i would get a bunch of tea lights from ikea. also, the heating gel from the restaurant supplies store. those would be great for heating up cans of soup.

 

Tea lights are good since they are small and kind of self contained and they last long enough. Mostly a 1 or 2 time use though.
If you have found some candles that last for 120 hours then I would stock up on them. That is a good long time.

The gel chaffing burners don't give off much light at all. I have some and as janit0r said they are good for heating foods.

 

The Religious candles you can buy from the ethnic isle in most grocery stores burn for quite awhile and they only cost $1.50-$2.00 apiece.

 

Those long burning candles do not last as long as they say when you light them and then blow them out after a few hours.

 

One bit of advice on the long burning candles - they dont throw off near as much light as the skinny shorter burning ones as the flame goes down into them. Its annoying and defeats the purpose unless you just want a "glow".

 

That is a real good point.

 

I bought mine from www.thereadystore.com 115 hour liquid parafin..No odor..No smoke..For the small size they are they are the best....:thumb:

 

Has anyone tried the "Liquid Candle"??

http://www.lamplight.com/product/1528/3oz Liquid Candle.aspx

I have some 1oz and 3oz in some of my preps.
Figure that way it won't melt in car like wax candles do.

I have 5 cases of 100 hour candles from emergency essentials. At 5 hours a night I figure about 4.5 years worth. They put them on sale every now and then for $2.50 ea. They actually burn more like 125 hours IIRC. I have a holder for mine that lets me put a small pan of water on top. Light heat and hot(sort of) water too.

A cool thing is that the wick never seems to burn. You can buy gallon jugs of parafin and reload them with a hypodermic needle. I have a DR. friend that does it that way. He has 25-30 gals. of liquid parafin, just in case. I think I will also get a few gallons myself, as it would be cheap insurance.

 

Best way is probably to get into candle making. It's simple, easy to do, and cheap to start up. As Hairy mentioned, the tapers burn brighter and you can get molds for them that'll make several at a time. You can get wax blocks cheap online. The best part is that this allows you to reuse the melted wax from the candles.

 

Now theres an idea more in line with the survivalist self suffeciency buzz. Any links for cheap wax?

 

Dumpster dive the next day after a big wedding or anniversary at a local rec center or chruch.

You'll get dozens of partially melted candles for free.

Sure, they are just the cheap dollar store kind and have a short life span but they are free and you can get tonnes of them over the course of a year.

 

A candle hint I used after Katrina: I lined my kitchen sink with foil (one side of a double sink) and set a pillar candle on a metal plate down in it. Gave me enough ambient light to move around that part of the house safely and I didn't have to worry about me or a pet tipping over a candle.

 

oil lamps.. add oil and a wick..

 

I had the same idea and posted it in the DIY forum.

http://www.survivalistboards.com/showthread.php?t=104397

And a kudos to the person that suggested placing foil around to reflect the light. Mirrors are even better for doing this.

 

Is there any danger in the waxes and stuff used to make candles.

I know that China is shipping all of their by products to us.

i purchased bottles of Alcohol that contained acetone. Good way of selling haz waste to us and getting their enemy sick at the same time.

later
wayne

 

Find a local beekeeper and buy wax from him for cheaper than retail. Or, better yet, raise your own bees.

 

Has anyone tried the "Liquid Candle"??

http://www.lamplight.com/product/1528/3oz Liquid Candle.aspx

I have some 1oz and 3oz in some of my preps.
Figure that way it won't melt in car like wax candles do.

 

How long can you store liquid parafin? Does the parafin ever go bad or get hard?

Sounds like some interesting stuff.

 

It depends on whether it's actually liquid paraffin or kerosene. Kerosene is often called liquid paraffin too. The stuff that Walmart sells in the quarts as lamp oil is kerosene. Lamplighter brand I believe. The stuff they sell in pints by the same brand is liquid paraffin. If it says for oil candles, it's probably paraffin. If it says for oil lamps it could be either. The best way to tell what you have is to take a sniff when you extinguish it. If it smells like candles, it's paraffin, and if it smells like kerosene, that's what it is.

Liquid paraffin is basically mineral oil and is very non reactive and will store basically forever from what I can tell. Kerosene, if kept sealed, will store for a decade or more. I have kerosene in some of my lamps that is 20 years old and it still burns clean in the lamps. I have no idea if it would burn as clean in a heater or wick cooker though. You can add a tiny amount of methanol to make it burn cleaner. A half ounce per gallon or so if I remember right.

 

you could always use alcohol lamps, re-usable and dual purpose. not only can they cast light but you can cook on them too. all you need is ethyl alcohol. you can make it yourself or go get the yellow bottles of Heet.

check out this link.----->http://www.hometrainingtools.com/category.asp?c=122&bhcd2=1272996043

 

I stocked up on tea lights not too long ago at the Dollar Store. I want to say each bag contained 50 candles? Obviously they don't burn that long, but that's a lot of candles for just a few bucks.

I'm also picking up some solar landscaping lights. If the power goes out, you can just bring a few of those inside.