by Juergen Weissner
New South Wales.
IT IS not complicated at all to live without electricity and still have good lighting, cooking and refrigeration facilities. There are non pressure lamps such as the Aladdin mantle lamp that will produce a white light equivalent to around 60 watts or pressure lamps such as Tilley that produce around 150 watts. They also produce heat, but in winter that’s a big bonus. They make an excellent lighting system or a good accompaniment to solar power.
Cooking
Slow combustion stoves like the Canberra, Stanley, Everhot, Rayburn and Aga are always great to use and highly efficient if you have dry timber. It is just on a hot summer’s day when heat in the kitchen becomes unbearable or you do not have a stove, that kerosene cooking appliances could be just the thing. Most are completely portable and self contained. A lot of the appliances I will talk about were made over 50 years ago, namely the Valor stove and blue flame cooker but they can still be used if you can find one and clean it out and put in a new wick.
There are blue flame cookers which operate with a cotton wick and use a centre draft burner. These small stoves like the Valor Minor quick boil stove (pictured left), just one of many, can be used to quickly boil the kettle to make a cup of tea or cook a pot of soup or even fry a steak in a small frying pan. This stove is just a bit slower than gas, electric or a primus stove.
Caring for your kero stove
The same care rule as for other kerosene appliances applies here: always have clean, fresh kerosene. Especially, make sure there is no water in it and if instructions are available, use them. Use good wicks and keep the burner and the rest of the cooker free from dirt and dust. Another cooking appliance which operates much faster than the Valor Minor is the Primus pressure stove (pictured right). The more common Primus pressure stoves are still found in secondhand shops and usually only need a good clean to get them working. These stoves come with two different styles of burners. One is the ‘roarer’; and the other is the ‘silent’. Some models were also fitted with a regulating burner so the flame could be adjusted. All these burn with a strong blue flame similar to gas. The roarer burner will tolerate windy conditions, for instance when used for camping.
The Primus pressure stove needs to be pre heated with methylated spirits in order for it to vaporise the kerosene, when the methylated spirit in the cup has burned almost all away, pressure has to be pumped into the kerosene reservoir. The silent and roarer burners should light by themselves with the leftover flame of the methylated spirit. If not, use a match or lighter.
Once the burner is going pump more pressure into the tank until the desired height of flame is reached. Always have the pricker tool handy just in case the jet/nipple gets slightly clogged. This will normally be apparent from a change in the flame and a different operating noise from the burner. Often only one pricking of the jet is needed to clean it completely. This can be done while it is still burning but you will need to have a match or lighter in hand to re-light it once the pricker is out of the jet, otherwise kerosene will go everywhere when the stove cools down.
To turn off the stove or reduce the flame just slowly release the air pressure by opening the air valve. These stoves are fairly low maintenance if used regularly. The main thing is to keep it clean and occasionally lubricate the leather bucket and stem of the pump with a drop of sewing machine oil so it does not dry out. Do not use vegetable oils as they will turn rancid quickly which will destroy the pump leather and clog the foot valve.
Cooling
Having no electricity connected does not mean you have to miss out on cooling or refrigeration. We have come a long way from the Coolgardie safe which uses evaporative cooling. The old safe is basically a cylindrical mesh cage covered in canvas and kept damp by water dripping onto it. The passing air creates evaporative cooling which is fine to keep cheese, butter and maybe a bottle of water cool.
I am actually writing this sitting in front of an evaporative cooler. The inside temperature is 43° Celsius, but sitting next to the cooler makes it quite comfortable as long as the humidity in the room stays low.
Refrigeration
A great improvement on the Coolgardie safe was the invention of the kerosene absorption refrigerator, such as Charles Hope, Electrolux and Sir Edward Hallstrom’s Silent Knight. There are still a few, like the Electrolux, being made today. Most absorption refrigerators are quite efficient. The old type used ammonia as the refrigerant and the new generation of absorption refrigerators use lithium bromide. The power source can be kerosene, gas or electricity. Some have a small icebox which can hold two or three ice-cube trays and the larger ones like the Electrolux have a full freezing compartment.
The Charles Hope and Silent Knight refrigerators often use the Melbourne-made Stokes burner (similar to a Kosmos burner for a lamp) fitted to the tanks. It is very important to keep the burner, the tank and the space underneath the refrigerator spotlessly clean. Dust, cobwebs and other bits that can fly about and accumulate under there must be regularly removed otherwise they will become a great fire hazard.
Great care has to be taken when inserting the filled kerosene tank back into the refrigerator to make sure no sloshing occurs. If this happens make sure to wipe all kerosene off before lighting the burner. Make sure the fridge glass on the burner has no air gaps where it connects to the generator/boiler.
Never use a filled tank that has any leaks or dampness from kerosene as dust will stick to it. If the burner is dirty and dusty inside, when lit, the flame will quickly engulf the tank which could result in blowing the fuse plug and cause a fire. Another part to always keep clean is the chimney located at the back of the fridge. My Charles Hope fridge came with a very long brush similar to a bottle brush which could clean the entire length of the chimney.
Troubleshooting
Most accidents occur through lack of attention and maintenance rather than by faulty equipment. If the fridge fails to cool, firstly turn it off and remove the fuel tank. Empty the contents then turn the fridge over and stand it on its head overnight and turn it back the next day. This should fix the problem. If after firing the fridge up it still will not cool, very gently tap the piping at the back with a piece of softwood. This may help to dislodge any rust deposits in the piping.
I also recommend putting the refrigerator in an enclosed, well ventilated, draught-free shed with a concrete floor and place it so it is freely accessible from all sides including the back. If the outside temperature reaches close to 40° Celsius your refrigerator will work less efficiently or stop cooling all together, but the flame will still keep on burning. The coolest spot in the shed might still keep your refrigerator cooling when it gets stinking hot outside.
I will never forget my first experience with my Charles Hope kerosene absorption fridge which I had bought from a scout hall sale. After a few hours of work I finished changing the old Stokes burner to a more efficient Aladdin burner which burns with a blue flame. I then gave the fridge a good clean inside and out paying special attention to the chimney — there were lots of spider webs in there!
I tested the new burner system for air leakage and everything turned out to be fine. After checking that the fridge was standing absolutely level, which is a must for them to work, I filled the tank with clean, fresh kerosene and replaced it into the cradle under the fridge, double checking everything, as I was determined it would work first go.
I lit the Aladdin burner, set the flame on low, made sure it was blue then looked at my watch and waited for 15 to 20 minutes until I heard the fridge give a ‘gulp’. This indicated that the boiler had started its cycle. A few minutes after the gulp I put my hand into the ice box and it was quite cold so it looked like refrigeration had started. I checked the flame again and it was stable. I waited for another hour and checked everything; the air in the fridge was getting slightly cooler, so I decided to increase the burner flame to medium. After waiting for another half hour I was then set to load the fridge with my week’s shopping which contained a lot of lovely fresh fruit and vegetables.
It was early afternoon on a nice sunny day and I decided to prepare my own vegetable patch. An hour later I checked the flame of the fridge burner again which was fine and continued in the vegetable patch. I was called away to do a chore for someone else and the time just slipped away. By the time I had returned all my lovely fruit and vegies were frozen solid. It seems the fridge worked too well!
This taught me a valuable lesson: don’t underestimate a kerosene fridge because it can work as fast or even faster than some electric fridges. I should have stabilised the inside temperature first before putting the shopping in. Needless to say I didn’t make the same mistake twice.
I hope I have encouraged some of you to continue or to consider using kerosene appliances and if you would like any help please contact me, Juergen on (02) 65 65 0104 or email me at oil-lamp@zip.com.au.
