Candles

what type of candles have people included in there longterm supplies. i have chosen 4hr tealights rather than regular candles and would like to know what others have chosen to see if there is a better option.

For power outs at home, I use oil lamps. They aren't expensive and give off more light than a candle. I usually keep 2 gallons of lamp oil and extra wicks on hand, more if I think I might need it. As far as candles go, I just get a variety of sizes. I haven't found tealights that last that long so my first choice is oil lamps.

We have a few el cheapo tea candle lanters stuck here and there, each one accompanied by a large prescription pill bottle filled with candles. I don't recall off hand how many tea candles we can get into one container, but it is something like seven or eight, enough to last for a little while if we don't keep one burning all the time...

50-pack of 2-hr tea candles from walgreen's. $5 at the time. plus about 20 AA for various lights

i buy the tealights in batches of 2000 for £60 so 3 pence (6 cents) a light.

I second using the religious candles. I grew up on the Texas coast where part of our hurricane supplies always included those thick glasses full of slow burning wax! That way if the candles melt due to heat (like stored in the garage in the "emergency box"), there is no harm done. In fact I have one on my beside table along with matches because we have the electricity go out whenever there is a bad storm or some construction worker cuts the line : )

I use a 2D Mag-Lite with an LED bulb. Why add the risk of a fire to an already existing emergency situation?

Jeanette Isabelle

i have alot of LED flashlights but cells run out of power and need recharging or replacing. my fenix T10 will run for 8 hours on low which is about 60 lumins on a single 17670 cell. i have made provisions for recharging using a fold out solar panel and chargers. but believe in the belt and braces approch and have candles to.

a candle can also be used to warm food at a pinch and shavings of wax can aid in starting a fire.

UCO Candelier lantern with 8hr. dripless candles and tea lights. Just for fun I made an olive oil lamp out of a glass jar, some cotton twine, and old olive oil. Works great. Burns forever and puts out a good amount of light (equals about 3 candles). Roll the twine together and make the wick really fat for more light.

http://www.judyofthewoods.net/lamp.html

I also use LED lights. IMO the smaller AA lights are easier to carry than D cell Maglites. A solar battery charger is a great way to keep them ready.

Candles are nice for setting a mood, but LED's are more efficient.

thanks for the link LED i'll give that a try wonder how it would work using bio diesel.

The only problem with religious candles is you have to pay a buck before you light them up (the Catholics might get this)

We have LED lights, "super" flashlights, LED lanters, Coleman fuel lanters, propane lanterns, etc etc etc, and a bunch of batteries and fuel on hand. The tealight lanters are kind of a back up to the back up. Low risk of fire in most situations...

We also use the UCO Candelier Lantern with 3 - 9 hr. dripless candles. I found my UCO Candelier at a Second Hand store! What a find! I had been wanting one, just didn't want to pay $30 something and there it was for $4.

We also use our Petzl LED headlamps when the power goes out. Leaves ours hands free and we don't have to carry candles around the house. It makes it easier for me to cook too.

I have '1 candle' UCO lanterns and a headlamp in the BOB's in the car's.

Joy

Religious candles here too. The Mexican grocery store has them dirt cheap, plus they bring back childhood feelings of safety.

-Blast

We also use the prayer candles. Not only are they cheap, but the glass holder limits the flickering and makes me feel a bit safer. Our local grocery store has a clear glass version.

I went through a tea-light phase but I found they didn't work well in practice. They only produce about 1/3rd of the light of proper candles. I have a holder which takes 7 of them but it's not the most convenient solution. I'd rather have proper household candles.

I'm not a big fan of candles in any case. They are quite bulky and there is a fire risk. I have a variety of LED torches instead, some of which will run for over 100 hours on one set of batteries. It takes less room to stockpile batteries than candles. I keep both disposable batteries and the Eneloop rechargeables. I can recharge from solar power or from a car lighter socket as well as from the mains. The Eneloops are the low-self-discharge ones so you can charge them in advance and they'll mostly hold it until needed.

If you are going to use candles - and I do have a few - then it's worth finding a good candelabra to hold them. You can stick them to a saucer using a bit of their own melted wax, but if you need a lot of light a proper holder is safer and more convenient.

