Oil Lamps Instead of Electricity?

QM · 10-11-2008, 09:04 PM

I have an oil lamp that my dad gave to me. I was wondering if it would be cheaper to use the light from the oil lamp in the kitchen when it gets dark or to use regular electricity. I've burned the oil a few times to see what it's like and it doesn't look like the oil is disappearing very fast. Who has knowledge about oil lamps? Does anyone know which would be cheaper?

**Mavourneen** · 10-11-2008, 09:13 PM

Good question. I'm guessing it would be a little cheaper to use the oil lamp, but it would depend on the price of the oil you are using. I really don't know how much a bottle costs -

It's always been my understanding that it really isn't lighting that drains electricity, but appliances that heat things up / cool things down, or recharge other things that use a lot of electricity.

Not sure if you would see a lot of savings on your bill, but it is always worth a try!

**Janbee** · 10-11-2008, 09:27 PM

Last winter we were with out electricity for a week and used oil lamps and I was surprised how much oil it took we had one burning in each room of the house. It was also dark enough that we had to turn them on earlier in the day than I expected because it was so overcast outside that it didn't light up the house much.
Also to keep warm we had heavy drapes on the windows so it was dark in the living room day and night which is something I had not noticed when we had electricity.
But I still can't answer your question which would be cheaper. I think if your serious try it one month and see how much your electric bill goes down and how much you spent on oil and let us know how your experiment came out.

**Missourimom** · 10-11-2008, 10:36 PM

I hope you'll let us know how it turns out if you try it.

**PrairieRose** · 10-12-2008, 11:35 AM

Not sure what is cheaper but we used them year before last when we were w/o electricity for 2 weeks. I could quickly see I didn't care for the soot on the chimneys and my mom warned me that they would also cause soot on my ceilings. Don't want that if I can avoid it. They also stink burning......and are dangerous if knocked over can start a fire. I prefer a light bulb, keeping the ones off that I'm not using.

**madhen** · 10-12-2008, 12:24 PM

I also avoid oil lamps for the reasons listed above. I have used them in the past, and I thought the oil went down very quickly. Candles might be a better option. You can get the ones in the hurricane-type lamps to reduce the risk of fire. I also have a propane-operated lantern. It runs quite a long time on one little tank of propane, but obviously you would want to make sure it was in a well-ventilated room.

I have a little battery-operated lantern that I use in power outages. I have found that when I have had to rely on something other than electricity, I use that lantern and the glow from my wood stove and just go to bed earlier at night.