Low odour kero in a Coleman 249

We all love the smell of kero, but sometimes it’s a bit overpowering. I just bought 40 ltrs of ‘low odour’ kero from Sydney Solvents so decided to fire up my little 249.

Can’t smell a thing and it runs great

(PS - I do not work for Sydney Solvents!)

 

We use jet A1 which has 5% antifreeze in it im told. That smells a bit but at $2 a litre who cares

 

I am pleased it works for you. Here in the UK "low odour" kero has produced variable results. It lights but goes dim after a bit. Some of the manufacturers here now say "for heaters only" or "not for lamps" on their product info. It might be that the Coleman is more tolerant than Tilley/Vapalux design. More testing needed !

 

I didn’t know that @Fireexit1 , I shall test it in my Tilley and Vapalux and report back.

 

Very nice! I have a 249 scout it was my first kero lantern.

 

Quite often run low odour kero in my lanterns particulary wick lanterns. The blue stuff is really for cleaning mechanical parts. Stinks like anything in a kero hurricane lantern and gives a rather yellow flame.

Must give Sydney Solvents a ring a get a 20l drum of low odour kero.

Buying kero in 4L bottles is rather expensive.

 

Odd, I’ve not found that to be the case, or maybe it’s a terminology thing. The premium grade paraffin I use in lamps and stoves is certainly ‘low odour’ but isn’t labelled as such.

 

I think there may be some differences in manufacture: this one says "not for lamps" Premium Paraffin | Barrettine Products - but it is a C1 grade.

I have also observed that some manufacturers say their product is suitable for kerosine lamps. Now to the average person a kerosine lamp is a wick lamp.
Yours says C1 - so that is "low odour" or "Premium"in fact the manufacturer draws a parallel to esso blue. C1 Paraffin - Compass Fuel Oils Ltd
C2 is domestic heating oil (not so low odour) but you can use C1 in it's place. I think that some retailers also conflate terms.
Others say that theirs is low odour and I think that they mean lower odour than C1 - mainly by removing sulfur and claiming it is "extra refined". This does also seem raise the flashpoint so if you have a lamp that does not generate quite enough heat once lit it may lead to the symptoms above. (Theory)

I am interested as I would use the stuff (for indoor use) if I thought it would be OK.

 

I'm still struggling with knowing what to buy as the ultra low odour paraffin I have dimming problems with is labelled C1 as is the paraffin I don't have problems with. The inference being that whatever extra process the ultra low odour stuff goes through does not affect its rating.

 

https://www.britishfueloils.co.uk/fuel-specification-data-sheets/
These are good precis of the grades of kero/fuel oil in the UK. In many of the properties listed in each spec is a "minumumn" so it is possible to comply to C1 but have less of something - like sulphur.
Trial and error rather than science will prevail here I think !

EDIT: it would aslo seem it is yellow by a rule. I guess for ID and customs dities. So that's maybe why it is not blue or green anymore...

 

My impression is that the low odour type sold here is somehow less volatile and preheating/lighting is more difficult. Two of my lanterns were very hard, or impossible, to preheat and when I swapped to normal kero they performed well again. So only two instances, and perhaps there could be other reasons for my lighting failures, but I now stick with the smelly stuff.

 

I actually bought the stuff to burn in a kero heater I use in the garage when working from home. Will see how it performs in a few different lanterns over the next few weeks

 

I for one would like to see your test results with the different lanterns. I'm thinking of getting some of the stuff myself.
I'm wondering if I can get it in Toowoomba?
Cheers
Pete

 

@Buckaroo

Are you able to find the MSDS for that particular low odour kerosene? I’d like to compare it to “straight” kerosene.

Tony

 

Postage to Toowoomba looks to be about $50 (then $75 for two etc.)

As with lanterns, postage is always the killer!

I have sent an enquiry re the MSDS

@AussiePete
@Tony Press

 

@Tony Press

Here are the MSDS’s for the low odour and regular kero from Sydney Solvents.

 

Thanks.

The “low odour” appears to be the result of the fact that any sulphur has been removed (or not present in the original product).

Jet A1 in Australia (which I use a lot of), is “hydrodesulpherised” but still has that kerosene odour (as does any of the “blue-dyed” Aussie kerosene).

The boiling point range of the low odour kero is lower (100-210°C) than standard kerosene or Jet A1 (~ 150-300°C) and the auto-ignition point is higher (296°C for the low odour, and ~ 225°C for straight kerosene/Jet A1.

Interesting...

