Diesel in a paraffin blow lamp?

A chap I knew about 40 years ago did some plumbing work for me and he used a petrol blowlamp and he was adamant that only 4 star petrol should be used in it, he said it wouldn't work as well on any other grade, perhaps he'd had the compression ratio increased?

John

Coleman had to alter their lamps to run on unleaded.  Just to show that even these should be run on the correct grade.

John

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Edited By Ajohnw on 10/09/2016 16:37:36

I was looking around on the paraffin vs diesel thing before I made this thread and one boat forum talked about mixing paraffin to motor oil 20:1 to use in the diesel motor. Not sure on the economy of that though.

It seems that paraffin can be mixed in with diesel. Older diesels will run on paraffin but I doubt if the modern engines will tolerate it due to far more sophisticated engine management. I used to work with some one that worked for the ministry during WWII and spent some time finding out exactly what diesel engines can run on. All sorts as he put it.

People have put petrol in diesel engines. It not like putting diesel in a petrol engine. Opinion is that it's ok providing there isn't too much. If I recollect correctly I tried maybe 20% petrol in a diesel and noticed no difference at all. A mechanic suggested that I should top up with diesel when I could, no rush and that it was good for cleaning the system out. Seems others had put way more in.

My current diesel states no bio diesel under the flap over the filler. Nothing about central heating oil though. I understand some do mix that in. The tax is a lot lower.

John

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My experience with a 5 pint paraffin blowlamp (about 35 years ago!) wasn't a happy one. Yes, it did eventually work; I found the jet of burning liquid just about reached the end of the garden if I opened it up before it was vaporising properly. (Cue hoots of laughter at the time!)

However I got the impression that the flame, when roaring away as per, was contaminating the job; it didn't seem to burn cleanly as if there were oily deposits issuing forth in the flame.

I bought a Seivert with a 2944 burner and the difference was amazing. Glad to get rid of the blowlamp; horribile things!

Fractionation columns separate oil into basically molecule sizes, obviuslywith some degree of overlap. This generally means the more carbon atoms ithe string, or ring, the higher the boiling point of that component.

In addition refineries also 'crack' the longer chains into shorter, more volatile componets. It all depends on the type of feed and what fractions are desired at the output.

Higher RMM (Relative Molecular Mass) components tend to have lubricatig properties (think engine oil, here). Kerosene/paraffin fractions have little lubricity (petrol about nil), so these should c not be usedvwhere lubricity is required (diesel injection pumps and diesel injectors).

It is well known that a diesel engie with some kerosene will burn cleaner than the heavier fraction. It is ilegal to do so, of course, but MOT emissions failures have returned with kero in the filter, and passed.

Petrol in diesel clearly reduces the lubricity and may damage the close tolerance pumping and injection components. In addition, diesel fuel containing petrol will burn much closer to the injector tip and potentially overheat and damage it. Expensive job, having nozzles repaced! I would not like to leave more than about 5% contamination for long. 10% tops. The higher the injection pressure, the worse the problem gets, so common

r

ail diesels are more susceptible to damage.

There is also the issue of sulphur content of these fuels. Low sulphur means low lubricity, hence some older engines may be incompatible with modern low sulphur fuel, needing an additive to avoid damage to the injection equipment. DERV is defiitely low sulphur these days.

A much more interesting topic than Darwin awards, where blow lamps are concerned.

Any idea what they did, mine will only run at half power on unleaded, any higher and it flares up with yellow flame, looks like not enough vaporiser

I don't know Duncan. I'd guess that it would be change in what ever air ratio and nozzle they use. There used to be a lot of shouting about the subject in one of the sea fishing mags as people didn't want to buy the fuel Coleman sold.

To be honest I have only run mine on the Coleman fuel. It suits me as I don't need much, I live some way from the sea and given how popular taking people beach casters away from them became I just use a headlamp when I need to see what I am doing. Thieving in this respect had become pretty popular down to the cost of the rods. They get up to all sorts. On the Bristol channel they were following night fishers home hoping that they would leave the stuff in the car and go to bed. The local were hoping they would follow me all the way back to B'ham.

A good source of info on conversion if it's possible and how well it works in practice may be to ask on this forum

**LINK**

They are a pretty helpful lot.

Just add that on mine it can't be turned up full until the mantle is really hot and it's run for a little while. Not long though.

John

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Edited By Ajohnw on 10/09/2016 19:41:32

Thanks AjW, I'm actually on about a stove, not a lamp, got confused. Making a brew is vital, can do it, but it takes longer than it should. They claim it runs on unleaded, but it's not good.

**LINK**

In years gone by there were at least 3 different grades of kero, one known as TVO was used to power tractors, the motor on these was started on petrol, and when warm it was switched over to the tractor volatile oil, these are a low compresion engine, not a diesel, then there was heating kero, and lighting. The stuff I remember is Blue Pennant brand, back in the 1950s until a major hydro power project was built at Roxbough in the South Island, we had regular power cuts most evenings, and we often had tea by the light of a Tilley lamp. Kero used to be cheap, had a look at the Super Market, 1L $NZ 7.50.

Ian S C

We used to have a petrol /paraffin Fergie, but it was cheaper to run on petrol. My brother ran out of petrol one night on his way home, got a couple of pints of paraffin and completed the journey, only about 10 miles. This was a BSA SV, he got stopped by police because the head and exhaust was glowing red, but let off. Old diesels will run on most flammable liquids, they need lube so paraffin etc. needs a dollop of oil. I usually tip old petrol out of the mower etc. into the old diesel tractor, helps with winter starting. Please note I am not recommending any of this.

About 20 years ago I had a Ford Fiesta 1.6 diesel and the handbook suggested that in very cold weather to reduce the chance of fuel waxing that paraffin could be added, it gave a ratio that I can't remember, there was also a warning that this could be illegal in certain countries.

John

GPO telephone and electricity board engineers seemed to be using petrol blowlamps for lead-sheathed cable joint wiping well into the 1970s

years gone by there were at least 3 different grades of kero,...

I run my ollie 90 on straight kero after about a minute (or two at max) on petrol.. It drinks petrol at a rapid rate, so kero is far less costly. If only light duty, I might add about 20% petrol to the kero (so about 15%). If doing heavy work it might get about 10% diesel in the mix, which by all accounts, approximates quite well to TVO (Tractor Vapourising Oil). It just depends on what was in the tank, as for usual running I simply add more kero.That is 3 1/2:1:1/2 approx. My other tractors don't seem to have quite such good manifold heat transfer as the 90.

We also used to run an Ariel 500 on TVO, after starting on a carb full of petrol. Pinked like h*ll on heavy load! The 200cc Villiers engine ran on 50/50 petrol/TVO + oil, but 'spidered'

the plug occasionally, if not run hard. The Mercette was always run on petrol.

I would still not be messing around with more volatile fuels in a blow lamp, mind!

.

Talking of Darwin awards.

I think this weeks winner is :-

Nick

You could try 'Aspen' alkylate fuel, I have been selling this fuel in my mower shop for some time now, and a lot of people who have been buying Coleman fuel have switched over to it. It works out a lot cheaper than Coleman, under half price I think, but is the same make up. It also works well for the biker boys who lay up their machine over winter. Put some in the tank and run it, no problems starting in the spring! Also, obviously works for mowers too! Five year shelf life helps, that's 4 7/8s of a year longer than modern unleaded!!

Cheers, Adrian