mantle for gas light

[Globie64]

Does anyone use their interior gas wall fixture? I'd like to use ours, and found the mantles on the VTS web page. I'm curious to know which mantles people use, the tie on or more elaborate ones. Thanks

[mandolindave]

But I am afraid what the heat will do to the "vinyl" finish on the ceiling panels.
It's tough to find a decent spot to mount them where they won't do damage, hurt someone, burn your eyes, or be in the way. I really only need that much light outside, so for me, a Coleman is more useful.

WARNING I have noticed a familiar looking wound on many campers. It seems as though there was a Be Like Mandolin Dave Contest. It appears that
many of the contestants, trying to be like Mandolin Dave, burned an 1 1/2 inch curved line in their inner forearm on the hot metal shade of a Coleman Gas Lantern.

P.S. The winner of the contest, Matt McBriarty, for obvious reasons, didn't want his name used. There wasn't really a trophy per se. But he was awarded
a hardy handshake, a kind word, and a few unkind words.

[RickDavis]

WE use ours all the time. In fact we will install a gas light in any trailer we have as it is an excellent chill chaser as well as a source of light.
We use the tie on mantles and buy them from Cabela's Lehman's in Ohio is another source of mantles and also some lamp parts.
Our mantles usually last several thousand miles.. If you suffer a lot of mantle failures it could indicate running gear out of balance.

I THINK these mantles are also known as 500 watt mantles from some sources.
They are bigger than standard coleman mantles.

[overlander63]

I use the mantles you can get at WalMart or sporting goods stores. The ones that have the wire in them you twist together, rather than tie a knot, seem to hold up best. That said, I haven't looked at the ones Steve is selling, they may be the same and for the same price.

[GetOutDoors]

Had gas light in my '66. A very cool feature. However, it is not something that should be installed in my '05 because the skin is covered with vinyl or a Berber like fabric - both fire starter material.

I was always cautious (made sure the proper fire extinguisher was at hand) the very few times I lit the old light in my '66, and never really used it for more than 5 minutes at a time. Did replumb and install it in the rebuild, mostly for the cool factor.

[Jammer]

I don't have a gas light in my trailer but I had one in my stick house for many years and have a friend who uses them at his nonelectric lake cabin.

There's nothing inherently wrong with tie-on or clip-on mantles as long as they are the correct size. Coleman lanterns use a smaller size mantle than Humphery gas lights so there will be performance problems if you mix them up. Lehman's has the correct mantles. Be aware, too, that the mantle VTS is selling as a "hard mantle" will not fit all burner noses -- there were two styles, and many installed in RVs don't have the removable ceramic mantle carrier because it doesn't hold up well under vibration.

Mantles are slightly radioactive (they contain thorium) and shouldn't be stored in quantity indoors because they give off small amounts of radon gas, which can pose a safety risk if you have a dozen of them or more.

[moparjohn]

Used my interior gas lamp in Oct when I was forced to boondock in a parking lot in Md. because of snow. The park had to move us because tree limbs were falling off from the weight of snow. It worked great!! MPJ

[Beaker63]

Hey Globie,
We use the tie on mantles on our Humphery light. It takes the chill off in the evening and in the morning while the coffee is purcolating on the stove. Unfortunately we don't have any vinyl trim to melt.
Tim

[Globie64]

Thanks, this is more responses than I had hoped for! Ours isn't vinyl inside, just zolatone and wood. I'll get the correct mantle and fire it up, it looks pretty well isolated from flammables but we can easily fix that.