Propane vs. Kerosene (Mantle Lamp edition)

You might have noticed that I seem to have a fondness for kerosene. I will readily admit that if all things were reliable, THE absolute best choice for switchable lighting is electricity. LED’s are getting better all the time and are well into being suitable for almost all uses in the home (oven lights… nope!). Fluorescents when done right (alas, so seldom – if they flicker, they are being done WRONG). As inefficient as incandescents are, they are still superior to “let’s burn something to get light.”

While candle wax (solid in storage, and tends not to be a fire hazard even if ‘spilled’) is perhaps the safest of combustible fuels, it has the problem of limited output. One whole candlepower per…. better than nothing, but… rather less than ideal. You can light your way to bed, because with only a candle, what else do you can you really do? FWIW, I have changed an electrical switch or outlet (I forget which) by candle-light. I do NOT recommend it.

Kerosene, while not as forgiving as solid wax, is fairly well-behaved. Toss a lit match into a bucket of kerosene and *fzzt* the match goes out. Still, it’s not a good idea to have an open bucket of kerosene. But if that was alcohol, or even worse gasoline, the result would be *FWOOOOMP* at best. At worst, a need to explain things to the cops, paramedics, insurance investigators…

Now, I have a a few mantle lamps. One is the Aladdin, which is non-pressure and thus a rather unique creature in this day and age. A couple Coleman 639C’s (kerosene pressure lanterns) and a Coleman Northstar propane lantern. I decided to run a 639C and the Northstar and compare them.

The Northstar likely burns hotter, and thus at full power give a slightly whiter light. This comes at the cost of faster fuel consumption and the thing is just plain louder. It’s not just the pressure-hiss, but a bit of flame-roar. Not super-loud, no, but quite distinct. I can see how it might grate after a while. The 639C is not quite as bright, but is very close, is ever so slightly more yellow, but has no flame-roar. There is a pressure-hiss, certainly, but it just sounds more… civilized? And that’s after pumping up the pressure to where further pumping became too difficult to bother about.

Turned down, the 639C seems to flicker a bit less and is still overall quieter than the also turned down Northstar.

Now, I will admit a bit of bias. For me, the 639C’s have “just worked” and were and are utterly ‘textbook’ in operation. I haven’t ye experienced a ‘flare up’ (the result of insufficient pre-heating). I suppose I could induce such, but why would I? Meanwhile the piezo-start to make the Northstar simple & easy seems to be finicky and unreliable. I’ve had multiple times where I let the gas on long enough (whilst continually pressing and re-pressing the START button…and getting a clearly visible spark!) that I became concerned about the thing becoming a bomb. The piezo igniter works… sometimes. But I keep a butane grill lighter handy as I’ve needed such or a long ‘kitchen match’ a few times. I will admit that propane burns cleaner than kerosene and there’s no odor in use to speak of. When it works as intended, it’s great. Now if it only would do so with some consistency and reliability!

Both, of course, being devices using flame to get a mantle hot enough to incandesce, put out a non-trival amount of heat. In the Winter in MN, when there is No Such Thing as “waste heat” this is welcome. On a hot late Spring or Summer night… not so much. So far, the one thing I really like about the Northstar is that it has a nice case so it’s all sealed up when not in use. I wish Coleman had such a thoughtful thing for the 639’s. But evidently they figure the future is all LED and maybe a bit of propane, and a teensy bit of white gas. Kerosene is their red-headed step-child nowadays.

Book Review/Summary: Propane for Preppers

I’ve just read, and am now re-reading a series of short books on non-electric lighting, authored by Ron Brown.

Book 7: Propane for Preppers by Ron Brown

The Non-Electric Lighting Series

Pretty much the first thing is safety: All modern propane tanks are made to be filled to 80% with liquid propane, leaving 20% headroom for gaseous propane. Why? Liquids do NOT compress, but gasses do. Compressed gas is fine. Expanding incompressible liquid in a too-confined space is NOT fine. Then we go through some hydrocarbon chemistry again. If you have natural gas, you can have natural gas (methane) lamps – but please have things done by professionals, lest an insurance company cite lack of such for why they refuse to pay. You’ve met insurance folks, right? And propane, then butane (and generally butane devices can run on propane[1]). And then there are the heavier petroleum products better covered elsewhere (See: Lamp Fuels). Switching devices between natural gas and propane, however, is more than hoses and adapters. Burners (orifices) need changing out. Getting it wrong one way is merely disappointing and frustrating. Get it wrong the other way and you might burn the house down.

