View Full Version : Will These Things Discolour The Paintwork?
We have a flat in a Victorian mansion house, with open fires and period details. Now I am on a period lighting kick, and I've bought an oil lamp.
I'm used to buying smoke free candles and have lanterns everywhere... but I'm new to oil. Will burning it cause smoke and discolouration? Is there a way to reduce it? Which oil is best if I'm trying to avoid affecting the paintwork?
Also... open fires. I haven't drummed up the courage to light an open fire yet because I'm afraid of filling the room with smoke and turning the ceiling black. :rolleyes: What should I burn to avoid causing smoke and discolouration?
Having decorated the rooms just a year ago I don't want to be thinking about repainting yet :blink: , but I do like the idea of candles and old lamps with blazing fires.
Ribbit http://www.boiledsprouts.com/ratgrin.gif
Bonkers Mad!!!
22-05-05, 10:20 PM
yes, they will :yes:
Annabel
23-05-05, 10:27 AM
BM is right the oil burners can cause discolouration, I try not to put mine right next to the walls and i dont have them on for very long...but i have still seen some 'soot'...
our TV has also made the wall a bit black as well, which i am not happy about :badmood:
it does clean off with soapy water quite easily though... :)
Hi
Yes it will, and far worse than a candle im afraid
As for the fires, make sure you at the very least get the chimney swept, and checked. Its so inconvinient when you have to call the fire service out and they rip down your chimney breast :D
I'm beginning to wonder if it would be better to find a non-invasive way to convert the oil lamp to electric... no drilling holes, I've seen someone use a fitting that goes inside the burner bit... have to look on ebay.
Annabel, our TV made the walls dirty (so do PC computer screens - my Mac's never done it though)... I hated it so much that we keep our TV inside a cabinet (lovely Chinese one :thumbs: ). Actually we got one of those LCD ones because I hate TVs so much... they're dirty and staticky and get on my nerves, and at least with one of these mega thin ones there's less to get annoyed at. :rolleyes: Why do they make them so big and dirty?
We've had the chimney swept - do it every year - but I'm really worried that I'll light it and do some serious damage.
Electric lighting is just sooooo boring. :cry:
Ribbit :blink:
Annabel
23-05-05, 03:24 PM
:D I have seen the chinese cabinet of which you speak, Ribbit... :D and it is indeed very lovely :notworthy: i wish i could get something as nice as that!
i also would like to get a lcd tv...but i know they will get cheaper as time goes by so i will stick it out! when it comes to electrical items i am such a stingebag!
i meant to say, i have an open fire...but do you mean you will use coal for yours? mine is gas fired (very nice and cosy) and makes no soot at all...that i have noticed so far!
Ribbit
Buy a smoke match from your local diy store and light it in the fireplace if all is well the smoke should be sucked up the chimney if not, it will clear in a few minutes without damge
S
Annabel, the cabinet... ebay! :lol: What isn't these days? :rolleyes:
The fire is completely natural... we'll have to get coal or wood or whatever you burn in an open fire. You see, I don't even know what to burn, let alone how to burn it! :lol:
A smoke match... never heard of one but I shall get one and see what happens. :thumbs:
Even if we only light it for Christmas it would be nice... they look so romantic don't they.
Ribbit :D
Logs not a lot of heat but smell nice look good, however make sure they are well matured or whatever the word is, ie not cut last week, they should be year old, that way you dont get tar inside your chimney
Coal, warmer, not keen on the smell and the ash makes more mess than wood which tends to gurn to nothing
Bonkers Mad!!!
23-05-05, 04:46 PM
Apple wood smells lovely in an open fire ;)
At the moment we have wood displayed decoratively in our open fires, and I put various oils on it to make it smell nice when the wind blows down the chimney (making sure it only goes on the wood of course). But I've decided, smoke and discolouration is not so bad (although burning the flat down still is :rolleyes: ), so when the winter arrives I shall set fire to something tat smells nice. :thumbs: I read somewhere that pine cones smell nice when slung on an open fire. :unsure:
I gave up on the idea of burning oil in my oil lamp, so I've spent the entire day trying to find something to convert oil to electric. I, apparently, have a Kosmos burner... I found a Duplex converter but was told it wouldn't fit, then told by someone else that it would. So off I trundled to ebay (where's that then... never been there before :lol: ) and got a second hand Duplex one (just to see if it fits) for £2. Then I got a "gallery" to sit on th burner and hold a shade (bought a French oil lamp and it doesn't have a shade). Now do you think I can find a beehive or tulip shaped lamp shade in green? No... not even on ebay!. :lol:
I didn't find a shade... but I did find five more oil lamps (all without shades :lol: ) that are in my "watching" folder. :lol:
I also found a rather nice clock, several books, and a pair of candlesticks. Owning an oil lamp is becoming expensive. :lol:
Ribbit. :D
Bonkers Mad!!!
25-05-05, 09:26 AM
:hihi: :hihi: :thumbs:
Elle Golightly
26-05-05, 12:24 PM
Blackpudd and I have an open fire in our dining room which is lovely in winter/Christmas especially when you have people round.
I tend to start off with a small pile of scrunched up newspaper in the bottom of the grate topped with a teepee shaped pile of kindling which doesn't produce too much smoke to begin with and then just add a little coal and then dry wood to build the fire up. Most of the wood I use is pine but I leave it in a basket at the side of the fire to dry over the summer and I avoid any bits that are really knotty otherwise they sometimes explode in the heat!!
I read somewhere that pine cones smell nice when slung on an open fire
They do although you need a lot of them and they need to be really dry.
There's nothing like a roaring fire, a good bottle of wine and someone nice to share them with.
:thumbs:
Please make sure the pine cones are really really dry, if they are wet they tend to go off like little grenade showering little pieces of burning cone all over, your parents pride and joy hearth rug!!!! :D
Oh my... maybe I'll leave some pine cones to dry for a couple of years before I try that then. :blink:
Oil lamp update. I got the Duplex gadget that converts one to electric, and it does fit my kosmos, but the old chimney doesn't fit onto the Duplex gadget. I bought a "gallery" to take a shade, but the Duplex whotsits seem to have changed, because the current gallery doesn't fit the old Duplex gadget. :blink: And the shade I bought? It fits the gallery, but is too big for the lamp.
So, I have an oil lamp that has been converted, but has no shade and no chimney... a "gallery" with nothing to stick it on, a shade with no lamp, and a chimney that doesn't fit. All I need now is another shade, another oil lamp, an extra Duplex whotsit for the second lamp, and two chimneys. :blink:
Now I can see why Edison invented the light bulb! :lol:
Ribbit :lol:
Bonkers Mad!!!
26-05-05, 05:09 PM
all i heard then was "blahblahblahblahblah" :bigeyes: :hihi: :hihi: so i read it again and it stayed gobbledegook :lol: :thumbs:
Originally posted by Bonkers Mad!!!@26th May 2005 - 6:09 PM
all i heard then was "blahblahblahblahblah"** :bigeyes:
:lol: :lol: I'm in training to become a politician. :hihi:
I'm glad I'm not the only one who found it all confusing. And that was the abridged version... the long version included wicks, fonts, snuffers, and collars. :bigeyes: You know where you stand with a light switch.
But the good news is that I have bought one complete lamp and I no longer need another chimney. Somewhere along the way I gained one... about the time I lost a burner and gained a shade. :blink: Confused, you will be! :lol:
And whilst searching for the above lamp I bought a book about repairing clocks. :huh:
Ribbit :lol: