135 North 10th, P.O. Box 307 Montpelier, ID 83254 800-847-0465 Fax: 208-847-0467

The Petromax (left) Aladdin Lamp (center) & Butterfly (right) Even though the Petromax and Butterfly lanterns look almost exactly the same there are huge differences between the two.

Sometime later I thought it might be nice to have two bright lights around the house during power failures. As the Petromax is kind of expensive, I bought a Butterfly lantern. The Butterfly is a copy-cat product made in Asia which only costs half as much, looks exactly like a Petromax to the untrained eye, and has advertised itself as just as good a lantern. Well, after comparing how the two perform, they might look alike but that's as far as it goes. These are two very different lanterns.

I did a comparison burn determining fuel rate because someone told me the Petromax would burn 30% longer on the same amount of fuel (it won't). Pumping both lanterns up I learned that the Butterfly takes much less pressure to get it's gauge up than the Petromax and is therefore much quicker to pump up. Petromax has just started selling a tire schrader valve that can attach to the lantern to make pumping it up a snap using a bicycle pump. It takes 2 or 3 minutes to pump up the Petromax using the little pump built into the lantern. However, it's about the same as pumping up a Coleman white gas lantern.

Lighting the lantern. The alcohol preheat is demonstrated on the left and the internal kerosene torch is shown on the right.

Starting The Lanterns: A white gas lantern uses the fumes on the top of the tank to get the lantern started. As kerosene doesn't have flammable fumes like gasoline, it's not quite so easy to get the Petromax or Butterfly started. Before you can turn the lantern on you must heat the expansion tube hot enough to vaporize the kerosene before it gets to the mantle. There are two different ways of doing this. The preferred method uses a little blow torch that's part of the lantern. In the two pictures to the right you can see the valve on the lower side of each picture. The left photo shows this valve in the up or closed position and the right photo shows it in the down or open position. To start this little torch, flip the valve open and stick the match inside the tube. You need to let it run for 90 seconds before turning on the main valve starting the lamp. If you get in a hurry and try to do this too quickly, raw fuel might get to the mantle which will create clouds of black smoke, the reason you start it outside.

The other way to get the lantern started uses alcohol. At the bottom of the expansion tube is a little cup you can fill with alcohol. Lighting this also heats up the expansion tube. I've found the cup is a little small and in order for the tube to get heated adequately, it's necessary to fill the bowl twice.

What's easier? The torch is certainly quicker and you don't need to keep a bottle of alcohol around to fill the bowl with. But the drawback to the torch is it requires a bunch more pumping. This would stop being such a big deal if you had the schrader valve and a bicycle pump.

Lantern Positive and Negative Qualities: After I got the lanterns running, I tried to pump up the Butterfly a bit more. After the first stroke, the mantle broke completely off at the top. Mantles are fragile being only ash after the first use. However, the lamp was on a cement floor and I was holding it very tightly. It didn't wiggle hardly at all as I pumped it. I thought it was a faulty mantle, so I put one of my extra Petromax mantles on it, relit it, and tried pumping it again. Darned if the mantle didn't pop off again! My conclusion, the Butterfly burner assembly the mantle attaches to is not anchored correctly and actually amplifies vibrations, breaking the mantles. Well, I replaced the mantle a second time and was careful to pump it before I started it this time instead of after I lit it. By comparison, my Petromax lantern has taken some serious bumping abuse over several uses (including pumping) and the initial mantle is still in use and looks just like new. I make a big deal about this mantle breaking issue because in a long term crisis the last thing you want is a lantern that breaks a mantle or two every night. A week of that and you won't have a functioning lantern.

After I got the two lanterns started and their two pressure gauges reading the same, I stepped back about 100 feet and looked at the two lanterns. The Petromax was noticeably brighter.

Next, I set the Butterfly in my small, enclosed entryway. This is a little room about 4 feet wide by 12 feet by 7 feet high. About 3 minutes later I went in to check on fumes. There was a strong kerosene odor - in my opinion, too strong to burn the Butterfly inside the house without the windows open. I feel the Butterfly is an outside lantern only because of the fumes. By comparison, my lit Petromax sat in this same small room for over 1/2 hour with no real noticeable odors. The Aladdin Lamp also burns odor-free and is a great indoor light.

Both the Petromax and Butterfly lanterns have a small needle valve at the top of the lantern that shuts the lantern off. The Petromax lantern valve works very well. I can leave pressure in it for weeks and there is no leakage of kerosene from the top of the valve. The Butterfly, even though it requires much less pressure, has a faulty valve. After turning the lantern off and after the expansion tube had cooled, I was dismayed to find that the Butterfly was leaking fuel out the top of the fully closed needle valve! To get it to stop, I had to release the pressure in the tank.

The Petromax is a brass lantern with a nickel coating. It's made in Germany. The Butterfly is a steel lantern with a stainless steel coating made in Asia. When I was emptying the kerosene out of the Butterfly to measure unburned fuel during my burn rate test, the kerosene was dirty with rust particles and dust. The kerosene from the Petromax was clean.

The Butterfly does have a couple of advantages over the Petromax - it's ease of pumping, and it's metal tipped alcohol bottle which I like, but it's disadvantages are so negative that I won't be using the Butterfly even though I own the thing. I find it unacceptable how badly it breaks mantles and the stink it puts off in an enclosed area, making it unsuitable for my needs.

The Aladdin lamp has a couple of advantages over the Petromax. It requires no pumping as it isn't a pressure system such as the Petromax or Butterfly. Because there's no pressure involved in it's operation, it also operates silently. The Petromax and Butterfly make a hissing sound very much like a Coleman gas lantern. The Aladdin is also very easy to light and can be lit just as quickly as a candle or hurricane lantern. Getting a Petromax or Butterfly going is at its fastest at least a 2 minute operation performed outside. The Aladdin has one other advantage. The amount of light it gives off can be controlled from dim through bright. The Petromax or Butterfly is either on or it's off. The disadvantage to the Aladdin is it doesn't give off very much light. The manufacturer claims it gives off the same amount of light as a 60 watt bulb. My experience, which includes several of these lamps, is the light radiated actually is more like a 40 watt bulb. This is 'blinding bright' compared to a candle or a hurricane lamp, but is dim compared to a Petromax that gives off many times more light.

I think there is a place for both the Petromax and Aladdin lanterns. During power outages it would be wonderful to have a bright light in the main living area of the house. The Petromax should serve here very well. The Aladdin lamps will be used in the other rooms of the house where not so much light is needed. A perfect example are my bathrooms, none of which have any outside windows. Bedrooms are another example. Note that different lamp manufacturers recommend you don't leave any of these lamps burning unattended. They each put off a bunch of heat.

The Bottom Line: The Petromax operates as advertised and is a great lantern. The Aladdin lamp is also a good product. The Butterfly leaves much to be desired. In my opinion, even at half the cost it's just not worth it.

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Revised: 29 Nov 99