Burning kerosene in an Aladdin Lamp

[Stacie Lin]

Hello, I am fairly new to this and am wondering about a few things. I got a new lamp, a heritage with glass shade, brought it home, put in Aladdin fuel, it burned great and I loved it. I decided to use kerosene as a cheaper alternative so I put in the kerosene, after cleaning out the Aladdin fuel, it burned fine. I lit it the next night, it got away from me a little, I turned it down to burn off the carbon but it acted very strange. It burned off about half the carbon but no matter how low I had the wick, it would spike and when I would try and put it out it would flare before going out and smoke a lot. I tried it a few times but I could never get it to work correctly. I cleaned out the kerosene, K-1, took everything apart to check, it all looked fine, put it back together with Aladdin fuel and it is burning great again. Does anyone else use kerosene? Any ideas? Also, you could hear air flow when it would start spiking and the wick was very difficult to turn...thanks for your help.

[Peter Stinson]

Hi and welcome to the forum.
The problem appears to be the fuel you are using. Poor fuel will leave far more deposits as it volatilises and burns off the wick. This deposit can cause spikes and will need to be removed with a wick cleaner. I know in Australia "kerosene" is now basically manufactured for cleaning purposes and as a result is quite variable and usually high in sulphur. Fine for a normal flat wick lamp but ALADDINS are a bit more sophisticated and sensitive.
Use the Aladdin fuel, use the wick cleaner and have a search of this forum for fuels- there are heps of references.
I assume by your comments you are in the States. Can I recommend you add this to your profile. It makes it easier for our team of home grown experts to answer the technical questions

[Stacie Lin]

Thanks for your reply. I do live in the states and K 1 kerosene is supposed to work. This was older kerosene though it was in a sealed container always and it looked and smelled clear and clean. It is burning great now with the Aladdin fuel and I'll try and get the rest of the carbon off that other mantle. Will the mantle stay good if I store it in a box or does it need the coating to store successfully? How do I add my country so it appears?

[Peter Stinson]

Hi,
The mantle will store but will be incredibly fragile Better to spray the mantle with a cheap lacquer hair spray. Hold the can a fair way away from the mantle. It will keep for sometime then and be more robust. Thanks for adding your country. See if you can download some photos of the lamp- would be interested as in Australia there are only a few Aladdin glass lamps

[Andy Graham-Cumming]

Stacie

K-1 should be fine. It is the form of kerosene that is routinely recommended by US lamp users. From your description you were unable to clear the mantle and you had another flare-up after heating it on the lamp for a while. If you have a very badly sooted mantle it is very difficult to clear it on the lamp. The large plug of carbon will heat up and cause increased air flow, even with the wick turned low - that is what gives you the audible air flow. The burner will overheat, giving you the stiff knob.

It is easier to get heavy coke off by heating it with a gas flame. You can do it on a gas cooker, or use a gas blow lamp (by gas I do not mean gasoline!) You just play a small flame gently over the edge of the soot so that it glows red and burns away gradually. I once had a careless runaway and half-filled a mantle with coke, but I saved the mantle with careful heating and patience.

As Peter said, you can spray the cleaned mantle (once it has cooled down) with cheap hairspray (the cheapest, most unpleasant stuff that makes hair stiff and sticky is best). That is effectively what the mantle maker does - Aladdin mantles are pre-burned, unlike pressure lamp mantles. When you re-use the mantle burn it off like a new one. The puff of flame will be much bigger than when you burn off a new mantle - keep your hair back.

You really should not need to buy expensive fuel. Any low-sulphur kerosene should be fine, including 28 sec heating oil.

[Stacie Lin]

Thanks for the information. I'll try and rescue that mantle so we can use it again. I'll try the kerosene again, K 1, low sulfur, which is what the can says, and just not let it get away from me this time. Do you find that kerosene burns hotter? I burned the lamp last night, Aladdin fuel, and it was lovely and bright the whole time I burned it, never got away. I have some other questions which I will post with a new subject. I am really enjoying the Aladdin lamps. Thanks again, Stacie