Skip to main content

How to start a kerosene stove

 One of my passions are antiques, specially if they have some engineering or electronics envolved.

Since I was a child, I had contact with antiques from my grandparents, and one of the things I remember is an old kerosene pressure stove. Some time ago, I decided to buy one, just for decoration, but I also love to keep things working, if possible, so, I decided to turn it on, and made a simple tutorial on how to start it.

I made a vide that is available on YouTube, please check it below:


I added some subtitles to the video so you could understand better, but I'm also going to write it here:

1 - Put some kerosene in the tank
2 - Fill the small cup below the head with alcohol (+ 90% is good)
3 - Light up the alcohol and let the head warm and start vaporizing the kerosene
4 - Once you feel the pressure increase, give some pumping to help it increase even more
5 - The kerosene vapor will light by itself with a beautiful blue flame (if you need more pressure, pump it more, for less, release the pressure screw (it is like a throttle))
6 - Use the stove (cook something)
7 - To turn it off, just release the pressures screw

If possible, do this outside your home, in an open space.

That's it! Hope you enjoy!


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

DIY mineral specimen storage box

  There are several ways of storing rocks and minerals specimens. Some prefer to have them visible, other prefer to have them secured in boxes. Personally, I prefer to have them stored in a box, so they don't get dirty with dust, so I decided to build a simple wooden box. It is a simple rectangular box with small boxes inside like drawers that are pulled from top. Dimensions of the main box are 40cm length x 20cm wide x 25cm height. There is space for about 4 drawers inside. I have organized the smaller specimens into paper boxes, although the larger specimens are loose. You can see a small video of how it works to open and pull the inner drawers:  https://www.youtube.com/shorts/LhDBVJ7s5Vk I have used this style of box to store minerals but I can be used for any other kind of collectible.

Pressure lamp tank crack repair

 I have an old kerosene pressure lamp, a Ditmar Maxim 520, but when I bought it, it come with some little cracks in the tank, so the first time I tried to turn it on, I noticed the kesorene leaking at the bottom. Searching in some forums for a possible solution, I have found a simple one: filling the cracks with tin solder. Here is a step by step if you also need to repair your pressure lamps: 1 - Identify all the cracks. 2 - With a dremel, open the cracks exposing the internal metal (make sure your tank is empty and dry of kerosene). 3 - With a torch and tin solder (the one used in electronics), fill the exposed metal crack with it. 4 - Test the pressure before adding kerosene. 5 - If the pressure keeps ok, you are ready to use your lamp again! Here is a small Youtube short video of the process: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/0442OXCgXjc  This is the final repaired tank:

DIY sheet metal brake

 One of my hobbies is to build electronics projects, like metal detectors for treasure hunting. Usually electronics boards are hold inside a plastic or metal box. There both in the market, but usually they are not so cheap. One solution I thought about, was to build my own boxes using aluminum sheet as it is a soft metal. Although aluminum is soft, for the thickness I want to use (2mm) it is not so easy to bend it by hand, so I searched a bit how to make a tool to bend the metal with the less effort possible and with good results at the end, I came up with this, using only 3 pieces of wood, 2 screws with bolts and 2 hinges: This is known as a sheet metal brake, mine is simple, made of pine wood but I recommend you to use harder woods, specially if you need to bend metals harder tha aluminum. I think you can replicate one easily just by looking at the pictures above, so I'm not provinding any measurements but if you need, please write a comment below. For different sizes or formats ...