Liquid Fuel Camping Lanterns
April 15, 2008 – 10:59 amLiquid fuel camping lanterns are a more tradition sort of camping lantern, and a very popular choice. However, as with any lantern they have their positives and negatives. There are 3 different types of fuels that are mainly used in lanterns.
- Unleaded Gas is used in new lanterns and is often used in duel fuel lanterns, ones that also burn coleman fuel. It is of great benefit because if you run out of coleman fuel unleaded fuel is very readily available.
- Coleman fuel is the main fuel that is used in lanterns. It is otherwise known as white gas or camping fuel. You can find it in nearly every camping store.
- Kerosene is the least popular of the three but it is still widely used. This is mostly due to its low cost. Kerosene is cheap but it stinks and produces a lot of smoke when you burn it.
There are a few advantages to using a liquid fueled camping lantern. They produce a really bright light, as opposed to battery lanterns which can often be quite dim. They are really economical to use as the fuel burns pretty slowly and is really cheap and easy to replace. Another really big advantage is that a lot of us go camping in winter and it is pretty cold, so when you are burning liquid fuel camping lanterns they give off a lot of heat and it can also be used as a heater in this case.
However as with every thing in life there are also disadvantages. As mentioned is can be used as a heater as well, which means it is pretty hot. This can also be a negative as it is quite dangerous and can cause serious burns if you touch it. This is an important consideration for when you have kids around you. Another negative to liquid fuel camping lanterns is the fact that they are loud enough to cause a disturbance. They are not like a motor, however they do emit a sound, this can annoy some people.
So as you can see they are a pretty good option to consider when buying a camping lantern however they are also better for some than others. You need to make sure you buy extra mantles for them, and if you have kids yo have to be careful because they get very hot. However if you have a stove that uses fuel, which many do, then you can double up, and you only need to buy one source of fuel, this makes everything much cheaper.
Here is a video about turning on a propane lantern.