Hurricane Lamps = Fire Hazard or great addition to a cozy interior?

[DangerousPirate]

I have this hook right above my salon table


And it seems like it's mean to carry one of those old oil/hurricane lamps. On the forum I read about a few people who have them and like them, yet all reviews I find online (on amazon tho) said they're leaking like crazy and should only be used as decoration. Dietz and Feuerhand included.

Are they really that unsafe or am I just biased because I only looked at the bad reviews and don't trust the good ones? From what I have gathered, it could be that the bad reviews stem from users who just overfilled the lamp and that's why they leaked, but who knows?

The idea is to have lights without electricity in case I have electric issues and also to heat the cabin slightly without having to run a heater. Take away the evening chill without fully blasting the boat up to 35°.

 

[sarabande]

The danger is more obvious if you realise that lamp oil generates large amounts of water vapour, and also nano particles of carbon, which you breathe in, clogging your lungs' alveoli.

In addition to the very obvious risk of an hydrocarbon oil based
Fire.

 

[CJTurner]

I've had a Dutch registered Moody 336 and that came with a lamp fitted to the mast support post. They are quite common there, I believe, and chandler's stock lamps and replacement glasses etc.
Chris

 

[vyv_cox]

Widely available in the Netherlands, where we bought ours. It is possible to buy quite sophisticated ones perfectly safe for inside use. We have only used ours in the cockpit, where it provides very pleasant low level light for evening dining.

 

[fredrussell]

I tried one for the ‘coziness’ factor, but I didn’t like the smell of the oil once lit. Far from unpleasant, but I couldn’t get used to it.

 

[wonkywinch]

How about an LED one?

 

[AntarcticPilot]

Basically useless as lighting - they modify the dark! They don't provide adequate light for reading, and their drawbacks are such that almost anything is better. They provide a nostalgic warm glow, but are not practical lighting.

 

[wonkywinch]

Basically useless as lighting - they modify the dark! They don't provide adequate light for reading, and their drawbacks are such that almost anything is better. They provide a nostalgic warm glow, but are not practical lighting.

Quite good at producing babies, or the practising thereof though

 

[Ian_Edwards]

I'm old enough to remember cruising with my father in our Dell Quay 22, in the late 1950's
We had one large battery operated torch, which ate D cells, and was used sparingly, and a hurricane lamp. Paraffin and methylated spirit to start it.
My memories of where; it was hard to start, getting it hot enough to vaporise the Paraffin, having to pump like made to get enough pressure, the fragility of the mantle (and not having spares), the smell, the hiss, and trying to cook bacon and eggs on it when we'd run out of Calor gas .... complete and utterly failure.
I wouldn't go back to that for any reason.
Similarly my partner was brought up on a remote farm in NE Scotland. An area which didn't get mains electricity until the late 1950's. She remembers candles, paraffin lamps, with wicks and hurricane lamps, used outside in the winter to check the "beasts".
We can't understand why anyone would want to go back to that!
Smelly, dangerous, polluting, dirty and noisy.

 

[johnalison]

We had one in our Sadler 29. Yes, it is hard to read by one but we were younger then. It was ideal at the time for long autumn evenings and quite sufficient for meals and with company, and especially because it saved on battery use.

 

[doug748]

They are excellent, a little light and a little heat is mostly what you want. Nothing better in a typical UK summer than to settle down in the warm glow of an oil lamp, in the half light, with the rain speckling the deck as day turns to dusk.

You can get some very stylish ( and very expensive ) ones if you look around...
Explore paraffin lamps now | TOPLICHT

They are only a danger if you put them too near the deckhead - take care they get very much hotter than you imagine.

.

 

[Davy_S]

We had one in our outside loo to stop it freezing up, it never burned the bog down!

 

[Supertramp]

We used to have paraffin oil lamps plus a Tilley for brighter light, and an anchor light. Still alive, no fires or lung cancer (yet) but I wouldn't go back. Saves carrying another fuel.

I fitted a warm white LED light on a flexible stalk in the saloon. Provides a nice low light glow, plus angle it right and you can read by it.

 

[WoodyP]

My grandparents house didn't have electricity until the early 60's, and l well remember all the oil lamps for lighting. They had glass cased batteries that were taken to the nearest garage for charging to provide power for the radio. Cows milked by hand and the churns taken by horse and trap down the loaning to the road for collection.
Brighter lights could be obtained from a pressurised lamp to provide enough light to read by, but they were really noisy hissing away .

 

[veshengro]

" and a hurricane lamp. "

With all due respect, that wasn't a Hurricane Lamp, it was a Tilley Lamp which is not a wick burning lamp but uses a Mantle and pressurised fuel feed.
I used Paraffin oil lamps, and the posh non smelly oil stuff from Supermarkets when I could get it, for 17 years or so. Just as general lighting when cooking etc: Reading or chart work required brighter light, so 12 volt in my case.

 

[Halo]

Bismark said “ since the invention of the printing press only a fool learns by experience “
I say since the invention of LED torches and warm white 12v LED lighting I would not use a paraffin lamp.
Dangerous,unhealthy and smelly just to get a retro feel

 

[neil_s]

I have a Dietz and two Feuerhand hurricane lamps. The shiny brass Dietz one leaks but the steel Feuerhand ones are both still fine despite being many years old .

 

[DangerousPirate]

How about an LED one?

View attachment 192383

Honestly? If I get LED, I might as well fit a proper lamp.

Basically useless as lighting - they modify the dark! They don't provide adequate light for reading, and their drawbacks are such that almost anything is better. They provide a nostalgic warm glow, but are not practical lighting.

It's not so much about brightness, it's about cozy light to avoid entire darkness, saving on electricity and also the heat I suspect comes off the lamp as well.

We had one in our Sadler 29. Yes, it is hard to read by one but we were younger then. It was ideal at the time for long autumn evenings and quite sufficient for meals and with company, and especially because it saved on battery use.

I think if you use the right lamp oil and use the wick right (not too much out so only the oil burns and not the wick) it should be odourless. I recently read a discussion about this.

In this thread I just wanted to know if they're generally leaky by design or if it's just the cheap brands, or even the cheap ones are okay and the bad reviews come from user error.

 

[Seashoreman]

Honestly? If I get LED, I might as well fit a proper lamp.

It's not so much about brightness, it's about cozy light to avoid entire darkness, saving on electricity and also the heat I suspect comes off the lamp as well.



I think if you use the right lamp oil and use the wick right (not too much out so only the oil burns and not the wick) it should be odourless. I recently read a discussion about this.

In this thread I just wanted to know if they're generally leaky by design or if it's just the cheap brands, or even the cheap ones are okay and the bad reviews come from user error.

I have one and use it regularly. Just a standard metal design and have never had a concern with leakage. You might want to buy proper lamp oil and a little funnel to top up the fuel. Have been using them for 40+ years and never had a problem, also used as anchor lamp in the olden days. Will add that they will rust if left out for a few years, had a couple hanging in the garden in all weathers.

 

[penberth3]

I have this hook right above my salon table
View attachment 192381

And it seems like it's mean to carry one of those old oil/hurricane lamps. On the forum I read about a few people who have them and like them, yet all reviews I find online (on amazon tho) said they're leaking like crazy and should only be used as decoration. Dietz and Feuerhand included.

Are they really that unsafe.....

They don't provide a huge amount of light or heat, but they are hot - they get too hot to touch. Hot enough that the standard carrying hoop would put it dangerously close to your ceiling. I'd risk some things in life, but not fire.