Thursday, January 11, 2018

kerosene 2 of 2


KEROSENE 2

As we have discussed oh so many times before, post-apocalypse lighting can be easy, cheap and long lasting with LED’s.  They are great, and relatively fool-proof ( with the assumption you always stockpile by the half dozen since the ChiComs really, honest injun do NOT care for Running Imperial Dog Honkies and try to kill us by selling us defective crap [ it is only business to many, not personal, as they try to kill their fellow countrymen also, but I for one find no solace in that ] at every opportunity ).

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And while everyone should have a LOT of LED’s ( hell, even a flashlight from the Dollar Tree or the garden walkway lights from the Wal-Mart garden section are both better than a candle, most of the time.  I lived with candles for a couple of weeks.  You cannot imagine how they blow when they are your sole illumination ), and chargers, you might be thinking you need kerosene for a much lower tech illumination.  I’m not considering it, since this isn’t farming land and there is no way in hell I can ever replace the fuel ( as you possibly could, with bio-diesel ). 

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In my case, it is better to just accept I’ll be going from high tech to lowest tech when the time comes.  But kerosene can be a viable option for many of you.  If so, your first stop is the Kerosene Survival Dude over at EndTimesReport dot com.

He has all the equipment and information you need.  There are comparison tests of lamps and their light output ( surprisingly, the $20 Mason Jar lamp is a much better return on investment than the gold standard Aladdin ) and wicks for sale and etcetera.  He also has a section on making your own candle wicks from a solution of salt and Borax powder in water soaking cotton string.  That might be useful information even if you pass on kerosene.

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So, a little more background on kerosene.  Obviously, the lamps aren’t all that pricey like they used to be ( yes, we all whine about Chinese quality.  Yet without them survivalism would be a heck of a lot more expensive.  If you’d like a flavor on that, read the 80’s Dean Ing non-fiction for how crappy the improvised equipment was-which in his defense was only noted in hindsight ).  And fuel is no more expensive than gasoline.  Yes, it is more per gallon, but just as with diesel or propane, the cost per BTU delivered is all about the same.  That is why propane is cheaper per gallon-it delivers less energy.  Like wheat or even gold, you really don’t pay much past the cost of production ( excluding taxes, obviously ).

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If it is winter and you burn your kerosene lantern eight hours a day ( winter lighting is how I rate my solar capacity year round ), a gallon of fuel will last you a month.  That is certainly NOT bad at all.  Especially if the lamp helps heat the room ( as with all fire, ventilation and safe handling around combustibles is assumed ).  Some lanterns will burn as low as ¼ ounce per hour but the standard seems to be about ½ ounce an hour, a variety of lamps averaged.  Go with the half ounce figure to be safe.  You might be able to buy five gallon steel containers of the fuel, if you have an industrial solvents supplier, or some gas stations even carry it.

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( our small town has one station with a kerosene pump, but it is the only real town in the county and there are potentially thousands of customers that heat with kerosene off grid.  Here, the only options off-grid if you don’t go hours out of the way to cut wood are propane, pellets or kerosene ).  If you are paying over twice what gasoline costs, if that, you are getting ripped off.  Shop around.  Even if you don’t illuminate with kerosene, or heat ( a safer option than pressurized propane tanks, but not cheaper due to the heater cost differential ), there is the cooking option.  They sell a $70 ( both the Kerosene Dude and Amazon ) pressurized cooker.  You pump up the thing like you would a Coleman lantern and it uses kerosene as a cooking fuel.  With no wick. 

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Heck, I’d even considering that, to replace propane, except I have all my invested infrastructure in propane.  But it is a nice option ( the propane camp stove costs half the kerosene, but then you must also buy a pressure regulator hose for another $20, so the two compare closely in price ).  If you are lighting and heating ( at least as a supplement, as I imagine a whole house heater-just like as with propane-would be ruinous.  They are back-up heaters ) with kerosene then it just makes sense to cook with it also. 

