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Hey, those Zippos will run on 151 rum ya'know.
Good point, I'm no expert...but that's because it'll get higher than the cutting and scoring teeth, correct??
It's a good idea to have a spare bar on hand too. You never know when you'll pinch or bend one. (When I do, it's usually at a time of day when all the stores are closed - figures.)
I also keep a spare spark plug and air filter in my chainsaw kit.
What some might not know is that when you file the tooth back far enough, you also have to file the raker down.
The only thing I am uneasy about now, is what we would do if we lost natural gas. I have plenty of small propane bottles, so we could cook on camp stoves. Heating the house would become problematic. I will have to work on this next. I think that a bootleg Kerosun heater may be in my future.
Need to keep food that doesn't require heating (stove is electric, dammit - wife won't use a gas one.)
The best investment I've made was picking up 100YO oil lamps at the flea market & auctions and learning how to set them up. Correctly trimming the wicks & burning height, clear kerosene not colored, etc. I had them all running and the rooms were bright enough to read by at night. Side benefit is they put out some warmth, enough that they can be felt when close by. Light makes things bearable.
It's funny that these kits are basically as different as bug out bags.
My hurricane kit:
2 light rum nips
2 dark rum nips
1 can orange drank
1 can passion fruit juice
1 lime concentrate squeeze bottle
3 packets of sugar
1 bottle grenadine
1 can mandarin oranges
I've been wanting to get those old oil lamps when I come across them at Yardsales and the like...then I think...I've got two "active" little girls. Enough things get knocked off counters that I don't need one flammable ending up on the floor. I have about 5 or 6 coleman lanterns that does a good job in the house.
For true brightness, and ease of use....propane lanterns. Bright as hell, easy to use.
The keros do give a warmer, more "homey" light, but definitely less of it.
The big thing is to practice with it, before you need it. The post about knowing how to trim wicks is right on - ragged corners lead to smoke, and dirty chimneys, which cuts down on the light.
During Irene, I brought some mantle-types to my Club for our Pig Roast (the roast must go on!). I'd shown my kid how to tie and burn off mantles, and he passed the knowledge on to [older] others, there.
That's one thing I see in the prep lists....practice in getting the lamps ready and running should not be forgotten.
Since there was a good probability that I'd lose power, I lit the lamp before the light went out. Safer that way. And I get to feel like a genius when it works out.
I have a few propane ones as back-up, a Berzomatic Dual-Beam and a couple tank toppers. The light is whiter and brighter for sure.* I like the oil lamps though as they are dead silent. However, I just bought a disposable propane cylinder refill adapter so I can take advantage of the stacks of 20 lb. propane cylinders everywhere, even during an extended blackout. In the winter I don't think anyone buys them, it is a summer gas grill thing. From one of those I can keep the small cylinders nearly filled as I need them.
I am glad you noted the practice part. I've gotten stuck a few times with tech that I bought and never unboxed until I needed it. Then find I am either missing a key component, it doesn't work, or I cannot make it work. Mission critical is not the time to discover that. The week before the storm I'd pre-run my chainsaw, snowblower, & Coleman stove as well as bought more disposable propane cylinders, lamp oil, K1 kero, and Coleman fuel.
And that is another thing, I don't rely on one fuel type. Not only do I have the Coleman stove, but also a Bernzomatic propane, and a kerosene galley stove. If I cannot find one fuel type, I will find another. For lamps if I run out of lamp oil I can switch to K1. If I run out of that I can use propane. If propane goes, the 200A's come out. If I run out of Coleman fuel for the stove, I can get naptha at Home Depot or Lowes and use it instead. If all of those are gone, I have a Pyro twig stove and the BBQ. For light we have candles & flashlights if it gets to that. If I run out of D-batteries I have AA to D adapters. One thing I noticed during Irene, D's were gone, AA's were everywhere. It is all about contingencies for me.
*I got an oil lamp just like the first one at an estate sale for $15. The burner is a Kosmos 14 and the flat wick is rolled into a tube by the mechanism. In conjunction with the burner draft, that arrangement burns bright. It really narrows the gap with pressure-lanterns.
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This was another estate purchase for $10, an Aladdin A2315 "Watchman". Do note, it uses a mantle and a wick! They are supposed to be incredibly bright and I suspect it will give a pressure-lantern a run for its money. It was my one screw-up pre-storm, I forgot to buy a mantle for it. Doh!
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SCORE on the Alladin!