Bladon blowlamp.

[pwdrive]

Many thanks for the safety warning Lawrence; better to know this upfront before the bungalow ends up in ashes? If a paraffin lamp is used indoors say a front room due to power cut are there any dangerous fumes to be worried about?

Not sure to be honest Col, I guess the room should be ventilated anyways, the air above the top of the lamp can get very hot so be careful what you hang it from if you wanted to hang it up somewhere. I wouldn't recommend using them in a confined space.
We used ours many a time indoors with no problems prior to getting electricity connected and during power cuts, it's dangerous to knock them over though, the new ones might have a safety device? not sure.

Usual disclaimer applies

Lawrence.

Edit: the Tilly and Aladdin have a needle valve built into the vapourizing tube, it's part of the control mechanism, when the lamp is turned off the tip of the valve will just protrude above the nozzle, working the control back and forth will make the end of the needle valve go up and down thus maintaining a clear nozzle, the tip of the needle valve is sharp and very fine, the nozzle hole is also very fine, If I remember rightly there is also a pressure "plug" that should blow out if the pressure is pumped up to overload. To turn the lamp off use the control knob, there is also a pressure release knob, usually a knurled bit of brass, undoing that slowly will release the pressure in the fuel tank, the pressure should be let down to zero once the lamp is turned off, if not there is a risk that pressurized liquid fuel left in the fuel tank can be pushed up past the needle valve this would then run down the outside of the vapourizing tube then down the outside of the fuel tank and onto the table/floor/whatever.

[Retired]

Hi,

Thanks Lawrence for taking the time to explain the dangers of these paraffin lamps.

Watching videos of paraffin blowlamps being fired up then shut down is a bit alarming. I'm certainly not the timid kind but I shouldn't have been surprised in the least when a hot ignited blowlamp had its pressure released to put the flame out then if the release valve was nipped up again paraffin fumes were seen to appear; yes the valve needs to be kept open until the lamp fully cools.

Given these dangers however slight I think I'll give buying a paraffin lamp a miss as I don't really need one but the blowlamp will prove useful and now I'm made aware of the dangers I'll treat it with utmost respect.

I previously mentioned I had bought a single ring electric hob for garage/workshop use? This is all I would ever use this hob for because of power failure we have the gas hob for heating water and food so in this respect we are well covered. For lighting in a power cut we've relied on candles and a torch. If we suffered regular prolonged power cuts though I would quickly invest in a generator.

I fancied a paraffin lamp but didn't realize the dangers until I asked so I do appreciate your information Lawrence; thank you.

Kind regards, Col.

[pwdrive]

No worries Col, paraffin lamps are ok if treated with respect, we have been using them for years, but I understand your concerns, the modern ones that run on white gas/Colman gas are a bit safer so far as I am aware, the candle lamps, the ones with the 9 hour burn time are safe but maybe a bit expensive now, there is no dripping mess with them either, the flame is kept at the same height within the body of the device as the base into which the candle fits is spring loaded, the top of the candle is restrained by a shroud which has a hole in the center for the wick to protrude, very neat, a bit like AGC in way, I think I paid a fiver for ours some years ago, the candles are specials but easily available but they are not the typical "nightlite" type

We have bottled gas for the hob for cooking as there is no mains gas here, the bog standard gas container (the size that fit's into those old mobile gas room heaters) lasts us over three months which isn't too bad.

I too had a mobile phone, kept it in a bucket of water...No hassle.

Lawrence.

[Refugee]

I bought couple of lucky dip boxes of the rubber parts for things such as blowlamps from Chesterfield flea market for a couple of quid each. They are for parts to maintain some of my home brew stuff that has to be gas tight in one place and water tight in another. They have been working for years but it is annoying when a rubber does fail though.

[Retired]

Hi,

Thanks Lawrence for the extra information; a good place to store your mobile phone as well? A flier dropped through our letterbox yesterday from Virgin Media once again pestering us to take on a must have special offer mobile phone deal; one glance was enough for me before it was recycled; with a starting deal around £15/£16 we were offered so many texts and so many minutes of phone time but if we upped this to say £25 per month we could weld the mobile to our ears and send millions of texts; so what?

My mobile phone usage amounts to about 25 seconds per month when I visit Rufforth and even then I begrudge the rip off cost of mobile phone charges? I can live without most of the modern electronics; I've never played a computer game and never will.

As with most consumables Refugee they pack in at the most inopportune moment just when they are needed the most. I find this happens with gas canisters and batteries? Thanks for adding the pictures Refugee; I too have a selection of "O" rings from Toolzone; lots of Toolzone stuff is on sale at Rufforth.

I don't trust bottled gas at all Lawrence; in your position you have little choice other than to use bottled gas but it is highly dangerous stuff to have around home. Over 40 years ago my younger brother found himself on the local and national news together with his immediate neighbours. My brother was awakened suddenly whilst living in a block of private flats in Wakefield; he was looking out from his bed to find the entire front wall of the flat missing. Full sized bottled gas canisters were used to supply gas for cooking and heating these being stored in the basement; only one of these exploded but it took the entire front of the big building out when it did.

I was taught to use full sized oxy/acetylene welding and cutting equipment as an apprentice and will always remember the safety training.

I intended to do a trip to the tip this morning before the thunderstorms arrived but too late a storm has already hit us so a change of plan is called for; make a MK2 ARK?

Kind regards, Col.

[camallison]

My current mobile phone was bought as an emergency replacement when a "fully-featured" smartphone decided to give up the will to live. It is a no-frills "candy bar" phone, costing £15 (brought down from £17) in Asda. OK, it is locked to the Asda network (which is actually Vodafone, rebadged) and an Asda pay-as-you-go SIM card must be used. Every now and then, I top it up with £10 of credit, which is everlasting, as long as you make one chargeable call/text every 3 months.

So far this year, I have topped it up once with £10 since 1st January (when I had £3 credit left), and I still have just over £12 of credit on it.

The "new" phone has been dropped on concrete, sat in my pocket, sat on the car dashboard in full sun, and still soldiers on.

I see that their cheapest phone now is a Samsung at £13. Just Google for Asda Mobile handsets.

Colin

[Retired]

Hi,

Thanks Colin for reminding me to use my mobile phone just to keep it connected; it's possible mine would expire if not used for three months?

Kind regards, Col.

[Joe]

I'm on Asda as well, Colin. What I like is the no-nonsense pricing. I put about five pounds a year on it which is much better than ten per month to BT and I don't get all the nuisance calls.

- Joe