Here is the link to UCO Candle Lanterns for anyone who isn't familar with them. They have one for tea lights too, since so many of you seem to use tealights. I really like them: http://candlelantern.com/

what about This candle? they come in 44 hour and 120 hour candles and you can cook from them, and according to their site can boil water. I have never used them but they look really good.

insert disclamer

I gave up candles a few years ago. I use oil lamps and LED lights.
I have a 12-LED lantern (from Cabalas) that uses 4-D batteries, I have not changed the batteries in it for going on 4-years, I bought it with batteries in it and it still has that set in it (A $50.00 light discounted to $15.00 because the remote was missing.) I check to make sure they are not leaking, but the lantern keeps working, and is fairly bright as far as battery powered lights go.

For oil lamps I have a collapsible backpacking lantern that runs 15-hours on 2-oz of lamp oil. I also have 6 railroad lanterns that were in my grandmother’s garage. They all work well. They may be worth a lot, never looked them up. 4 of them have the matching RR line name etched into the glass and stamped on the lantern. Don’t really care what they are worth as I don’t plan to sell them.

The only value I see in tea lights (for emergency or camping purposes) is they are light and easily packed/carried. Otherwise, not enough light and not enough burn time. 'Same with the religious candles in terms of their usefulness. The ones I've seen give off VERY little light, even though the tall glass cylinder does increase the safety factor.

I have 4 oil lamps for stationary light, a couple of battery flashlights for moving around, and a couple of tiny Coleman LED battery-powered lanterns. The LED headlamp is on the list to buy.

I don't even bother buying tea lights anymore, not worth it IMHO. I just use my oil lamps for power outs and at bedtime I just blow them out and go to bed. I'm not afraid of the dark and it's not dark that long. I do keep an LED flashlight by the bed just in case I need to get up for anything. I've never felt the need to stay up to see when the power comes back on. It may be a psychological thing but I know people that can turn off all the lights and sleep like a baby but if the power goes off they can't sleep til it comes back on.

"...I'm not afraid of the dark..."

Me either. But in the winter time (when most power outages seem to occur, at least where I am), it can get dark a long long time before I am ready to hit the sack. Cheap light can be handy in those times...

The last power out we had, we played poker and drank hot tea til we got tired. We stay pretty prepared so power outs don't really bother us.

Power outages don’t bother me at all either. I look at them as an adventure and a reason to pull out some survival gear and play with it.

I know there is something wrong with me. But I would guess many others here do the same thing…

Nothing wrong with that at all. That's why we all prepare in the first place. Power outs just give us a chance to use what we learn.

A power outage is kindasorta an emergency, what we prepare for in the first place. Couple of years ago we were in WA state, people were DIEING, just trying to last thru a lengthy outage...

That's funny! Don't forget to kneel...

I have tons of tealights available in the house... Not overly practical in an emergency situation, but it does provide some light, or at least provide mood lighting in an emergency... LOL!

I do have a good 4D maglight, 2 mini-mags, an oil lamp, 2 coleman tent lights, a battery flourescent light, and 2 Gerber Infinity single AA led lights... (These suckers seem to run forever on a single AA, even ones that I thought were drained...)

The misses has quite a few aromatic candles that we could use in a powerout, and probably would. In addition I have (2) 4 packs of the pink 6 hour emergency candles. A 9volt pals light (little rectangular blocky thing that when "off" still throws a very pale light to indicate where it is so you can fing it when the lights do go out. A wally-world camping battery lantern that runs off c-cells, a d cell mag light, 4 different surefires (good light, crappy run times) an Inova LED light that's bright as all get out and also runs on the lithiums that the surefires do, my gerber infinity, an original cmg infinity with a blue LED and probably a spare flashlight or two that the wifey came with
All in all, unless I'm gonna be weeks without power I'll have light. Living in Florida I'll worry 'bout the ac long before light

-Bill Liptak

What about NuWick 120 Hour Candles?

Does anyone have experience with these?

