Interesting! I never thought of a gas lamp as a heat source when camping. (Mostly I curse the guy in a car camping site who is wrecking my evening with an obnoxious bloody supernova.)

It's true, a little heat does wonders in driving off the damp and chill. I once used my kerosene lamps in my old greenhouse to stave off a surprise frost, and it worked.

Here in the UK we have recently had a spell of unusually cold weather. Very tame no doubt compared to conditions elsewhere, but still significantly colder than the norm for this area.

I was glad to have a "bullfinch gas handilight" and used it extensively for both light and enough warmth to stop the plumbing freezing.

It ran for about a week continually on a 19 kilogram propane cylinder.

I was an active caver during the "carbide lamp era." roughly the twentieth century up until about 1985 or so. The mechanism was a dependable source of light for long periods, as well as heat, a good thing in the typically chilly cave environment. With a loose fitting garment, one could sit on the ground, place the lamp between your legs, pull the garment over your knees, and voila! instant warmth. Also good for lighting a trail after dark, while keeping your hands warm, and a great fire starter....

I suppose that's the origins of the "Palmer Furnace", wasn't it?

I believe you are correct. I used this rig once and it was very effective.....

Cheap, over 24 hours?

Dollar Store.

https://www.dollartree.com/Luminessence-Flameless-LED-Emergency-Candles-2-ct-Packs/p357708/index.pro

LED candle- the shorter 2 battery ones do no have that fake flicker. 50 hours on 2 AA, the pack includes 2 lights.

I have a 2 pack in each of the kids camping bags as tent lights.

Cleaning out my shed just now, I ran across a pack of emergency candles, big fat suckers that together offer 100 hours of burn time - for light, heat, etc. - complete with the statement 'These candles could save your life!"

OTOH, I suppose there is the possibility, faint tho it be, that they might not save your life....

You would think they would offer a lifetime guarantee if they are any good at all.

How old are they and do they still burn?

kind of an old reply... back in my Scout days (mid 50s) we used paraffin for both candles and heating water/soup... for tent lighting, a Gerber glass baby food jar was 1/3 filled with paraffin and a wick to make a mini hurricane lantern... for heat, a shoe shine tin was filled with paraffin and either a cotton cord ring or three wicks to be used with a GI canteen cup stand... a 1/4# block of paraffin was standard supply to carry... the three wick unit could be used as light also... later the paraffin was replaced with bees wax

for power outage lighting, I now use LED area lanterns and task lights, but still have a couple of large font Dietz and the smaller Feuerhand kero lanterns and a gallon of K1 kero, just in case... an older KMart Dietz is fueled with citronella based tiki torch oil for mosquito duty

About twenty years old, and they burn quite well, as long as I can find some worthwhile matches. cleaning out this shed is definitely personal archaeology - 'many wondrous things"