I own several Aladdin kerosene lamps (I’m sure I’ve mentioned this before), which I keep ready to use at a moment’s notice, including keeping the fonts filled with kerosene, ’cos leaving the font empty, or nearly so, will let the remaining kero oxidize and turn into varnish, ruining the wick and sometimes the whole burner. Keeping the font filled excludes air and prevents varnishing.
Still, the kero does start to get old and tired after several months, and needs to be switched out. So rather than pour out and throw away the old kero, each year I fire up each lamp and run it dry, then refill the font and it’s ready to go for another year.
This is a hot process. The average Aladdin runs at about 2000 BTUs and is plenty capable of heating a room all by itself, so I tend to wait until about this time of year before I start. After that, it’s just a matter of out-waiting the lamp, although that can take a while. The one-quart font holds enough kero to run the lamp for twelve hours. But over two or three evenings, I’ll run each lamp dry, then refill it.
Last night I finished drawing down my amber Corinthian, and lowered the level in my cobalt TLD. Tonight I have my clear Washington Drape running. By the beginning of next week, I ought to have everything clean and ready again.
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