Cheers

Tony

 

From the MSDS of both, I'd say that the low-odour one would be better for lighting up pressure lamps. That's aside from the odour.
A little easier to vaporize since its somewhat lighter. They removed some heavier components.
Autoignition temperature is higher, which also implies less chance of getting ignited in the mixing chamber and usually characterized by being less prone to pyrolysis and less fouling up of the generator with coke.
A little bit lighter in composition usually also means it should perform better for lanterns with slightly enlarged/worn jet orifices.
Basically, they removed most, if not all of the aromatic hydrocarbons(1,2,4- and 1,3,5-trimethylbenzenes, naphthalene, xylenes and benzene) found in regular kero. That'd remove much of the odour. That's apart from being hydro-desulphurized on the bulk of the naphtha.
That low-odour version has a bit(<5%) of n-hexane in it too, which happens to be pretty volatile. Certainly easier to light.

 

Interesting, it will be good to hear about Buckaroo’s tests.

 

Bunnings, a large hardware store, has sold the stuff for years. At A ten dollar premium over normal blue kero I won’t normally use it. My 4 litre bottle sits there 3/4 full. A bit went into a glass lamp in the house to look right and not smell.

The 4 litre plastic bottles at Bunnings, ($16.35), work out cheaper than the 20 litre drum, but I prefer the few dollars more per 20 litres ($86 yesterday) as I reckon the steel tin is easier to tap and environmentally better than 5 plastic bottles. I know it’s cheaper elsewhere but not convenient when you live in a small country town. I often wait till it’s on special.

 

Works pretty well on these two...

Austramax 3/300 and Vapalux M1

 

I’ve checked the MSDS of the stuff I used and its very similiar to the one above. I accept that my view expressed above isn’t supported by the specs.

I wasn’t convinced by the photo of the Vapalux as I’ve used low odour K. in a Guardsman which is not dissimilar in design. Use in the Austramax where the vapouriser is placed differently and has less thermal mass is more convincing.

What’s life without a few myths and legends though?

 

A good post Buckaroo

 

I think we are suffering from the differences in nomencature and standards in different countries. In the UK "C2" kerosine is heating oil AKA "28 second". "C1" is more refined and is the equivalent of what we call Paraffin. Some manufacturers label this as "low odour" as it does have less of a smell than C2/Heating oil when burning. But also in the UK there are also other "low odour" or "super low odour" kerosine/paraffins that are even more refined. These seem to have a higher flashpoint than run of the mill C1 and again some manufacturers advise against using them in lanterns. Confusingly these can also be labelled C1 as the C1 standard is for maximumn content of sulphur etc (the stuff that gives it the odour). I have also seen the low odour paraffin advertised for greenhouse heaters, pesticide use, thinning paints and as a degreaser. It has also been described as "white spirit" but I am aware that this also means different things in different countries.

 

"White spirit" is basically mineral spirit. It smells like kerosene but its slightly lighter. There are 'odourless' variants too. Sometimes referred to as mineral turpentine. In my area, they're just labelled as 'turpentine', although its actually a misnomer. We use it as thinner for alkyd- and other general oil-based paints. I use it frequently in place of kerosene for pressure lanterns and stoves.

As for the name paraffin, there is another problem. Its also a common name for kerosene. Having said that, low-odour 'paraffin oil' should not be mistaken as low-odour kerosene. This stuff is certainly not a suitable fuel for pressure lamps. These have higher boiling and flashpoints. They are ok for wick lamps.

 

Just looking a bottle of UK "white spirit" now (as used for thinning and cleaning paint and brushes) and it says Naptha hydrodesulfurised heavy to EC No 265-158-4 . This is often referred to here as turpentine substitute or mineral turpentine. Boiling point is 90 to 230 degrees C.

 

Ditto for White Spirit in Australia. I wouldn’t use it in a lamp.

Tony

 

This from wikipedia (with references): Light naphtha is the fraction boiling between 30 °C and 90 °C and consists of molecules with 5–6 carbon atoms. Heavy naphtha boils between 90 °C and 200 °C and consists of molecules with 6–12 carbon atoms.

Light naphtha= Coleman fluid / White gas / some panel wipes/ some brake cleaners/ zippo fluid.
Heavy naphtha= White spirit / brush cleaner / thinners/ turpentine substitute/ mineral turpentine

 

Kerosene has around 9 to 16 carbon atoms per molecule. Mineral spirits in general, around 7 to 12 carbon atoms per molecule, and predominantly aliphatic hydrocarbons, which is "paraffinic"
in chemistry.

 

So in carbon terms - there is some "overlap"