Carbide

Subject: What is carbide? Where to get it? (compiled)
Date: Monday, January 26, 2004 1:22 PM



On Tue, 20 Jan 2004 13:55:04 -0500, A man <uce@xxxxxxx> wrote:

>On lehmans.com there is a carbide lamp. I was under the impression
>that these are much brighter than a kerosene lamp. So what is carbide
>and where do you get it? Lehmans does not seem to carry it.
---------------
I have several carbide lamps around from my spelunking days in the
1970's.

These work just fine, nice bright, white light, but there are some
serious drawbacks. The worst of these is that the flame just shoots
out the front of the lamp, unprotected. The flame is quite hot and
will melt nylon in a heartbeat. This is especially a concern around
tents, sleeping bags, and climbing ropes. Since they burn in any
position, it is unsafe to leave a carbide lamp lying on a table. If it
fell over it could start a fire. Even if you blow out a carbide lamp,
the gas still comes out and could be quite exciting if it suddenly
ignites in a small room.

On the humorous side:

My caving buddy and I were underground sometime in the late 1970's.
OK, it WAS the '70's. He had just rolled up a joint the size of a
crayon and had just asked me for a light. I reached up to hand him my
hardhat with the carbide lamp attached, when the little element where
the flame comes out popped loose, sending a LARGE *** of flame from
my hat towards John, singing his beard and plunging us into darkness..
The joint did not light.
------------------------
Carbide lamps DO make a pretty good flame for soldering or thawing out
metal pipes. If I remember correctly, the gas is acetylene.

I'd pass on the carbide lamps. Kerosene is safer and the fuel is
common and cheap.. Even the new LED's are lighter, brighter, safer,
and batteries are far more common that carbide.

-----------------------------

http://hqcompany.com/carbide.htm

BTW, if you're using it in a lamp, a pound goes a long way.....
-------------------------------

But, ...they're messy, smelly and require a lot of maintenance. My
dad employed an old Cornish gold miner who could reach up with cupped
hand, gather the flame in his hand, pull his hand down and light a
cigarette from the flame burning in his hand. Saw him do it many
times.
---------------------
"Carbide" is short for calcium carbide (CaC2). The stuff looks like
gray rocks and smells like a railroad yard due to reaction with
humidity in the air. It reacts rapidly with water to give acetylene
gas and lime as a byproduct CaC2 + H2O > CaO + C2H2. A lamp consists
of a carbide container under a water container. You turn a valve and
water drips on the carbide forming the gas which burns with a bright
yellow white flame. I had a large well made plastic one once which
attached to my belt and had a long rubber hose going up to a gas jet
and reflector on a headband. I bought it around 1973 at an army navy
store. It worked but was also messy and the flame varied. A propane
lantern is more convenient and the fuel readily available. A
flashlight is best though in my opinion since you don't have to ***
around with the rocks, water, a lighter, and the open flame. I was at
a campout and loaned my unit to a hysterical fat lady who said she was
night blind. She thanked me and walked off with her own headlight.
The next day she brought it back to me in pieces. She set it in the
parking lot and her fat friend ran over it with their van. No great
loss.

-----------------------

Carbide lamps on this principle were quite common in the 1890s and 1900s,
especially for bikes and motor-cars, before battery-powered lights became
economical. Though they were common, the fuel was even then quite
expensive.
I'd stick to batteries and LEDs, or if you must use flame-based lighting,
kerosene.
-----------------------
Here is a rather unconventional use for calcium carbide:

http://www.ray-vin.com/mus/mk-3.htm
-------------------------
It was also used to generate acetylene for wielding. I suppose the
torch was like the butane and propane torches now available, can't see
how they'd get oxygen in a tank back then, out on the farm.
---------------------------

When I was a kid, I thought it was fun to toss a golf ball size chunk
of carbide into a pond, river or lake, etc... Oh what fun the good
ol'days were.

FWIW, carbide will brust into flame when it comes in contact with
water.

----------------------------
It won't burn when it contacts water but that's when the chemical
reaction happens and the gas is released.

I'll bet you are thinking of sodium.

-----------------------------
Youre right :-)
Now I remember what we did as kids with carbide, we would put a chunk
in a jar with a little water, screw the lid on tight and throw.

I also used to go fishing with quarter sticks :-)










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