Using cooking oil for alternative lighting?

Question

I get a newsletter from Lehmann's & in their "specials" they showed a book on how to use either vegetable oil or olive oil in building your own oil lamps. Has anyone tried this method instead of using regular oil lamps? If so, would you share on how to make your own and is it more cost effective? We burn oil lamps in the evening and have many, the cost of the oil is becoming more costly. If someone knows of other alternatives, I would be interested. Thanx

Answer 1

Using food oils for lighting may not save you any money and they may not burn as completely. Most food oils produce a lot more hydro-carbons and generate more soot into the air and onto the ceiling. The light from oil lamps in the evening is very "homey" and nice, I like firelight too (heatstick.com) -- but you may just have to cut back a bit on how many lamps you are going to burn. Perhaps if you put reflectors behind the lamps (I have seen these on some lamps) you would increase the available light without increasing the amount of fuel oil being burned, this would let you lower the wick a bit and save on fuel.

The eskimos burned whale oil for both light and heat, at one time it was a "standard" oil for household use. I have never used it, and it would probably be impossible to get a hold of now. Not sure if any other "animal" oils would work or be helpful.

Welcome to the new world of higher fuel prices. As global populaton increases and we continue to make the American way of life the goal for second and third world countries prices will continue to go higher.

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Answer 2

they are not so much cheaper

Answer 3

Cooking oil and Olive oil are not cheaper either.