How do you light an Aladdin Lamp?

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Bought a secondhand Aladdin Lamp this week.No instruction booklet.Fitted a new wick & mantle.The mantle is very fragile of course, so how do you light the lamp without removing the mantle each time.There appear to be no holes to poke a match through.

Does anyone know ,please??

-- Chris (griffen@globalnet.co.uk), August 08, 1999

Answers

Here are two pages that might help.

http://www.goodpick.com/lamptips.html

http://waltonfeed.com/aladin.html

-- DustyM (dustmmopp@aol.com), August 08, 1999.


DustyM, Many thanks for those URL's.The Walton Feed site gave some really good tips.

That solved a problem!!

-- Chris (griffen@globalnet.co.uk), August 08, 1999.


Chris.. good for you trying it out NOW.

-- Linda (lwmb@psln.com), August 08, 1999.

To light an Aladdin lamp, you first must put kerosene in the font and let the wick soak up the oil for about a hour (when using a new wick for the first time). A new mantle has a whitish/blue film on it, which must be burnt off. Light a match and let the mantle burn, kind of a flash which last for only a few seconds. The mantle is now ready to be put on the burner. NOTE: the mantle is now extremely fragile and any contact will reduce it to ashes. The mantle is part of the gallery and chimney, and is removed as a single unit. You light the exposed wick, not the mantle. After the wick catches fire (its burning the kerosene vapors) it will seem too high, but just insert the mantle/gallery/chimney unit on to the burner, and secure in place by rotating it slightly. At this point, you might have to adjust the wick flame height by turning the burner knob. Do not have the flame too high or the chimney will just soot up. Actually the best light output is with the flame just high enough to heat up the mantle, not going through it. The Aladdin lamp in this regard is like an electric light bulb, instead of using electricity to heat up a piece of metal wire it uses the heat to make the mantle incandesent. It is important for the wick to be level and charred at the top edge- just burn for awhile and then carefully trim or cut it.

By the way, there were many different models of burners made by Aladdin over the many years of the companies existence, so it is important that you have the proper matching compondents. If you buy a new lamp be certain that the model 23 has a star symbol stamped near it on the burner, that's an improved version. Be sure to use clean, K1 grade kerosene and it will not smell.

I love my Aladdins! Some models are highly collectible and very expensive, they will last forever given some attention and care.

-- Sure M. Worried (SureMWorried@about.Y2K.coming), August 08, 1999.


The only thing I would add to Sure M. Worried's post is to allow the mantle to heat slowly at first. Light the wick, turn it very low abd then put the chimney on the base. Allow the mantle to slowly heat for a minute before turning it higher. This allows the mantle to last longer.

-- smfdoc (smfdoc@aol.com), August 09, 1999.


Thanks to all you for really practical advice.Hopefully this will help other innocents as well !!

-- Chris (griffen@globalnet.co.uk), August 09, 1999.

Sorry about the errors above.Its these damn maleria tablets I'm on.No I'don't have maleria & plan on staying that way.Off to Bangladesh tomorrow.

-- Chris (griffen@globalnet.co.uk), August 09, 1999.

Another important consideration concerns your glass chimney: there are two different types, the twist lock and heelless. The twist lock has three flattened edges at the bottom of the chimney and you just lower it onto the gallery and then rotate to lock into position. Resist the tempatation to keep rotating until it's snug, this will cause the glass chimney to break after it gets heated up. It can be rather loose on the chimney. The other version has a flat edge on the bottom and needs an adapter to hold it on the gallery. This type of chimney is in short supply right now, but a shipment from the Czech Republic is due in Oct.

I would recommend having spare mantles, a wick, and a chimney or two has mininium spare parts. A funnel to pour the kerosene is necessary to avoid spillage, the stuff does stink when spilled.

-- Sure M. Worried (SureMWorried@bout.y2k.coming), August 09, 1999.


A few notes. Don't let the Alladin mantle develop a black spot, it will burn out at that point, note that the lamp will "get going" after a bit a burning so that you should check for black spots after about 5 minutes of burning. SO always start at about 1/2 power and don't adjust to max until it heats up. Filling, lighting, turning off, and storing outside will eliminate kerosene smells inside.

At high altititude or with a poor design will cause incomplete burning. A longer chimeny will improve air intake giving a cleaner brighter burn with less soot. Just roll up about 6-12" of aluminum foil to extend the length of the chimney.

-- Ken Seger (kenseger@earthlink.net), August 15, 1999.


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