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Now, aside from the safety and compact fuel storage, why else would you want to invest in kerosene?  If you can make your own bio-diesel.  Then you don’t have to worry about buying any LED’s except for a few where applicable ( headlamp, huge antiaircraft style lamps, a low output nightlight such as for a bathroom ).  Just primarily use kerosene you’ve stored, Day One of the apocalypse, and transition into making your own fuel.  Other than a stock of lamps ( glass breaks, assume the brass fittings will break ), you just need lamp wick.

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Wicks are about a buck a foot, bought in a bulk roll.  And a wick, in theory, will only burn an inch per gallon of fuel ( if trimmed properly ).  Now, I stocked kerosene lamps for Y2K.  The LED’s at that time were VERY weak and VERY expensive ( only great compared to regular incandescent flashlights ).  I didn’t care for them even though everything was cheap.  But obviously, they can be an attractive option.  I’d have loved to have known about the kerosene cooker back then, as I was going to rely on the gasoline powered cooker.  Great for salvaging fuel, but probably rather dangerous and only useable outdoors.  And propane lighting is VERY wasteful, even if really bright.  Outside LED’s, kerosene is your best option.

END ( today's related link http://amzn.to/2AzVw9q )
 
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30 comments:

  1. Just a few more ideas on kerosene lamps, Lehman's sells a Deitz lantern with a cooking platform,and TMEN had an article years ago about using an Aladdin as the heat source for a slow cooker meant to cook large meals

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    1. Hey, anything that can be pressed into service making coffee has my vote. Yet, wouldn't it be rather easy to DIY on, perhaps much cheaper? Just saying.

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    2. One way to make coffee or heat small dishes with the Aladdin lamp: Fire up the lamp and get it properly adjusted. Place it on a stable surface like a concrete floor. Take a quality, heavy wire tomato cage and bend the three or four tines that normally go into the ground out at 90 degrees from the cage to form a horizontal surface. Place the inverted cage (hoop end down) over the lamp, centering the opening at the top of the cage over the top of the chimney. Place the small pan or coffee pot to be heated on the tines. You now have a stove burner grate over the lamp's hot exhaust air. Great for providing lighting AND making coffee when the power is out.

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    3. Damn, good idea! So simple and I never would have come up with it.

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  2. Integrate the concept into your overall plans. If one was long journey planning, using a bit of finances, then a few kerosene lanterns/cookers and drums of sealed fuel it will serve purposes in scenarios along side l.e.d./solar lights, candles, etc. Lighting being a primary necessity, (cause it's scary out there with monsters and all) it should have a back up to a back up.

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    1. Monsters, AND Charlie. He used to own the night. Along with those wily Nipponese. No wonder we are so gat over NV equipment-that was embarrassing.

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    2. Sorry, correction, "so GAY over" not GAT.

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    3. I don’t have a blogger account, but I would think that you would have an edit feature on your end?

      In either event, with regards to the topic at hand, I used an oil lamp when I used to go up to my cabin. It threw off decent light, but you must have the wick adjusted properly or they throw off a lot of soot. When I clicked on your link, I also saw the Coleman dual fuel lanterns and stoves. These might not be a bad way to go because in addition to Coleman fuel, they also use unleaded gasoline. Post collapse, this could have some value, as for a while anyways, you will be able to find some gasoline.

      I made an alcohol stove from a soda can and it worked pretty good (lots of info on youtube on this). I also picked up a few professionally made alcohol stoves from Amazon pretty cheap. There was a bloke on the radio last night that was discussing alcohol as an alternative fuel, and in his book I believe he mentions plans for a still. But he’s asking a king’s ransom for it, so for anyone wanting one, buy the used copy for $10.

      Alcohol Can Be a Gas!: Fueling an Ethanol Revolution for the 21st Century

      https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0979043778/ctoc

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    4. "A kings ransom" is being generous. More like "selling your first born". Still, I ordered a $10 used copy. Why not, I don't have enough books lying around. Thanks for the link!

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    5. Oh, and if anyone wants to buy a copy and give me the Amazon commission, here is that link:
      http://amzn.to/2DojZll

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    6. You’re welcome. And on the off chance my editing comment came across as insulting your intelligence, I didn’t mean it that way. But after I read it again, I saw that I came across as a rude ass. See video below, it might help with editing, and even posting pictures. It’s some limey chick, but at least they’re more pleasant to listen to than their American sisters :D

      How to create blog posts and edit pages with google blogger or blogspot

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdTw7wyFwCc

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    7. I took no insult from your comment. Good gravy, how could I, as insulting as I usually am? :) I'll check out the YouTube vid. Can't hurt.

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  3. Very good idea. Especially if you have the knowledge (and any parts) of how to use kerosene with diesel engines - Very wasteful given the price of kerosene but a possible back up emergency alternative for when you HAVE to have a certain engine running for some purpose.

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    1. Hmm, perhaps building earthworks with a Cat. Save thousands of man hours. I think everyone would vote for that instead of brighter illumination.

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    2. Obviously emergency needs only - but certainly something that if required you should have the ability to do.

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    3. Right-kind of like using all the gunpowder for one bomb. It better be a damn important bomb.

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  4. Sorry, folks, some pretty glaring spelling errors here. "Fightings" when it should have been "fittings", for one. Since corrected. Sorry, I always proofread several times, but I guess I have days I'm not concentrating hard enough.

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  5. BudK also sells the kerosene lantern cookset. With the buyer's club 10% and a coupon for more off... $25.19 plus shipping. I picked up four for the gear stash, have yet to test.

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    1. Really? They have a buyers club? I tried getting exciting about them again but it just seems the prices are no longer "bulk buy on a whim and pocket change" they seemed to have been.

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    2. Its like $20 for ten percent off. If you watch their promo code you can get coupons of 15 to 30% off on top..

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    3. That would definitely make it worth shopping them. It just seems that they used to have a lot more cheap working knives than the now norm of mostly expensive gay ninja cutters. They always had those, it just seems they are concentrating more on them now. Could just be my imagination and my denial of inflation.

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    4. Elko minion here. I’ve bought quite a few knives from BudK over the years. They usually have some kind of promo going on. For me, since I don’t generally purchase the higher priced knives, it’s the free shipping promo’s that provide the best value, and they usually offer this 6 to 8 times a year I’d say. But if you’re paying much more for a higher quality knife, the 30% prom could end up saving you even more. You have to weigh the value of the promo vs what you’re spending. They also sell quite a few survival related items.

      Also, and I don’t know why, but standard shipping has always been painfully slow from these folks, so don’t expect to get anything in a hurry.

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    5. Compared to Amazon, most stuff seems slow in delivery. The PO folks must have a On High directive to prioritize Amazon. Might be all keeping a lot of routes open/Union folks employed.

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    6. I don’t think that I’ve ever received anything from BudK in less than 2 weeks time, and it’s usually closer to 3 weeks. It’s almost as if they’re having Habib deliver it personally via camel express. Now lately I’ve noticed that Amazon has slowed down a bit, and it seems that I usually have to wait over a week to receive anything with standard shipping.

      The promo’s you want to look for Jim are the 20% to 30%, plus free shipping if over X amount of dollars (It’s usually no more than $49. But if you’re buying cheaper knives, then keep an eye out for the free shipping promo’s. Also the BOGO’s (But one get one) and closeouts can fetch some good deals.

      http://www.budk.com/BUDK-promo-codes

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    7. You can never have too many knives. I think it's been about a year since I bought any.

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    8. Smoky Mountain Knifeworks is one I bought from two tax cycles ago. They have a deal $160 for 100 knives. Basically 94 folding knives (even ration 2 inch closed, 3 inch closed and 4inch closed) a couple fixed blades, two big fixed blades, a machete and a Samurai sword.

      They have a huge catalog and pretty decent prices I think.

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    9. I thought I tried them once and wasn't impressed, but I could be mistaken so I'll check them out. Thanks.

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  6. A five gallon can of k-1 kerosene costs about $45 at Lowes. Worth putting a couple aside. Get a couple of Dietz lanterns, which the Amish use in my area.

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    1. Spare parts, or replacements, locally. A bit of luck.

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  7. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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