Roman oil lamp heater

[Bohobumble]

I picked up an oil lamp in Lacock a while back, it's been experimentally repurposed as the heat source for one of those terracotta pot heater thingies tonight.

I tried it out with a dribble of oil earlier today using both wicks, with the intent of if successful, filling it up and seeing how things fare in the greenhouse. At 8pm there was snow on the ground and my neighbours polytunnel was at -1C, my greenhouse was at +4C after the flame had been out for a while (pots were cold). Need to sort the wick out tho, far too much soot so far!

Fingers crossed for tonight, you never know this might just allow me to add things on the greenhouse earlier.

Anyone else try this method? Will the soot be an issue at this early stage?

[Potstubsdustbins]

Probably the wicks need trimming or that they are set to high, it should burn smoke free.

Don't forget where there is smoke and soot their is also carbon monoxide.

[starloc]

If you can get it to run on alcohol such as methanol, it burns to water and co2 very clean almost invisible flame, lower heat but not that low though, it is such a simple alcohol that will burn correctly with a wide ratio of oxygen to fuel that it rarely produces any measurable carbon monoxide
you can even fill a tin with pebbles and pour alcohol in and light it....a diy bioethanol fire, put that under the pot to catch all the heat

[Bohobumble]

If you can get it to run on alcohol such as methanol, it burns to water and co2 very clean almost invisible flame, lower heat but not that low though,
you can even fill a tin with pebbles and pour alcohol in and light it....a diy bioethanol fire, put that under the pot to catch all the heat

I imagine it'd burn through quite quickly tho no?!

[starloc]

Alcohol fires are great, but the flames cant be seen so commercial fuel has 1 or 2 percent of acetone added to make a coloured flame, to slow the burn if needed ( not usually necessary ) add a few percent water
I bought an alcohol fire and it runs a few hours on half a litre of methanol, methanol is very cheap as a fuel, about a pound a litres for 5L but about £85 for 200Litres if you collect it, down to about £350 for 1000litres so 35p per litre ,
I now have a table in the house with a stainless dog food bowl of pebbles in the center that i fill with methanol and light.....
You make it burn slower the smaller the top opening , it will burn without any pebbles as well, just light the vapour
It will work in a lamp using a wick like an old bunsen burner did with meths
To increase the heat in a diy burner without wick, pierce around the top just below the edge and it adds air then it will use more fuel though and its not needed unless you want cooking heat
Very clean flame with no ash, no smell and usually just co2 and water

[Potstubsdustbins]

Methanol like all other carbon based fuel (It's composition is c0, c02 and hydrogen) should if correctly burnt produce only c02 and water vapour. However incomplete combustion will produce c0, fact of life I am afraid.

The other downside that should be mentioned is it's toxicity, ingesting as little as 10ml will cause blindness by turning into formic acid within the body. In larger doses it is lethal. Therefore if you go down this route keep it well away from children and pets, preferably under lock and key.

[Bohobumble]

Methanol like all other carbon based fuel (It's composition is c0, c02 and hydrogen) should if correctly burnt produce only c02 and water vapour. However incomplete combustion will produce c0, fact of life I am afraid.

The other downside that should be mentioned is it's toxicity, ingesting as little as 10ml will cause blindness by turning into formic acid within the body. In larger doses it is lethal. Therefore if you go down this route keep it well away from children and pets, preferably under lock and key.

I'm very sad to say I have neither children nor pets so no lock required

[Potstubsdustbins]

But others will be reading this thread.

[Bohobumble]

But others will be reading this thread.

Good point, the warning is very useful for folks, thank you! If I go down that route my shed is locked when I'm not there anyhow so all secure.

The chemistry A level in me has to mention that pure methanol's composition is CH3OH and given enough oxygen in the air does indeed burn clean to carbon dioxide and water: 2 CH3OH + 3 O2 → 2 CO2 + 4 H2O - who'd have thought that would come in useful one day?!

I shall indeed have to have a think about various fuels.... by the time I get a plan together I am sure it will have warmed up enough that I don't need to heat!

Probably the wicks need trimming or that they are set to high, it should burn smoke free.

Don't forget where there is smoke and soot their is also carbon monoxide.

In the meantime, with my little oil burner; I raised the pots a little to ensure the flame had adequate oxygen so this should reduce soot levels which seems to be working, and the wick is fairly short now - thanks for that tip! FYI, I'm leaving it overnight so no issues with me breathing CO.

[starloc]

You can get a carbon monoxide detector for about £6 delivered from ebay with a parts per million display as well as an alarm will show if any CO is being produced