Pressure lamps: gaslighting on the go

Oh look, it’s a pinned comment! Here’s a link to the last video on the subject: https://youtu.be/F3rncxf4Or8 And in pinned comment tradition, here’s some extra info! I had noticed a hole in the base of the kerosene lantern similar to those on the other lamps which you insert the matches through. I thought this was silly and probably just the result of the same tooling being used for multiple models, but it turns out that if I had purchased the lantern new, it would have come with a special bottle with a spout designed to fit through that hole and fill the pre-heater cup. Neat! Still, though. Rough. If you’re wondering what the dual-fuel model looks like when running gasoline, well I’ll add a clip of that in the Connextras video which I still have to make. Though I will say now that it’s not particularly special or anything. I’ve got a busy day ahead of me outside of YouTube so that’ll happen tomorrow most likely. And in that video we’ll address whatever other questions might come up today.

Technology Connections should sell merch printed with "Through the magic of buying two of them..." And sell items entirely in pairs.

"Through the magic of buying two of them…" Never change, Mr Brown Jacket Man

I have some knowledge here, and I feel qualified enough (at least somewhat,) to hopefully shed some light on why all three fuel types still exist in lanterns, and camp stoves for that matter. Propane is very convenient, and easy to use, you get close to the same light output as white gas, but is much more user friendly. Disposing of the green bottles, and carrying them out with you, can be a pain. If you camp (or live for that matter,) in cooler climates, propane begins to stop vaporizing, and freezes up around 40° F. "Enter in the white gas lanterns/stoves" They put out more light, and (once you know, and are familiar with the lighting process,) can be lit VERY easily. They are also DEAD RELIABLE (to certain temps, we'll touch on that in a bit,) my wife and I (yes, she is willing, and enjoys it almost as much as I do,) have on multiple occasions relied on these white gas tools, in situations where if they did not work, we would have been in serious danger. Without hesitation, I know I can call on my lanterns. I can plop my lanterns down, in the snow, in - 20° weather, and light it, and by that light, light my stove, get hot water/food cooking, and pitch my tent, or dig my snow cave. I have and will continue to rely on my white gas equipment to save my biscuits. So what might you ask, is the kerosene useful for then? Even colder Temps. White gas still functions at -40°, but less reliably, and not as bright/hot, we'll say less energetically. Much below that, and it gets fairly unreliable. Kerosene lanterns, and stoves function just about everywhere on earth. In the 1920's when Mallory and Irvine attempted to summit Everest, and in the 1950's when Hillary and Norgay summited, they relied on kerosene stoves. The least user friendly, but arguably the most reliable of the three. I am not scientific enough, to explain why, whether it be the process of preheating that does it, or if it's in its chemistry, kerosene, in its simplicity is just about as reliable as anything can be. I suppose it's also worth noting that white gas or kerosene lanterns/stoves (they function on the same principal, and are mechanically very similar,) can be rebuilt with spare parts, or taken apart, cleaned, reassembled, and lit, in a few minutes, because of their simplicity, adding to their reliability. Admittedly, albeit embarrassing, my lanterns all have names, and are greatly cherished. I am not a scientist, or necessarily a professional, but do have a great deal of experience in cold weather camping/fun activities, and have a great beard (so I am automatically more knowledgeable in outdoor activities.) To anyone who read my novel of a comment, I owe you, a sincere Thank You. - Scott Edit: the minus sign on -40 ended up being separated by a space, putting it on a different line. It was fixed, so as to cause less confusion.

One of the enjoyable side effects of the heat output which I learned in the Army during field maneuvers was what we called "the Coleman chair". Place one of the lanterns under the seat of a metal folding chair. Place a thin piece of fabric over the seat and then sit down. In a tent at 3 AM in the late fall it gets very cold in there. This setup warms the body nicely, we always had several officers waiting their turn.

"unless you want to tell a knock-knock joke" Knock Knock Whos' there? PISTON NUMBER 4

"This is a gaslighting video." "no it's not"

The hiss of Coleman lanterns and stoves is a treasured memory from childhood. The reason that it's so unique is because of the "large" hollow tubes downstream from the metering orifice. You're hearing the same effect that is used in loudspeakers, how you get a siren that can be heard miles away from a diaphragm 2 inches across.

When I was a little kid, more than half a century ago, we had a cabin without electricity. Dad would light the kero pressure lamp with a couple of pumice stones attached with a spring to the bottom of the lamp, under the mantle. The stones used to live in a sealed jar of metho. It's the sound of the lamp that I remember the most, along with the little ritual of pumping it up and lighting the stones, then the sudden burst of bright light as the mantle took hold.☺

"...and also, I have a fire extinguisher ready over there ... this time." He set his house on fire. He definitely set his house on fire.

"I have a fire extinguisher ready over there... THIS TIME." I'm really disappointed in the lack of relevant outtakes.

