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Stormin Mormon Stormin Mormon is offline
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Default OT - Heat output of oil lamp


A few votive candles will keep you from freezing to death. Even Tea
Lights, but they don't last as long.

CY: The time in 2003 when the power was out, four days. My 11,000 BTU
per hour kerosene heater did some good, but it was still painfully
cold.

Lamp oil is about 45Mj/kg. or roughly 43000 BTU per Kg
With a Specific Gravity of .82, 1Kg of Kero/lamp oil is .roughly a
quart - so figure 43000/32 = roughly 95 BTU/hour if your calculations
and mine are both close to real-world.

CY: Yes, that sounds in the ball park. Close enough.

I believe a single wick candle is roughly 50 BTU, so I suspect your
consumption figure is a bit low, unless you are talking a pretty small
Kero lamp (1/4" wick, more or less?)

CY: About an ounce an hour was what I got with a lamp I tried. I can't
remember the wick width.


I just checked Vermont oil lamps, and they claim thair 1/2" wick lamps
consume roughly 1/2 ounce per hour - so a 1" wick should burn an ounce
an hour. Either my numbers for a candle are off or the heat value of
wax is a lot higher than kero - which is POSSIBLE, but liquid parrafin
puts out less LIGHT than kero in a wick lamp, so?????

CY: Still, it gives me a rough idea. I figured it was some heat, but
not a lot. At an ounce an hour, it can't be all that much. Compared to
the kerosene heater which uses a galon in 12 hours, or about 10 ounces
an hour. Actually, if I figure 11 ounces an hour puts out 11,000 BTU
an hour. That gives me some numbers to work with. Thanks for helping
me figure out a reasonable answer.