Flame duration test results

I've mentioned elsewhere that I make firedancing equipment commercially, so I've got a special interest in finding out what works. I have built a simple test rig that allows me to compare the performance of several wicks. I finally got around to comparing the performance of two different wick designs and two different fuels (kerosene and Coleman gas). The results are at www.fire-gear.com/testing.html

Adam,

Interesting results so far. I think the experiment is a great idea. I would suggest the following be considered also. How much wick is on each poi? I take it is the same. How tight is the wick on the tube (If it is too tight it will not soak up as much fuel). One way to find this out it to measure how much fuel in milli-litres is soaked into each fire head. The other thing to consider is how long does the wick last in each configuration. All of which will take a long time to work out.How did you light all the heads at the same time. I have worked in a lab and basically everything is measured. Good luck with your investigations, I am keen, as well as others, to hear your results. Thanks for getting us all thinking too.

Regards

Malcolm

Hey Malcolm, I always thought that you should rap your wick tight on the pipe...Does it really restrict the amount of fuel getting absorbed?? I'm talking Hand-wrapped tight.
I figured it just soaked through, please enlighten me.

love and light
Sacha

Malcolm--

Each wick is made using 2 strips of 2" x 24" wicking, 1/8" thick. So 96 square inches of wicking. The wicking is fairly loose on the tube-core wicks (and on the interleave wicks, too). So I don't think soak-up was a problem, although I did not determine just how much fuel they each soaked up. Maybe next time--that would be worth finding out. I have weighed wicks before/after soaking on a different occasion, and found that the tube-core wicks seemed to soak up about 1 oz more.

When you ask "how long does it last," I assume you are asking how many light-ups. That I don't know.

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Adam Rice :: www.fire-gear.com

[This message has been edited by adamrice (edited 26 January 2001).]