How long should a carbide lamp burn on one filling?

[Tom Pettit]

Howdy All,

Thanks for the replies on where to get carbide. Thanks to your
responces, I got some from a guy in my town.

Now, I fired up the beast and it works like a champ, but I'm curious to
know if one hour per charge of water and carbide is normal? Both seemed
to run out about the same time.

Thanks,

Tom

[Steve L.]

Walt Pirie (wltp...@vt.edu) wrote:
: On Tue, 22 Apr 1997 19:52:06 -0700, Tom Pettit <to...@proaxis.com>
: wrote:

: >Now, I fired up the beast and it works like a champ, but I'm curious to

: >know if one hour per charge of water and carbide is normal? Both seemed
: >to run out about the same time.

: I would judge a "normal" flame to be about 3/4 to 1" long.

I have an Autolite, and generally run my flame between
an inch and 1.5 inches. My eyes are bad so anything less doesn't
cut it...

: amount of carbide should ideally be about 1/3 of the bottom full or
: slightly more.

Yeah, that sounds about right; maybe a little closer to
half depending on the base you have. Overfilling makes carbide
changes difficult, stresses the seams in the base, and generally
wastes carbide (leaves unreacted carbide around the sides and
bottom).

: You should generally be able to refill the water tank
: once on the same carbide load and get about 3 hours use, plus or minus
: 1/2 hour.

I usually run out of carbide after about 2-2.5 hours.
I seldom have to refill the water during that time though unless
I've been doing a lot of crawling and lost some out the top.

Your time of one hours is really low...you are probably
running a much larger flame than necessary or not putting
nearly enough carbide in the base. **OR** you have some kind
of leak!

If you have a leak, you are generating gas quickly, but
most is just floating away instead of being forced out the tip,
so you use up carbide really fast and don't get alot of light.

A good symptom of this is if your base is VERY hot, but your flame
is only about an inch long. Check for small cracks in the base
or a worn/missing gasket between the base and the lamp head.

Sorry this was so long...feel free to email me if you have other
questions.

--
Steve LePera /\v/\ Reacting Flow Lab
Graduate Student /\v/\ Randolph Hall
Mechanical Engineering (540) 231-5882 Virginia Tech
Remove spaces and spam to reply to: leperas @ spam . vt . edu
Triumph Daytona 1971, Yamaha Seca 750, 1981 VPI #351 NSS#40805

[Walt Pirie]

On Tue, 22 Apr 1997 19:52:06 -0700, Tom Pettit <to...@proaxis.com>
wrote:

>

>Howdy All,
>
>Thanks for the replies on where to get carbide. Thanks to your
>responces, I got some from a guy in my town.
>

>Now, I fired up the beast and it works like a champ, but I'm curious to
>know if one hour per charge of water and carbide is normal? Both seemed
>to run out about the same time.

Tom:

Was it you who first asked having bought a Butterfly? No matter. How
long it lasts obviously depends on how much carbide and water you
charge it with, and just as important, how long a flame you use. One
hour is very low. and would be unsatisfactory for caving to most
people.
I would judge a "normal" flame to be about 3/4 to 1" long. And the

amount of carbide should ideally be about 1/3 of the bottom full or

slightly more. You should generally be able to refill the water tank

once on the same carbide load and get about 3 hours use, plus or minus
1/2 hour.

Walt

[Scott Linn]

Tom Pettit (to...@proaxis.com) wrote:

: Now, I fired up the beast and it works like a champ, but I'm curious to

: know if one hour per charge of water and carbide is normal? Both seemed
: to run out about the same time.

Refill at least once with water. You should be getting ~3 hours of light
with a 1-1.5" flame.

--
________________________________________________________________________
Scott Linn
CMOS IC Design Engineer
Hewlett-Packard Integrated Circuits Business Division - Corvallis, OR
e-mail: sc...@cv.hp.com phone: (541)715-4033 fax: (541)715-2145
________________________________________________________________________

[DONALD G. DAVIS]

wltp...@vt.edu (Walt Pirie) writes:

>I would judge a "normal" flame to be about 3/4 to 1" long. And the
>amount of carbide should ideally be about 1/3 of the bottom full or
>slightly more. You should generally be able to refill the water tank
>once on the same carbide load and get about 3 hours use, plus or minus
>1/2 hour.

This recommendation seems to me too small. I would fill the
bottom 2/3 with carbide. It will then expand to fill the entire bottom,
without leaving enough room to get "soupy." With a 1/2" to 1" flame, you
should get up to 5 to 6 hours per charge (depending on what brand lamp it
is; bottom sizes vary up to 10% or more). You will need at least 2
fillings of water to every one of carbide.
--Donald Davis

[mesa2...@gmail.com]

Just here to revive a 21 year old thread.

Cheers!

[lukebw...@gmail.com]

Wow. 20 years... Make it 21. I just learned about carbide from a buddy. Told me to watch videos about it from Russia. The carbide/acetylene info and videos are hard really hard to find. I'm amazed a rock makes this has
has with water! I want a lamp now!!