parafinn fires

[magneticfly]

does anyone reneber the parafin fires?

they were incredibly damgerous and unsteady, burning hot around a foot each side of them but didnt give out much heat elsewhere? many people died from fires started by them, and they stank the house out?

we had them as we had no other form of heating, we hated them

[Richard1978]

Re: parafinn fires

My mum used to have one when she was a student in the 1960s, & didn't like it as it made all her clothes reek of paraffin.

I can remember it was cone shaped, like the base of a dalek without the bumps.

It ended up in our garden shed for years, just in case of a situation which needed it's services.

One never arrived, & when the shed roof started to leak & the whole structure became unstable my Dad pulled the whole thing down & all the contents went to the tip.

[Emettman]

Re: parafinn fires

Oh yes... last seen by me about 1968, I should think, when we moved to a house with central heating.

Pure Pink Paraffin? on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Ye Olde Paraffin Heater on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

But they haven't gone away completely, and they are not just hiding in greenhouses.
Portable Heaters, Paraffin Heaters, Domestic Heating from Household Innovations

I don't recommend getting one for pure nostalgia purposes.

[jimexe]

Re: parafinn fires

I used to have one of these in my bedroom in the late 80s,used to love the smell of it when it was burning,always used to remind me of christmas for some reason.Looking back i cant beleive my parents let me have one in my room but then again we weren't so health and safety mad back in those days

[rossobantam]

Re: parafinn fires

late 70's...back in the days before central heating, we had these (and those calor gas ones, like a cabinet on wheels)

Our house was soooo cold, on school mornings I ran as fast as poss from my warm bed to the front room where the heater was

Accidentally melted my school tie on it once!

[HG]

Re: parafinn fires

I remember us having one in the kitchen in the late 70's, when winters were colder

In those days we didnt have central heating and relied upon gas fires in the living rooms, a gas wall heater in the hall, an electric wall heater in the bathroom which was next to useless unless you stood underneath it and electric storage heaters in the bedooms.

[Richard1978]

Re: parafinn fires

One of my aunts had one of those cubic calor gas heaters, but I don't remember it being used much.

[scotchmist]

Re: parafinn fires

I only had the dubious privilege of experiencing a parafin fire once. I was visiting a friend who lived in a typical 50s built Scottish council house ie. it felt like a tomb! He had one going in his bedroom but it might as well have been out in the street for all the good it did and you had to open a window to let the stench out so it was pretty pointless! I camefrom a posh centrally heated home .....which brings me to my next post..!!

[Kiop]

Re: parafinn fires

Accidentally melted my school tie on it once!

Are you sure it was a genuine accident? Or did you really do it on purpose so you wouldn't have to wear the frikin thing?

[Gothic]

Re: parafinn fires

Managed to melt a pair of pyjamas on one once, also managed to burn my hands on one!!

[RODEO]

Re: parafinn fires

We had these for many years . Burnt my hand on the top of one when I was about 6! Dad lit it ,and said dont touch ,its hot ! Of course I put my hand flat on the top! I remember it was near xmas ,and the doctor came out every day to dress the wound . No rules about sticking it in cold water then! The pain was excrutiating!

[sf1378]

parafinn fires

Did anyone else have an Aladdin Paraffin Heater in their bathroom? We did. They were really made as Green House/Garden Shed heaters but many people used to use them in the house, especially said bathroom.

We had a brown one. I remember watching my Dad having a time with putting the new wick on, which always took some doing, filling the tank with Paraffin and then soaking the wick...I remember as a child that instant smell that came when he lit the wick for the burner with a match, the smell of sulphur and burning Paraffin...

I used to think it was 'magic' seeing the yellow flame become blue once the flute was placed over the burner and locked into place and how the 'solid' lamp window suddenly became see-thru showing the blue flame inside....I also remember how dangerous the things were and how hot the grill got, I am sure a lot of us remember a time when we forgot we'd placed something over the grill for it to start to smolder or smoke-or even burn!!!

We also had a later model that was aqua blue and white and angular, more wider at the bottom than the top....must have been from the 1960s. Dad got that one second hand about 15-20 years ago, long gone now I hasten to add. The brown ones had a front removable cover to access the burner etc and the cover had an 'A' cut into it. One thing that never changed was the gauge-the cork would dissolve and break from the Paraffin over time and the gauge no matter how full always stayed at 'O'....

[FLYING SAUCER]

Re: parafinn fires

Yes, I remember my early childhood, I was 7 in 1972 when we had electric cuts. Dad put a Valor heater in the hall and it reeked! He aso stood one in the cast iron bath to stop the pipes from freezing in the bathroom.

There was another cicular stove too, called a Valour Valmin? Circular wick, and cylindrical. But meant for the greenhouse im sure !

Pink parrafin was sold at the Garage where dad worked, I also remember an elephant logo and perhaps you lot can say if I am wrong or not, was he called PONGO?

[sf1378]

Re: parafinn fires

This is the model we had a few of. Deathtraps if you ask me. The chimney is different in these pics. Ours where always a dark painted gloss black, the window was oval shaped and the matierial used to comprise the window was made of some form of heat resistant mirrored material in strips overlaid atop one another. This looks like some form of new replacement chimney to me...but its spot on in other ways-even the colour.


http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...ht_4893wt_1189

[sf1378]

Re: parafinn fires

Ah, here we go...the exact type of chimney I mentioned....

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Aladdin-Pa...#ht_500wt_1204

One thing I hated about them was how the heat burnt and gnarled the grill, it would feel like rust to the touch (when cool!) covering either the middle of the grill bars most often. The paint didn't seem to stand up to the heat being emitted...and it added to that acrid burnt smell...

I also remember my Dad used blue or yellow paraffin in our ones....paraffins paraffin afterall!