Emergency Lighting...

[TanksHill]

Just looking at my storage. I am always adding food and backing up other supplies. I am investigating light sources. Lanterns, dual fuel(expensive), oil lams, candles etc.. I guess my question is what do you have? How well does it work and what would you do differently?


I am thinking of buying a couple Dietz oil lamps with that KleanHeat lamp fuel. Any experience with these???

Have you seen the Olive oil lamp kits? Would these work with any oil? Lehman's has a leaflet it runs like 4 bucks talks about burning olive oil and other fats. I though I would ask here vs buying it.

Just wondering, gina

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

Well, I like the idea of oil lamps. We have one, and I told DH I definitely want more.

We keep flashlights and flashlight batteries on hand incase we need to see something outside after dark.

Other than that, if the lights went out, we'd go to bed once it is too dark to see.

 

[PamsPride]

I found a LED night light thing a Walmart. It sits on the base and charges. If the power goes out it comes on automatically...if I recall correctly. It is actually quite bright. We use it at night for taking care of the baby. It has two light settings. The light usually lasts a couple weeks before we have to put it back on the charger. Wish I would have gotten more than one. I think it was $10.

 

[gettinaclue]

I have one of those flashlights that you charge by a hand crank. The hand crank can be removed, locked into place and used as a screwdriver. There are magnatized screw heads stored in the body of the flashlight. It also has a port where I can charge my cell phone if I need to. It has three different setting for light brightness.

I drooled over this thing for about 6 months and I finally broke down and bought it. 24.99 befor tax. Got it at Gander Mountain. Love it.

Other than that, I have a hurricane lamp and candles. We don't worry to much about the power staying out. We're about 2 miles from the substation and only 20 or 30 miles from the power plant.

 

[MorelCabin]

Well it depends on how much light you want when the power goes out. I have oil lamps, they are not that great for light output. Apparently Aladin lamps are the best for light output but I have never tried one. propane lanterns always seemed to give the best light to me, you have to replace the bag wick every so often and now they run on those small propane canisters.
For very simple but better light than an oil lamp I use a large mason jar with a pillar candle in it. (I put decorative rocks around the pillar as decor)

 

[justusnak]

We have 8 oil lamps. I have a stash of wicks and fuel. I also have about ohhhh, maybe 100 or so candles of all shapes and sizes. I buy them after the holidays, and put them in the box in the closet. If you use a large jar, with the candles, they dont drip everywhere, and the glass makes the light more intense. We lose power alot...oh, I also have a hand crank flashlight, but it has a radio on it as well. I wouldn't mind haveing a few more of those....DH got it for Christmas.

 

[gettinaclue]

Justusnak,

Do you know where I could get one of those flashlight/radio do-dads?

I would really like to get my grubby little hands on one of those.

 

[TanksHill]

Yes, I remember the candles in the jars. Every time I go out I keep my eye open for candles on clearance. Unfortunately it's the wrong time of year. I was going to pick up a couple of those red oil lamps they sell at wally world. They just seem a bit cheap to me. That's why I went on line.

We have all the flashlights and back up batteries, we camp a lot. But I was thinking more along the lines of general lighting in the house in case of an extended power failure.

Thanks for the advice, gina

 

[Beekissed]

I have kerosene lamps, one of which we used while I lived off grid while growing up....I like knowing that it holds some memories. It was an antique when we got it back then, so its pretty old now.

I plan to get bees and start making me some beeswax candles as soon as I can glean enough wax. I've always liked the smell of bee candles!

We had an Aladdin lamp when I was growing up and it does put out some amazing light.....almost too bright! And it makes alot of noise, like a Coleman lantern.

We keep a few really bright flashlights, don't really stock up on batteries because they seem to lose their charge with time...even in the freezer.

 

[breconbcs]

I started to collect oil lamps a few years ago and have about 5 or 6 of them now and I'm always going to auctions to add more. DH use to make fun of me cause of it, I've never understood why I started collecting them, but they did come in handy when we were without power for 6 days. I keep spare wicks and oil for them and I keep a small "kit" to make votive candles with and have about 15 or so votive candles, 2 or 3 packages of tealights and mason jars for them.