Carbide and Conservation

[martinm]

[gmod]Split and moved from message requesting where Carbide could be bought in "For Sale / Wanted" section.[/gmod]
Don't use it down a cave! It's banned in most anyway and puts soot on all the flowstone.

 

[martinr]

Don't use it down a cave! It's banned in most anyway and puts soot on all the flowstone.

Don't use it down mines either?

 

[Leclused]

Don't use it down a cave! It's banned in most anyway and puts soot on all the flowstone.

Don't use it down mines either?

Don't use carbide neither in caves nor mines I would say. There are alternatives nowdays.

See the following clip about a clean-up action in a Belgian cave
https://sites.google.com/site/speleovig/Environnement/operation-mr-propre-a-ste-anne

The soot deposits came from candles,touches and carbide lamps over the years.

BR

 

[Simon Wilson]

I will totally disregard cave and mine conservationists in respect of carbide lights and continue to use them whenever I want.

 

[Leclused]

I will totally disregard cave and mine conservationists in respect of carbide lights and continue to use them whenever I want.

That is your right but not wherever you want.

And I didn't wanted to lecture, only inform about what the effects of carbide and flames are in caves and mines. Carbide had and still has usefull uses (fe in very cold caves) but in 99% there are better solutions nowdays.

 

[wildside]

I have been using carbide for 43 years its a nice gentle light and does not blind people when you look at the lamp like some of these led lights on the market. I have always been careful with it and do not get it near to any formations or walls etc and I take my spent carbide home and dispose of it responsibly. I cannot see what all the fuss is about. At least when I go underground I know my battery is not going to go flat or my led or bulb is not going to blow. And to say do not use it in quarrys is the silliest thing I have heard as thats all they used to use apart from candles which I also use somtimes. I also have a relation with a vintage car and motorcycles that uses carbide and has never had a problem with people moaning about it. Any way argument over as another poster said all I asked for is where to buy some not a lecture on what I should and shouldnt do and where and what I should be doing with my life

 

[cap n chris]

More here on Carbide:

http://ukcaving.com/board/index.php?topic=374.0
http://ukcaving.com/board/index.php?topic=16394.0
http://ukcaving.com/board/index.php?topic=2521.0
http://ukcaving.com/board/index.php?topic=1942.0
http://ukcaving.com/board/index.php?topic=1455.0
http://ukcaving.com/board/index.php?topic=975.0

 

[martinm]

I didn't start this, a mod did! I started caving in the 1970s on Stinkies. Nice light, but a PITA, always flaring up or going out. I had to find my way out of a cave with no light in the late 70s, (exploratory trip), cos my Stinkie went out and the flint wouldn't relight it. (And they weren't nicknamed Stinkies for no reason!)

I know, I know, should have had a spare light. Would have been a candle back then though, lol. That's all we had. Luckily I had a friend waiting near the entrance. Just watch the videos by SC Avalon washing soot off flowstone, they are enlightening. I have no more to say on the subject now.

 

[Simon Wilson]