Petromax alcohol conversion and denatured alcohol

Hello ladies and gents,
I recently discovered on the German Petromax website that there is a methylated spirit conversion for their Petromax lanterns. I did a quick google search and it says that our US equivalent is denatured alcohol. And I was thinking about at some point in the future trying it out with my Petromax since Kero is pretty expensive down here and denatured is pretty cheap. What are the drawbacks to converting? Is it any less bright with meths/denatured? Has anyone tried it before, and if so, how did it go?

Thanks, Josh

 

Last kero I bought was around $3 a gallon for k1 clear at the pump. Last denatured alcohol I bought was $8 a quart at True Value Hardware. Idk what's going on with fuel prices between us but I couldn't afford to run dna in a lantern. I know PanchoLoco runs a 70/30 diesel/gas mix because kerosene is unavailable in Mexico. I've done it in my Aida and Hipolito as well as straight diesel. Straight diesel takes a lot of preheat.

 

Yeah, it may be different last I checked, but we don’t have any actual kero around here other than in hardware stores for little wick lamps and the like. Last I remember it was about $10 for a gallon of kero. Problem is it is a bit harder to find sometimes. Denatured is a lot more expensive but easier to find, I would likely never keep the lantern on denatured, but switch it over for a while if I could not find any kerosene. But yeah, denatured is quite a bit more expensive. I was mostly wondering about the feasibility of it and if it works any different than kero.

 

Sorry, I go that a bit mixed up, I retyped it a few times to many, denatured is still more expensive than kerosene down here, just easier to find a lot of the time. Mostly just a theoretical hmmmm question than anything.

 

It's nice to have options on fuel. Call your local fuel distributors for kerosene availability, there may be options you didn't realize are around.

 

Good plan. I shall see if I can find any.

 

I'm friends with a local distributor who told me that most of our kerosene comes via the pipeline from Texas, surely y'all keep a little for yourself. Jet A is also a type of kerosene but it has anti-icing agents in it that many have posted warnings about it's toxicity. Might do some research but I'd use it outside anyway.

 

The only real drawback of using denatured alcohol or spirit as the fuel to get the same brightness or output as with the original kero is, a much higher volumetric fuel consumption.
With all other parameters remaining more or less the same, the lantern would be consuming denatured alcohol at 3 to 4 times of the rate when running with kerosene. That's because of the larger jet/gas tip orifice diametre being used for alcohol. Indirectly, you'd be running it at a higher cost in the end.
Other than that, I don't think there're any much serious drawbacks except it'd absorb moisture from the surrounding air. Don't store unused alcohol in the fount for too long. DNA certainly runs cleaner than kero.

 

Oh yes, there's another drawback. The Petromax does not have additional safety features for running volatile fuels like those of many Coleman lanterns. Unlike kerosene, denatured alcohol is almost as flammable as Coleman Fuel or gasoline. If the Petromax's pump non-return valve or any joints has a leak while the lantern's running, you could be having a fire to worry about.

 

I run my Primus alcohol lamps fairly regularly and my uneducated evaluation was a consumption about twice as much.

I'm guessing the usage is directly proportional to the area of the jet. For 300cp running on kero the jet should be 0.2mm. This gives an area of 0.031mm^2. For alcohol at 300cp the jet should be 0.3mm. That is an area of 0.071mm^2. That gives a ratio of 2.3.

 

You're right, its proportional to the area of the jet orifice. I exaggerated on the consumption rate. What's the orifice size for the 350 and 500hk equivalent alcohol jets? Anyhow, I think its still substantially costlier using alcohol for the same output.

 

Thanks guys, that makes a lot more sense. I figured it would burn more fuel faster than kero, but did not know for sure.

 

Also I just looked at the description for the adapter and it says that it decreases the burn time to about 4-6 hours depending on conditions with a full tank.
But it fails to mention the size of the orifice.

 

One advantage of alcohol is a more acceptable smell when burning. No Sulphur.

 

True, and it is much safer indoors. Which would be nice when we get hurricanes and big storms.

 

Nope, please read the reaction of @MYN above.

 

I was referring to the fact that alcohol does not produce carbon monoxide and this will not asphyxiate you if you used it indoors. Not with sealing. If your lantern is not sealed it should not be lit either way wether alcohol burning, gasoline burning, or kerosene burning. All of which if they leaked would cause the same issue with fire.

 

300cp, kero: 0.2mm, alcohol: 0.3mm
350cp, kero: 0.22mm, alcohol: 0.33mm
500cp, kero: 0.25mm, alcohol: 0.38mm

These values come from a table put together by @Martin K.

 

Thanks Nils and Martin K for the compilation.
While denatured alcohol might have certain drawbacks, its still a renewable resource. Perhaps someday we might get it a lot cheaper. At least it doesn't soot up. In my area, we have lacquer thinners labelled as 'Spirit'. I think it doesn't contain ethanol at all. I believe its almost entirely methanol. Methanol's cheaper than ethanol.
I think its more suited to a lantern or stove that incorporates enough features to burn light naphtha or gasoline as safely as practical.

 

The use of alcohol can also lead to corrosion problems, especially with iron/steel components. Rusting through can occur in tanks after only a short time, and aggressive acetic acid compounds are formed in the area of the hood / inner chimney during combustion, which have a very corrosive effect.