Dave D embarked upon a test to determine the actual burn time of a Dietz 8-day lantern. With a 5/8" wick the lantern went out before consuming all the fuel. It did burn just over 8 days with a 3/8" wick. Likewise Bill P is involved (Autumn 98) in a project to see if the Dietz advertising for 100 hours in a Traffic-Gard is true.....
Last night I finished the burn time test. It was impossible to watch over the 'gards with a stop watch. Had they gone out at the "wrong" time I might not have noticed for 6 hours and that would have screwed up the results. So here's what I did. I filled each with a measured 16 oz. of Lamplight Farms unscented lamp oil. (One had a flat wick, the other had a round wick). I lighted them, and adjusted the flame. Exactly 72 hours later, I put them out and measured the remaining fuel. I did have one problem. The flame on the 'gard equipped with the flat wick went down a bit after about 10 hours. It gave a dimmer but still acceptable signal so I didn't adjust it. The round wick 'gard kept its bright signal flame for the duration of the test. Here are the results.
The round wick 'gard consumed 12.42 oz. of fuel in 72 hours. At that rate, it should have burned 92.5 hours on a "tankful". The flat wick 'gard consumed 10.24 oz. of fuel in 72 hours. It should have burned 112.7 hour on a tankful. Remember, the round wick 'gard had a noticeably brighter signal. What this proves is that the traffic gard does indeed burn 100 hours on a tankful with the correct flame setting. Also, the flame setting has a definite effect on fuel consumption. No big surprise there.
When I get some real kerosene, I'll do a burn time test again.
The wicks and globes didn't get crudded up during the test.
Bill P.
Looking forward to the kerosene test!
Recently I tried a Handlan 2000 with the "half-gallon" tank and 1/4" long-time burner with a foot-long wick. Believe it or not the darn thing went a couple hours over 19 DAYS and the tank wasn't completely full to begin with.
10/1/01- gav is experimenting with a Handlan 57 with the type 2 tank (seam on the top). So far it burns (even during adverse wind/weather) for slightly over 168 hours. Did Handlan plan on this weekly schedule or is it a coincidence?