A) those aromatic candles might get pretty annoying after a while (personally I hate them, but hey, whatever)
B) I feel you on the A/c thing. Yesterday here in Michigan we had that little thunderstorm roll through. Power outage for a good.. 45 seconds... Anyway, I had closed the windows for this "big mean scary thunderstorm" that was coming, and in about 5 minutes had all the windows opened again. And it's not even that muggy!

And, at least for me, that thunderstorm was pretty weak. Though I did get all excited by the tornado sirens. I didn't even realize my town had them! It's the first time I've actually heard them used...

The UCO candles are great. They seem to handle hot weather better than most candles, but they will melt if it gets hot enough.

I use this camping and sailing. http://www.essentialgear.com/store/p/2-Dynamo-15-LED-Collapsible-Lantern.html.

It works a long time with just a little cranking, and comes with a 12-volt cigarett lighter charging cord. Pretty durable. Coleman has something cheaper, but I haven't had any experience with it.

At home I use flashlights. If the power is out long enough I have a 60Ah power pack and a small generator if that fails me...more than enough for a power outage several times over.

I keep a few of the larger tea lights in a kit when I'm hiking or camping. The stove from my Crusader canteen makes a nifty candle holder and the walls are just high enough to break some of the wind.

I don't specifically store candles for emergency use, but my wife uses tea candles so we have lots of those at home. She buys them by the bag full and they are cheap.

I think I would only use candles for a simple power outage. The main disaster for my locale is either an earthquake or wildfires and in both cases, having an open flame around is not the best option, even using a decent candle lantern to contain spills and such. I would much prefer sticking to battery powered lighting in such situations.

That said, there is certainly a calming effect to watching the flickering, warm glow of a candle in the dark night. Much more interesting than staring into an LED camping lantern!

I went thru the tea light phase. Bought a tea light candle holder etc...I'm over it.
I have multiple LED flashlights in cars, on night stands, in BOBs etc. Mag Lights in all the cars and one in the house too. Photon II Micro Ligts on every key ring and every emerg bag.
Multiple oil lamps in the house, with xtra wicks, oil and globes.
And started stashing some of the cheap religious candles after discovering they last for a long time and are cheap and available at most grocery stores.
And one e-kit has a NuWick 120 with xtra wicks. I wouldn't pay to ship one to my house but if they had 'em for a good price in a store I might get another for a base camp e-kit. But they are spendy so I'd probably go with the religious candles....you can get quite a few for the cost of a NuWick and have light in multiple locations. With a little care in packing them away to can address fears of breaking the glass they come in.
Have been lusting after candle lanterns too ...WalMart has 'em pretty cheap ... Lantern and xtra candles for like $20. They should work good enough for back up in car kits, BOBs and such. And I hear that the citronella candles work well in them too so might help with the flying pests in you are in such an area.

Ironically, my power went out 30 mins ago......still light enough that I don't need an alternative light source. Already getting warm with the AC out.......
Luckily (if one can call it that) I work in an unairconditioned warehouse, and have for the last 20 years or so. So I'm used to sweating and being hot and miserable.....ok for work, absolutely hate it at home.
This post got me thinking about oil lamps....
My mom had them in the house growing up, originally intended as decoration for the faux fireplace but got used whenever we had powerouts. Much more effective than candles, and not overly expensive for a pair of 'em. Maybe I need to add a couple on the shopping list........

-Bill Liptak

I have half a dozen of the NuWick 44 Hour Candles along with several boxes of hardware store "Emergency Candles" (5/8" dia x 6.5" long). The NuWick's seem to do everything that they claim, although I've not burned one down completely to know the true burn time.

I also keep a couple of dozen thermonuclear tealights handy, as they do throw off a surprising amount of light. With regard to traditional tealights, I much prefer the Pheylonian Beeswax Survival Candles as they burn much longer and do not produce the black, sooty deposits that paraffin-based candles do.

Jim

I have 4 oil lamps but usually only light 3. I keep one in the bathroom one in the kitchen and one in the livingroom and an extra one that I havent had to use yet in the bookcase. I also keep a box of matches and a bic next to them. I made a small frame that I can set over one to use for cooking if I need to. So far I only used one for making coffee during hurricane Ivan, but it worked great for that so i'm sure you could cook on them.

