Burning Olive Oil In Lamps

It s as bright as a kerosene lamp with a warm yellow flame.

Burning olive oil in lamps.

Everywhere i see online says i cannot burn olive oil or other cooking oils in an oil lamp as petroleum lamps are made for the oil to travel up a higher distance to burn while olive oil only wants to travel up 1 inch. If the lamp is tipped the oil will smother the flame in an olive oil lamp. For those who are curious the cost of burning olive oil in this lamp will depend on wick size flame size and corresponding oil consumption. The key to burning olive oil is to keep the wick saturated at all times.

Lid for jar. Burning an olive oil lamp. It s quite amazing that olive oil will burn at all. Olive oil works a treat in oil lamps but that is an expensive fuel.

Unlike kerosene or paraffin oil there are no fumes to burn. The thickness of the oil affects the capillary action so soaking the wick in oil before lighting it works best. My own experiment consumed 2 ounces 1 8 cup of olive oil in 5 hours. This calculates out to about 15 cents per hour depending on how inexpensive you can find pure olive oil.

Needle nose pliers. Use wicks with a large weave or even tightly twisted strips of cotton cloth. Purpose made lamps and oil need to be watched for the country of origin as several countries manufacturing the oil are using lead in wicks and to make the oil burn smoother and last longer you don t want to be burning that in your house. Diy olive oil lamp what you ll need.

The concept of burning oil from vegetables olive oil in the home rather than petroleum based kerosene seems more appealing less toxic and safer. The light from an olive oil lamp is bright enough to read by. The romans and other ancients regularly burned olive oil in their lamps so the concept is sound.