And to make things messy, one-pound propane cylinders CAN be refilled (there are kits for this) though warnings say not to do so. Is it a good idea? Good question.[2] MAPP gas cylinders can also be refilled, but with propane, not MAPP or ‘MAPP’ gas (because MAPP gas is no longer MAPP gas…) – so labeling is important. Guessing what’s in the canister is to be avoided. There is a HUGE benefit to propane, despite any other seeming drawbacks. Compared to almost all other fuels, it stores very well.[3]

The one HUGE warning is, should you ever see miscolored (blue!) fittings, do NOT use that tank! Some jerk used it for ammonia (to make meth…) rather than propane. You do NOT want to use whatever might be in that tank, nor trust those fittings. Places that deal in propane are supposed to NOT allow returns of such, nor allow them back into service. So, you SHOULD never see such. But you shouldn’t get your doors blown off when you’re going the speed limit, too. If you do find a tank with such fittings, leave it alone. It’s a job for the fire department, maybe the bomb squad. Brass and ammonia are not friends. Why brass? No sparks from brass. Explosive gas and random sparks are a bad combination. And, yes, there are ‘1 gallon’ (~4 lb) tanks [I have one] and Mr. Brown is not kidding. Being a something of an oddball rarity, they are more expensive than a(n empty) 20 lb tanks that almost every gas grill uses.

There is a section that goes into great detail on re-filling the “non-refillable” one-pound cylinders. The makers very strongly advise against doing so (claiming legal violations) but it IS possible. From a simple cost-of-fuel perspective it makes sense. From a risk perspective, maybe not. And buy & toss is certainly the simplest way to go. The safety concerns do apply to almost any part of dealing with pressurized connections: gloves to protect hands (expanding gas gets COLD!) and eye protection. And work outdoors – ventilation is your friend. You need oxygen. And if things go wrong, a fire is bad, but less bad than an explosion. The simple method is to fill one-pounders from 20 lb tanks. But it is possible to fill 20 lb tanks from even larger, and.. it all gets interesting. If you are not careful, or if you are at all distracted, it might get far too interesting. So if you are working with propane, you are ONLY working with propane. Distractions could result in a Very Big Boom.

There is more on safety aspects. The issues include oxygen displacement/starvation, carbon monoxide, and frostbite. Also a bit on product warnings and how things vary by time and by country. What is strongly warned against in the USA might be regarded as no big deal somewhere else (and that somewhere else NOT a ‘developing’ nation either). Then more regarding fire and explosion. Short version: Light the match or lighter, THEN open the valve. If things do not work out, CLOSE the valve before trying again. Also, the safe way to remove unwanted propane from a tank (from overfilling, say) is to burn it off. Simple venting has problems. Finally, the issue of disposing of disposable cylinders can be perhaps be summed up with “It’s complicated.” Or is if you try to get any official answer.

This book is more about propane than lighting. Sure, there’s a propane mantle lamp on the cover and a few pictures of such, but the text is more about safety and adapters so if you have a particular device, you can use it with the propane tank or bottle of your choosing.

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[1] I have a ‘camp stove’ designed for butane, but it came with an adapter so I can run it from a 1 lb propane tank. Thus, if things are too cold (freezing or below) for butane, or I am simply out of butane, I can still cook with propane. The propane is less convenient, but I’m not ‘dead in the water’ as it were.

[2] I have a set of “purpose built” ‘one pound’ cylinders made to be re-filled. They do exist. They also are easier to (re)fill than the ‘disposable’ cylinders. There is also a stand so that the 20 lb tank can be inverted and not be at ground level. The book does reveal how it can be done with disposables and no kit, and I am glad to NOT have to do anything so fiddly and annoying.

[3] I’ve used a 1 lb propane tank that I know was sitting idle for a MINIMUM of ten (10) years without issue. Even stabilizer treated gasoline would have been varnish in that time. That’s minimum. For all I know, it might have been the same bottle I used with a torch to repair an antenna at -20 F thirty years or so ago.

[NOTE: The series can seem very repetitive as regards safety warnings. That is a GOOD THING – a person can read any ONE book and still be properly warned as regards dangers of fire, oxygen starvation, carbon monoxide, and explosion. Knowing what can be done is great! Knowing what NOT to do is IMPORTANT!]

FTC Notice: I purchased this book for my own use and received no remuneration from author or publisher for this review.