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

[DangerousPirate]

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.

At least I wouldn't be chilly?

 

[Bouba]

Back in the day we used to use them for night fishing on the reef....we would make a little raft to put the Coleman lantern on ....and we would swim along side with spearguns. Always amazed at how much light they could give off...and how fragile the mantle was

 

[DangerousPirate]

Back in the day we used to use them for night fishing on the reef....we would make a little raft to put the Coleman lantern on ....and we would swim along side with spearguns. Always amazed at how much light they could give off...and how fragile the mantle was

Out of curiosity: Where was that? Sounds lovely but I couldn#t imagine this in the UK waters.

 

[Bouba]

Out of curiosity: Where was that? Sounds lovely but I couldn#t imagine this in the UK waters.

American Samoa

 

[alahol2]

Just right for lounging around listening to music. No good for reading.

 

[OCuea]

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 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°.

That hook is for a plant hanging basket
In reality adding some heat proof matting to the cabin roof and a heat and smoke detecti

Just right for lounging around listening to music. No good for reading.

beautiful. Glad to sea the safety cowling. Cozy. Not a swinging cowling though? Is it a stable mobo? My oil lamps had cowlings attached to the lamps so they always remained over the flame?

 

[alahol2]

beautiful. Glad to sea the safety cowling. Cozy. Not a swinging cowling though? Is it a stable mobo? My oil lamps had cowlings attached to the lamps so they always remained over the flame?

No, it's a sailing boat but we don't tend to heel much at anchor and we wouldn't be using it while sailing.
Currently I'm one of only 3 boats in Newtown, at lunchtime today (bank Holiday) there were fewer than a dozen. Where is everyone???

 

[DangerousPirate]

No, it's a sailing boat but we don't tend to heel much at anchor and we wouldn't be using it while sailing.
Currently I'm one of only 3 boats in Newtown, at lunchtime today (bank Holiday) there were fewer than a dozen. Where is everyone???

Still looking for their easter eggs. Or mourning the pope.

 

[DangerousPirate]

That hook is for a plant hanging basket

Hm... that's an actual possibility that I haven't considered yet. I thought it's for a lamp.

 

[OCuea]

Hm... that's an actual possibility that I haven't considered yet. I thought it's for a lamp.

I was joking of course….. hence the smiley. I love oil lamps and used them with various oils until i found what suited …… very cozy. Ones with gimballed heat shields for when heeling were my choice

 

[William_H]

I think Ian Edwards is referring to what we called a "Pressure lamp" ie heated pressurised parafin or kerosene burning in a mantle giving off a lot of light. Later superceded by gas lantern with mantle. I think a "hurricane lamp" is one with just a wick set in a tube frame designed to supply air to flame while being resistant to external wind. Much less light but easier to light with adjustable height wick. Some lamps used a mantle for a brighter light. When I was young we had a room heater using a circular wick under a burner chimney arrangement which encouraged air flow. Warm but smelly.
Now obviously people over hundreds of years have lived with oil lamps in various forms. But I think in this age we can do without the smell and possible dangers of CO poisoning. So for heat a proper boat heater with ventilation of gasses to outside is far better.
For light I think the advent of LED lighting means little concern re current drain (or easy operation from internal battery) means we can have light exactly as we want it.
So to the OP unless he wants nostalgia leave the hurricane light in the museum. ol'will

 

[DangerousPirate]

I was joking of course….. hence the smiley. I love oil lamps and used them with various oils until i found what suited …… very cozy. Ones with gimballed heat shields for when heeling were my choice

Oh, I didn't understand that you were joking. Simply because I have seen people hang up flowers there for real. Someone else mentioned that I need to be careful to not burn the boat down hanging it up there. So I thought, maybe I just misunderstood the purpose of the hook up there.

I think Ian Edwards is referring to what we called a "Pressure lamp" ie heated pressurised parafin or kerosene burning in a mantle giving off a lot of light. Later superceded by gas lantern with mantle. I think a "hurricane lamp" is one with just a wick set in a tube frame designed to supply air to flame while being resistant to external wind. Much less light but easier to light with adjustable height wick. Some lamps used a mantle for a brighter light. When I was young we had a room heater using a circular wick under a burner chimney arrangement which encouraged air flow. Warm but smelly.
Now obviously people over hundreds of years have lived with oil lamps in various forms. But I think in this age we can do without the smell and possible dangers of CO poisoning. So for heat a proper boat heater with ventilation of gasses to outside is far better.
For light I think the advent of LED lighting means little concern re current drain (or easy operation from internal battery) means we can have light exactly as we want it.
So to the OP unless he wants nostalgia leave the hurricane light in the museum. ol'will

As I mentioned in another reply, I think the smell was down to either bad quality lamp oil and/or misuse of the wick. You're supposed to burn the oil, not the wick, but many people burn the wick down by having it out too much. That's of course not experience, just my take on the discussion I dug up about this on another forum from ages ago.

But you are right about the lamp I am talking about. They look like this:

 

[OCuea]

Your post 32 is a suitable lamp. Personally I would simply ensure the cabin roof did not get warm - add a few links of chain? Not pressurised gives less light. Aladdin lamps ( no joke) are a different lamp that have a mantle that ‘glows’ and gives MUCH more light. Difficult to hang. They are slightly radioactive however! We used to use them in the garden.
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Even cheap ones that you show that I have bought have not leaked and with wick trimmed and set as you pointed out previously, no smoke. Great for coziness. Go for it. They are cheap. Take normal safety precautions obviously.

 

[Poignard]

I wouldn't hang anything heavier than a cup on that cup hook . . . .

 

[Snowgoose-1]

Like many others here, I inherited a Coleman pump up lamp with a boat.

I tried hanging it from the boom in the evenings . Romantic, yes, but I was
never comfortable with it and passed it on.

 

[harvey38]

I purchased one of these a few years back
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Not only variable brightness but also able to adjust between cool white and warm white. It is great for illumination and creating a nice warm atmosphere.

 

[seeSimon]

Interesting concept...fitting oil lamps to my 10 yo AWB, factory fitted with LEDs...

With all the fuss about the fire risks of "lithium batteries" what would my insurers have to say ?

 

[Poignard]

Paraffin pressure lamps such as the Tilley and the Coleman operate in the same way as do the Taylors paraffin stoves and cabin heaters and our sailing forefathers (and mothers!) rarely seemed to fret about using them. Provided obvious safety precautions are adhered to (ventilation and keeping them away from flammable materials) they are safe enough.

I had a Taylors paraffin heater in my Twister and it was a great comfort on cold nights.

I also had simple paraffin wicked* cabin lights mounted on gimbals.

* I mean they had wicks, not that they were badly behaved.

 

[Davy_S]

Back in the day we used to use them for night fishing on the reef....we would make a little raft to put the Coleman lantern on ....and we would swim along side with spearguns. Always amazed at how much light they could give off...and how fragile the mantle was

Some of the Colemans were run using petrol, they could be very iffy if not careful, the Tilleys on paraffin were safer.

 

[oilybilge]

How about a pendant lamp?

Ours lives on a hook on the ceiling when we're under way, and gets lowered over the table in the evenings. In the background is the smelly paraffin lamp we never use.