Just a couple of things from someone that serviced Coleman Lanterns and stoves for 15+ years.... *Older models had the "clean-out" mechanism separate from the gas valve (normally located 180 degs from the valve). *And the most common problem that I found with Coleman lanterns..... spiders! Yes, spiders. Or more specifically, spider webs. Spiders would often find the air tube (the tube that the generator fits into) a convenient place to hide/nest.... the air tube would often be clogged (or at least clogged enough to prevent sufficient airflow). Upon first lighting of a lantern with this problem, it will burst into flames (3' high or more). The air/fuel mixture will be wrong. To fix, just take it apart and clean it or if you have set it on fire (assuming you got it shut off, didn't burn yourself, and didn't burn down the forest/building around you) you can just put new mantels on it (likely they will be blown out/off/destroyed when it caught fire), clean the carbon off top and globe, and light it (the second time it will likely light without any problem, the fire very effectively cleaning out the tube and restoring airflow).

Oh, my - this brought back some memories of taking my life in my hands while trying to light Coleman lanterns on a bass boat in the dark when I was a kid. I'm surprised I didn't blow myself to Jupiter more than once. Those things put out a hell of a lot of light for a long time, but lighting them is always terrifying.

"Unless you wanna tell a knock-knock joke" The comedic value of this line is criminally underrated

I know it’s been like a month, but I still laugh at the ‘Deitz Nuts’ part of the Hurricane lantern episode

Grew up in Florida in a wood frame house . This was in the late 60's . It was cold in Florida back then . Kerosene heaters . A few white gas camp stoves . Fuel the white gas camp stove outside . Pump it up , open the valve . Stand back a few feet throwing a lit match at it . Woosh ! Life was good back then .

It's about time I added my "Paraffin Pressure Lamp" notes. I am a Scout Leader (still) in London and, because of COVID, we haven't done much camping recently, but when we did, we use 'Paraffin Pressure Lamps' - specifically 'Tilley' Lamps. We have lots of them, mostly acquired from other Scout Groups who no longer use them. I'll mention the specific idiosyncrasies of the Tilley lamp in a moment. When I rejoined the Scout movement in the late eighties with my current Troop, I found a whole bunch of Tilley lamps in (mostly) poor repair, but along with them were four lamps I had never seen before. Turns out they were Coleman Type 639's - Coleman 'Kerosene Pressure Lamps' - very, very similar to the type TC is demonstrating towards the end of the video. Turns out they were brilliant lamps - much quieter than Tilleys, more economical and much more reliable. The only thing was.....the taking apart thing. I later learned that in new 639's there was a small, polythene bottle with a copper tube spout with a hooked end. With it (I never had one) you could fill the heater cup - we use methylated spirits, the mauve stuff - without taking the whole lamps to bits. From there it was a simple matter of lighting the heater, waiting until it had almost burned away, pressurising the tank and opening the fuel valve. Voila! There was light and you could see for rudy miles! Lovely lamps, but they stopped making them years ago and spares are hard or impossible to come by. Now, Tilley lamps. Tilley's were the 'latest camping technology when I was a Scout in the fifties. Mostly we used 'Hurricane Lamps' - like TC's Deitzes - with a few Tilleys for main lighting. They were a million times brighter than the flat wick types, but they were very, very hot. I believe the burner runs at about 450 C. The current model - the X246 (sold at nearly $200 nowadays - is almost exactly the same as the models we used in 1958! It has no heater cup, instead uses a clip on wick type, stored in the provided small, glass jar full of 'Meths'. This clips round the vapouriser (the stem) and when lit, heats a rather clever dome shaped 'boiling chamber' up under the cap. To start, the fill valve (the pump body basically) is left open and the control valve fully closed. The wick is lit and allowed to burn until about to go out. Then, quickly, close the fill valve, pump about ten good strokes and carefully open the control valve. A good one will light straight away, but many more will 'pop' and sputter and misbehave. With a bit of fiddling with the control valve and a few more pumps, the lamp should light, often with an audible 'pop'. The mantle will often be orange with black spots, but given a few moments, a bit more fuel pressure and a few, very quick 'close and open' actions with the control valve, the relight will 'pop' any soot off the mantle, clear the jet and should then run cleanly. The stem has a long, thin 'pricker' inside, pushed by a cam in the control valve which cleans out the tiny jet at the top of it and completely shuts off the fuel when closed. Now for a rant about the price of paraffin (kerosene) in the UK. For many years paraffin was sold in hardware stores for all sorts of uses, mainly portable heaters and its price was never an issue. In recent years the ONLY source of paraffin was in garden centres, in four litre plastic bottles. No matter what the price of diesel fuel was (paraffin is very close to diesel but without the additives) the price of 'paraffin was £2.00 /litre! £10 a gallon almost. That means I could put almost two litres of PREMIUM diesel in my Land Rover for a litre of filthy garden centre paraffin. My Scout Troop now use 'Light Heating Oil' - basically very clean, water free paraffin by any other name (when I can get it) for less than half the price! Very interesting vlog, close to my heart! We use Tilleys to make our camp 'a blaze of light' compared to miserable, cold LED lantern lights in other camps.

Regarding Thorium mantles, another safety aspect is the dust generated when old mantles are removed from the lamp, you don't wanna be inhaling that stuff!

I much prefer "the magic of buying two of them" to "the magic of jump cuts."

I have a collection of Dietz and Coleman lanterns. The sound of the Coleman is one of the signature attributes of tailgate camping for me. Reminds me of great times with my dad and family. Thanks for all your videos. These lantern episodes have tied alot of camp tech ends together. Keep all of them coming. Cheers!