Paragon, thanks for mentioning the Pheylonian candles. This forum discussed them at length sometime last year. After much thought because of the expense, I went ahead and ordered a survival candle and a few tapers. Very happy I did, and have since gotten quite a few more, including tea-lights as gifts.

IMO real beeswax candles are, like certain other things in life, well worth paying for. As you said, they don't drip or emit soot. They last a long time. The smell is very pleasant. The light is more clear and intense than paraffin. Don't know nuthin' 'bout them negative ions discussed on Pheylonian website, but when I burn a beeswax candle in my apartment for about 30 minutes, food and smoke odors disappear and (pooh-pooh if you like!) I feel much calmer.

No affiliation with Pheylonian,

Sometimes health food stores carry Beeswax candles. I bought a few myself at our local health food store. The Pheylonian candles look like something I would like to try.

And the UCO Candle Lantern also has beeswax candles for their lanterns. They are supposed to last 12 hours compared to their regular candles which are supposed to last 9 hours. http://www.rei.com/product/737330

Joy

For those of you that like candles, it helps if you keep them in the freezer. They drip less and are supposed to last longer.

Thanks for the info Jim!

Prayer isn't a bad thing during a disaster

Being Catholic, I've often thought of buying the tablernacle candles which are supposed to stay lit for seven days.

However, I remember when one could light the devotional candles in the church for a quarter. Even religion experiences inflation over time

Given all the gold that the Catholic church has, you'd think they could take keep prices down, huh?



(probably going to hell for this one)

They didn't get all that gold selling devotional candles at cost . . .

Like a vending machine?

Edit: Define cynical.

Jeanette Isabelle

Maybe the church...on second thought, I'd better not go there...

I have the big Nuwick but it lives in my emergency car kit.

Thanks for the link to outdooridiots.com. I got a good chuckle out some of those articles.

Yeah, somehow, I don't think most of that gold was accrued via sales.

we live in a cabin in the woods without running water but with electricity. We frequently experience power outages. We keep a
UCO camping lantern handy and buy our beeswax candle refills
from a company called Buzz Lites www.buzzlites.ca They have
many other beeswax candles that are very affordable with long
burn times. A lot cheaper and better quality than the Phoney Bheylonians.

Sourdough, welcome to the forum! And thanks for the information about Buzz Lites. Good to know about another source for beeswax candles.

Nurit

Welcome Newguy!

Where in the world is your cabin???

Jackal,

I used to use candles for emergency power outages but found them very dangerous around children, many a house fires started this way. I have a couple of boys and as you may know they are all fasinated with flame!!!

To dangerous for this household so I rigged up 12 volt downlights and coupled it to a motorcycle battery then positioned the downlights in the kitchen, main living area, hallway and one in the electrical box (where the battery is located), they automatacaly come on when the power goes off which gives me heaps of time to switch on the genset or the backup batteries to run the house on mains, simple to install and very effective all without running around in the dark looking for candles and torches.

These guys at Buzz Lites use American beeswax for U.S. customers and Canadian beeswax for Canadian customers.
They have a lot of unique designs along with the usual
stuff.

Sounds like a great set up. One reason we go with the UCO camping lantern is it hangs from the ceiling , it is always
ready with a candle installed, a spare in a holder screwed
to the wall beside it, and best of all out of reach of little
fingers. Once the power goes out we switch to " Simple " mode
and forget about electricity , relax and enjoy the quiet.

A trick that helps with candles, oil lamps, and other sources of flame, is to put a little Museum Wax under the base. It sticks them , in a removable way, to the surface they sit on and goes a long way toward keeping candle stick and oil lamps from sliding off or being knocked over.

http://www.aftosa.com/museumwax.html

Similar products go under various names: quake wax, quake putty, museum putty or similar. The putties seem to be more tolerant of higher temperatures.

This is also handy for other jobs. A P-38 can be stuck to the top of one can in a case with this wax to make sure you always have an opener. This keeps the opener unobscured by tape and obvious to anyone who opens the case.

This stuff can be used to keep things handy and close to where they might be needed in an emergency.