Does anyone know if a special lamp or wick is required to use olive oil?
using olive oil as fuel for oil lamps
Olive oil works a treat in oil lamps but that is an expensive fuel!
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I plan to experiment with some old olive oil I have to see if I can make it work in our regular oil lamps. I expect it will take a bit of effort to get all the paraffin oil residue out of them, but Im going for it. (:
As long as you trim the wicks to about 1/4 inch before each use they will be fine. The reason to trim the wick is to alleviate smoke and soot which is what causes the pollution. Even olive oil will create smoke and soot if wicks arent kept trimmed so you might as well save yourself some money by using lamp oil 😉
Yes, the wick needs to be close to the fuel. You cannot use candle wicks, they are too thin. Use a flat wick for kerosene lamps, or a round 1/4 oil lamp wick. Olive oil makes a little soot and a little smell, but vegetable oil makes even more soot.
Its called pomace. Solvents are used to fully extract the oil from the dregs of the olives, making the oil the lowest-grade of the olive oils and unsuitable for consumption.
There are inexpensive lamps which burn olive oil quite nicely. handles them. Regular lamps dont work.
Olive oil has been used since ancient times. The temple lamps used this as fuel. With Chanukah approaching its good to brush up on such topics!
Using Olive Oil as Fuel for Oil Lamps
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The problem isnt the kerosene or kerosene lamps. Its our own expectations. If you keep the flame small and efficient you wont get the fumes smell or smoke. The problem comes when modern householders turn the lamps up in the hope of getting a bright electric type light.Ad
The same countries are putting lead into scented candles as well, the worst offenders being China and Mexico. Here is a link with several articles gathered on one page:
This is the information I could find on it.
The key to burning olive oil is to keep the wick saturated at all times. The thickness of the oil affects the capillary action so soaking the wick in oil before lighting it works best. Use wicks with a large weave or even tightly twisted strips of cotton cloth. You can also make a wick from a cotton swab. Dip the swab into the oil and then twist the oiled end off of the swab stick and shape it into a teardrop. Float the teardrop onto the oil and light. Use low-grade olive oil. It will burn just as well as any high-grade olive oil, but will be cheaper. A little will go along way because it burns quite slowly.AnswersBychristi (Guest Post)October 14, 20050found this helpful
Some people can tolerate higher toxic loads than others, but I wouldnt be taking that chance with children who by virtue of their diminutive size, are typically less tolerant.
I just came across this great How to make your own Olive Oil Lamp tutorial and I think you guys will like it a lot, too! Be sure to also read page 2 and there is a button to click and enlarge the photo for easier understanding of the instructions. Oh, and theres a comment section at the end of page 2 to see other peoples ideas and links for different oil lamp models 😉
With the wick, you can wrap it with a flexible wire (solid core), like copper, and use the metal to bend the wick into a little coil with support. Try to expose 1/4 to 1/2 an inch of wick above the oil, and you are pretty much in business…
Look on Lifehackers website for a DIY recycled kitchen fat-burning oil lamp. Interesting.
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It is possible to burn veg oil in a kerosene lamp, you need to carefully blend it with Ethanol. the end product is similar to Bio-Diesel fuel.
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Using Olive Oil as Fuel for Oil Lamps?
I had oil lamps from the time I was just a young teenager. I loved them & burned them frequently in my bedroom & later my home with never any problems. Then in my late 20s or early 30s, I started getting these odd, sharp, overall chest pains & a headache when I would burn the lamps. I thought maybe I had bad oil,or it had something to do with the dye (I loved the colored stuff), so I replaced it with a different brand of clear oil – same reaction.
The only thing I would worry about is keeping the lamps out of reach of the children. Oh, and always blow out the lamps; never try to turn the wick down to put the flame out!
Thought maybe it was carbon monoxide, so I opened windows, didnt help. Eventually I began having the same reaction to some candles, so I cant burn even those!
I have read somewhere that olive oil is a safe, inexpensive and non- toxic substitute for lamp oil. I tried to use it in one of my oil lamps, but it didnt work. The wick burnt, smoked and went out.
