ well said. I will admit Im a bit of a gear snob. But because of this, I have ALOT of battery lanterns, lights etc. My backpacking combo is a 2xAA light with a diffuser. Makes enough light to read, makes you already carried flashlight a area lantern of sorts, and the difuser weights less than 1/4 oz. For car or family camping... my daughter likes the snowpeak Hozuki (or something like that) since she can easily use it, it has a candle mode that makes if flicker like a candle, and you can even "blow the light out" she thinks its cool plus it hangs from most loops. Black diamond has a variety of nice battery powered lanterns too that even fold up to save space, might want to check them out.

If going the battery route, stock some eneloop rechargeable batteries since they keep a charge a year easy, cost just a little more than std rechargeable, and then look into a solar power charging option or a DC charger you can plug into your cars cig lighter. more power to ya (literally). FYI some of mine.

Energizer weatherready (FYI a guy on AR15.com/forums did a great review, test, writeup on this light. Might want to dig it up if your serious about battery lanterns, this thing runs on 4 Dcell, and he met the time requirements on the packaging. Lowes sells these, I picked up a few when they were on sale last year), Snowpeak hozuki (again my daughters favorite), some $5.00 LED light from walmart its the single LED so it sheds a nice light made by sylvania, Black diamond orbit, black diamond apollo, Glotoob lithium (runs on 1 CR123, NICE little light too)
lights7.JPG


As for panels... I like the powerfilm. Amazon use to sell the for DIRT cheap, sometimes they show up for alot less than MSRP, but not as much as they use too. I have 2 4xAA, a 2xAA and USB, 6 10watt foldables (amazon use to sell these for 89 each), 2 28watt rollables, plus a bunch of cables/ adapters/ chargers etc.

Here is a 4xAA and some of the 10watt foldables with a business card for size.
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Panels deployed
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And daisy chained for 40watts
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The electrics are great for spot use, indoors and task lighting. For general use outdoors I really like the coleman lnterns, they can not be beat and you can get them preetty cheap on ebay. The crees are nice, but they can not match the bright difuse light of a coleman.
If the power is off and its hot the house is likely not going to be all closed up, so you can use one close to a doorway or window with some common sense.
Not bashing electrics, I have a lot of them
 
I have the Black Diamond Apollo, second from the right in spoolup's first pic above. Nice and compact, fully intermittent/adjustable, a little pricey at ~$50. Runs on AAs but you can also get an optional rechargeable battery pack for more money. It is perfect for my small tent but a little expensive just for home use. More suitable for backpacking. Nevertheless, it is also what I use when the power goes out. I would also stay away from liquid fuels for indoor illumination purposes in this day and age of fancy electrics. The big fluorescent Everyreadys or Energizers work very well for home use.
 
I've had good luck with two traditional kerosene lanterns (saw a lot of service during the 04 and 05 hurricane season).... a Dietz Air Pilot (newer made in PRC)...large fount and wide wick... brightest of the two, and an older US made Dietz Little Wizard...large fount with long burn time, but less bright due to wick width...1-K kerosene is around $10 a gallon if you don't have a bulk source....the Air Pilot came from W.T. Kirkman co....
 
Hi,

I have a collection of old glass and metal kerosene lamps and one enclosed double candle lantern. Been using them for emergancy lighting since I was a kid. I like the fact they are always ready to go and a fill will last for a week of use. I don't consider them to much of a risk to use. Like a normal lamp, once lit they don't get moved around. And they give off a nice warm light. And I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be able to heat a cup of water with a battery powered light.

dalee
 
I have arrived late in life to the joys of Coleman lanterns. Just bought my second one at a garage sale yesterday. Paid $2 for it. Coleman model 220J, two mantle white gas lantern. First one, the same model, bought for a sum of $5. Both work, but in all truthfulness, the second one needs glass. BUT... I rationalized it because I want an amber glass lantern, and I can order new glass at www.oldcolemanparts.com

HOWEVER... I don't think I would use these indoors. Not sure if they put out sufficient carbon monoxide or not. Sure put out the light though.
 

