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Black soot build up, Kerosene lighting.

8K views 19 replies 11 participants last post by  Arcb 
#1 ·
I do most of my lighting with a Den Haan Kerosene lamp and recently I have been noticing increased soot build up at the top of the globe, on the heat shield and on the deck head. I have 12 volt lighting in the sleeping cabins, workshop and head, but prefer the ambience and 0 draw of Kerosene in my main cabin.

I haven't changed fuel recently, I just use plain clear Kerosene.

I am wondering if any one has tips for reducing soot build up on Kerosene lamps. Also, tips for cleaning the globe and deck head liner would be great.

I've attached pics, this lamp has only been in this location for 2 years, or maybe it's 3 now, any way, it's not an antique.
 

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#8 ·
Mineral spirits or lighter fluid are also good for removing soot. Once your wick is trimmed you must also not have it too high as that will produce the yellow flame in your picture which produces soot. Soot is a product of incomplete combustion so you need to look at the big picture which includes A. Available primary air B. Available fuel C. Draft. To have complete combustion and a white light all must be in balance. Be sure the air inlet holes at the base of the lamp below the chimney are clear and that the wick is not adjusted too high, you can observe the color and quality of the flame to insure that you are getting complete combustion.
 
#9 · (Edited)
Holy smokes, there is a lot to lamp management that I didn't know about. There isn't a single post in this thread I haven't learned something from.

My wife bought me this lamp as a gift 2 or 3 years ago and I am only now learning there is more to it than adding fuel and lighting it.

Thank you for all the advice .
 
#11 ·
Had a problem with my trawler lamp flaring up and leaving a heavy soot layer on the overhead. Cornered the Den Haan distributor at the boat show about the problem. He said to only use lamp oil which I did. No more flare ups or soot on the overhead. Mineral spirits and maybe even kerosene has a two low temperature where it turns to a gas. This gas is what causes the soot. Lamp oil has a much higher vaporization temperature so doesn't flare up.
 
#12 ·
Son, someone's conned you into the expensive stuff.
For 5.5 years I sailed an old gaffer through the SoPac and the only electric light on the boat was over the chart table.
The binnacle lights, running lights and anchor light were all oil lamps, not to mention all the interior lights and I'd never even heard of "lamp oil" back then. We had a 25 gallon tank for the kero because there were many places we couldn't get it, and when we could it was just plain old K-1 kerosene.
No soot, flare-ups or problems as long as the wicks were properly trimmed.
I'm certainly not saying don't use the lamp oil, but it shouldn't be necessary to spend all that extra money in a properly built oil lamp.
 
#13 ·
I've noticed that almost everyone burns their lamps with the wick too high.

I extend the wick above the metal to light it it, then I turn it down so the wick is completely below the metal. This is where having the wick trimmed to fit the burner is important.

As the wick goes down, the flame will get smaller; once the wick is below the metal, the flame will come back up. At that point you are burning as cleanly as possible.

Clean burn = no soot.

The wicks will also last forever this way.

Ken
 
#14 · (Edited)
Good post Carbonsink62, now I not only know how to trim my wick properly, but I also know why I must trim it that way.

As for the lamp oil, I did try some of the scented lamp oils from Canadian Tire, but I found I couldn't smell anything or see any difference in the quality of light, they were much more expensive, so I made the switch to Kerosene this spring.
 
#16 ·
No, my boat isn't smelly, I just thought I would try the scented oils, I guess out of curiosity. My wife used to burn scented candles, but that stopped after she put a cardboard egg carton down on one while making breakfast and started a massive fire.
 
#20 ·
I haven't updated. I spent the week end on the boat, it was cold with a day time high of 4 degrees today, so I was running both my alcohol heater and my Kerosene lamp hard all week end.

I trimmed the wick using a pair of scissors forming an upside down U, exactly as Capta had recommended. I also set the wick as recommended.

Even with the cool air temperatures, the lamp produced very little smoke. Problem solved.

Now, if I could do something about the flare ups on the alcohol heater...
 
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