9 Camping Lantern Maintenance Tips.

Camping lantern maintenance makes lanterns perform better and last longer. A little care and a few simple tips can help make sure yours works at the campsite...

Camping Lantern Maintenance

Since various lanterns have different designs some of the suggestions below may or may not apply to your particular lantern. For example canister fuel type lanterns don't have pumps because they're already pre-pressurized, etc.

1. Cleaning and maintaining your gas lantern along with your other camping gear and/or hiking equipment will help to keep it dependable and make it more efficient. Bad or dirty fuel, clogged fuel tubes, and torn mantles can cause your lantern to drop in light output and sputter.

2. It's a good camping lantern maintenance idea to use a screened funnel or coffee filter to catch any dirt or other contaminants that may otherwise find their way into a liquid fuel tank.

3. The generator vaporizes liquid fuel into a gas so that it can be used more efficiently and provide a brighter light. The generators can become clogged with foreign objects or dirty burning fuel (gasoline is notorious for its dirty burn quality) so if your lantern is a multi-fuel variety use white gas, it burns much cleaner. Also over an extended period of time generators heat cycle so many times that it fatigues the metal and it may start to leak which can cause it to flame up. Contact your lantern manufacturer for repair and part information.

4. It's pretty amazing mantles last as long as they do. They start out as a mesh fabric but once they're used the first time they turn to ash. If the lantern gets jarred hard enough, and even eventually just through use, the mantle can begin to break apart. Once the mantle gets a big enough hole it doesn't control the gas for a bright consistent burn and you'll see sooty flames and sputtering. Mantles are really inexpensive, so it's always a good idea to have a few on-hand because you never know when you'll need a replacement.

6. When storing your lantern for the winter, or camping stove for that matter, empty the tank back into the fuel container so that the fuel won't have as much of a chance to gum up the inside workings of your lantern. Varnish can eventually clog the fuel pick-up tube causing the performance to drop significantly over time.

7. If your lantern is dirty you can clean it with mild soap and water. Once it's thoroughly dry store it in a sealable bin or a bag to keep the dust and bugs from causing any clogs later. Camping lantern care is really pretty easy and will more than pay for itself in reduced frustration alone. :-)

8. Over time lanterns can become worn and the normal camping lantern maintenance routine won't be enough. If parts require replacement contact the manufacturer to see if they do repairs or have replacement parts available.

9. Also, if your lantern has a flint sparker or piezo-electric ignition, make sure to check and maintain those too. It's a good idea to have matches on-hand too on trips, in case your electronic sparker dies without warning as they tend to do.

If you found this camping lantern maintenance information interesting, there's more camping lantern information here.