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Les Snyder said:
I've had good luck with two traditional kerosene lanterns (saw a lot of service during the 04 and 05 hurricane season).... a Dietz Air Pilot (newer made in PRC)...large fount and wide wick... brightest of the two, and an older US made Dietz Little Wizard...large fount with long burn time, but less bright due to wick width...1-K kerosene is around $10 a gallon if you don't have a bulk source....the Air Pilot came from W.T. Kirkman co....
Click to expand...

Kerosene is $10 per gallon!!???
 
Kerosene is $10 per gallon!!???

Paraffin (sp?) is the he only stuff I can find at retail stores and here it runs about that.
 
Hi,

When a fill of the stuff is only around a pint per lamp and will last for a week or more, it becomes very cost effective. It would be cheaper than batteries. A 8 pack of good AA's will run $5-$6 dollars here and only provide a few hours of use.

Rechargeables are fine but require more complex and delicate systems to maintain. And the batteries do degrade over time. Becoming less and less effective at holding a charge.

I think the best solution is to have a mix. Some fuel type and a rechargeable type together. After seeing Spoolup's setup, I think I will be putting that on my list of things acquire for emergency use.

dalee
 
Sturubu.. when I purchased the Air Pilot from W.T. Kirkman, they recommended that paraffin fuels not be used in the larger lamps with the 7/8" wicks... I thought the price for the refined kero was a little steep, but was the same at ACE and Home Depot....there are very few mom and pop filling stations around here with the bulk kero source....I like it as it saves the batteries for other things...
 
Thanks for all the replies. Looks like I'll get a few battery powered lanterns for indoors and one or two fuel powered Lanterns for outdoors. I see that the Coleman models are made to run off different fuels just like backpack stoves. Which fuel do you all prefer for your lanterns?
 
I have a Coleman duel fuel.I don't mind using it indoors but you do have to take some care.The good thing about it is I have 3 cars full of the fuel sitting outside.
 
My mom has 3+ lanterns around the house that use lamp oil. They don't put off as much light as the propane lanterns like the 2 Mantle Coleman's and the like, but they are relatively inexpensive and are safe to use in doors.
 
Aladdin makes some very nice indoor lamps that use lamp oil.They have a Coleman style mantle over the wick so they produce a very bright white light.I need to pick up a couple.My dad has a small collection of antique Aladdin lamps,they still make all the replacement parts for them.
http://www.aladdinlamps.com/
 
I've used Colemans for years and I don't know of anything better.For indoor use,I've used the propane lanterns and have never had a problem with them,that said,I've never used them in a house that I'd consider air tight either and the last extended power outage was in the summertime so the windows were open anyway.If your considering the gas lantern,use the Coleman fuel,it costs a little more but I've seen a few Coleman products ruined by regular pump gas.And if your refilling them,just like a kerosene heater,it should be done outdoors after the lantern has had time to cool for a while.That's why I like the propane,if you keep 1 or 2 of the short fat bottles of propane around and a couple extra mantles,your good for a week without power.The propane bottles never go bad and the propane lanterns are easy to light,one of mine has a self igniter that's still working after about 30 years.I also use them for camping, have a post that fits on a 20lb propane tank,the lantern goes on top and you can hook up a stove or 2 to the other outlets,then I use a second one on a small bottle that can be moved around easy.
 
The Coleman Northern Lights lantern is advertised at over 1200 lumens for 8 hours on a one pound tank (if I remember correctly). If you plan on using it for a sustained amount of time, you might consider getting an adapter to refill the small 1 pound cylinders. The adapters can be had for about $10-15 and would save you a lot of money if you plan on using the lantern a lot. Last I checked the 1lb cylinders were about $5 each vs $1/pound for a
20lb tank refill. Just something to think about.

You might also check out the Rayovac D cell lantern. Good for 300 lumens for 70 hours, although the batteries would get expensive quickly for long term use.
 
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