This oil light set will let you replace a normal tea light with an eco-friendly oil light, whether to keep your tea nice and hot or just to add a little bit of candle light to your life: : no aluminium waste, no stearine or paraffine, and at a similar price to normal tea lights. They also need much less space to store than a stack of tea lights.
The set consists of a tin with the wick-holder and about 50 wicks in paper holders, a pair of tweezers to keep your fingers clean when changing wicks, a glass container (a little larger and higher than a regular tea light) and a metal lid that fits exactly on the glass.
To use, fill the glass with a bit of water (at least one centimeter high), then pour some (vegetable) oil on top. Place the wick-holder into the glass, insert a wick and light it. The size of the flame can be influenced by how the wick is positioned in the paper holder: pull it out a bit more for a higher flame, or make sure there is not much wick coming out on top for a small flame. The light will burn until all fuel is used up and then burn out. To extinguish the light while there is still oil left, place the lid on the glass - the lid also prevents dust or flies from falling into the glass between uses.
In general, all cooking oils can be used to fuel your oil light. After longer use, oil residue on the swimmer can gum up; this softens with the heat of the flame and can block up the wick, thus extinguishing the flame. If your light dies after a short while of burning, even though you are using a fresh wick and there is plenty of oil available, you might need to clean or replace the swimmer. Impurities in the oil may also lead to the wick getting blocked up and the light extinguishing itself.
You can find video instructions on how to use the oil light here.