So I used extra virgin olive oil in a tin gift box top from the dollar store and used a coffee filter paper that I just submerged in the extra virgin olive oil and lit on fire and burned for hours. My apartment filled with smoke but it was beautiful it did not make me cough or sting my eyes like other smoke does. I even mixed it with candle wax still good so that is my contribution
The big secret here is that you need to design your lamp/wick system the opposite of how a lamp is built to burn kerosene. In the olive oil lamps, you need to have the wick as close to the fuel as possible, due to the not so great drawing capability of olive oil. It makes sense, but you cannot burn kerosene or other lamp oils in a olive oil lamp and vice versa; or Kaboom!Ad
I have never heard of using olive oil in lamps! All of the lamps that I have are supposed to use either the modern lamp oils from the stores, or kerosene. Kerosene, which of course is what everyone used in pioneer times, has a distinctive odor, so you may want to stick to the modern products.
I am hoping to find an inexpensive, eco alternative that I can turn my bosses onto. Im guessing they will want to know how long the olive oil will last so they can calculate costs for this lighting option.
Olive oil has low volatility and generates less smoke and less soot than most other oils. This is a guide about
Kerosene lamps with also burn heating oil, diesel, and aviation fuel. But proceed with caution on all non kerosene fuels and experiment outside and test till things get hot.
In pioneer times, people burned lamps inside the home ALL the time. Why woulldn`t it be safe to do so now.
You should watch everyone in your house for any kind of reaction, such as respiratory symptoms or headaches when you burn oil lamps to be sure its safe for your family.
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 dont want to be burning that in your house! You may want to avoid using the kerosene lamp oil as it does have some health concerns associated with its use indoors.
I am curious to know the rate at which olive oil burns, specifically, how long will the 1/2 cup of olive oil Ive just put into my first homemade olive oil-Mason jar lamp last? In my workplace we use numerous paraffin tea lights every night.
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I just purchased several inexpensive oil lamps and I placed them around the house in case of power outage. I decided to do a trial run; I went ahead and lit them all, burning a cheaper Walmart product, Medallion lamp oil. After the fact I got a little worried and opened all the doors in my house to ventilate (we have 4 young children). Is lamp oil safe to burn inside? There was nothing about it on the packaging. Should I just abandon the cheap stuff and only burn olive oil? Does anyone out there know about lamp oil dangers? Id be most grateful.
Cant you just light one and time it? Also would probably vary on the quality of the oil and wick that you use.
I seem to be more sensitive than most to environmental pollutants, so I consider myself the canary in the coal mine. I can tell you that when we used our (5) oil lamps when our power went out, I had a headache within 15 minutes. That tells me that liquid paraffin lamp oil is toxic. And why wouldnt it be? Its a petroleum product.Ad
NEVER use low flash point fuels like gasoline or ethanol in a kerosene lamp though.
araffin_info.htm(not that Im endorsing soy candles, actually beeswax is the best imho)
Firefly, a Canadian company, makes a non-paraffin clean burning lamp oil. Its available in quart size on Amazon with free shipping if you just want to try it, but its more economical from Firefly by the gallon even with shipping added.Ad
And yes, pioneers used kerosene all the time. But they also had drafty homes, not the well insulated tightly constructed homes that most of us have now. Despite that inadvertent ventilation, many still suffered from respiratory diseases like TB, known then as consumption. The fact that the kerosene-burning pioneers didnt all die of it, doesnt mean kerosene isnt toxic.
I know theres a proper name for the poor quality, high-acid, non-food use olive oil thats preferred as lamp oil. It would not be sold in grocery stores.
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Its a safe, renewable alternative, but Im not sure how inexpensive it is. Its safer to burn because olive oil has low volatility due to its high flash point (it wont burn until it reaches 550F). Burning olive oil also generates less smoke and leaves behind less soot than most other oils. Older olive oil tends to burn the best, and even when rancid is practically odorless while burning.Ad