Hello, I live in the States and I really don't know what type of fuel to use. Kerosene, parafinn and lamp oil seem to be names at are describing the same stuff with varying degrees of cleanliness with lamp oil be in the cleanest. Are these all exchangeable? What about k1-kerosene , kleen heat kerosene, and tiki torch oil? It's all very confusing. Today I received a Vapalux M1b and I have a couple of Tilley's coming. I even found a bowl fire. I want to get the best fuel for my toys, my wife requires no smell. Thanks for your help. Here is a before and after of my m1b
I hear that aviation kerosene is very good for paraffin lanterns and in the UK I regularly use 28 sec heating kero which works well for me. Torch oil sometimes has perfumes and other additives (I think) so I'd avoid that or it might block up the jet. In the UK there is a substance we call white spirit which is sold as a brush cleaner/paint thinner/general purpose solvent and that can be used in paraffin stoves so it might work in paraffin lanterns although I've not tried myself. The problem with buying fuels and solvents in different countries is that the names are nearly always different and discovering which is which can be a nightmare!
Hi, I use 1-K Kerosene in my lamps and heaters. The Klean Heat Kerosene should work just fine but I have never used it. I do use Klean-Heat Heater fuel in my wick lamps as it burns cleaner. I do not use (what is called in the US) lamp paraffin or paraffin based lamp oil. Some folks use jet fuel (Jet A or A-1) as it is mostly kerosene. US military JP-8 is very similar to Jet A. Welcome! Fred
Difficult to say what is best, but the latter would be a tough one to meet. The Vapalux, Tilleys and the Bowl Fire in your upcoming line of devices basically use kerosene as fuel. First of all, do not use volatile fuels such as Coleman campfuel, gasoline or light naphtha in those. They are not designed to operate safely with volatile fuels. (**You can still mix up to say, 25~30% by volume of the stated volatile fuels into the main bulk of the kerosene to be used as the fuel under certain circumstances). So, as for the basic fuel, we would normally prefer clean, water-clear, usually colorless 1-k kerosene. Not always available everywhere though. We'd use any regular kero we can get but they do have higher sulphur and mercaptan contents than highly refined kero. They do have relatively strong odours. Kleen Heet is clean and probably near odorless. Only problem is, it has a higher flash and initial boiling point than 1-k or regular kerosenes. It should burn relatively clean on a properly functional lantern. You might encounter slightly more difficulties in the startups due to its higher flash and initial boiling points. Tiki torch fuels are more suited for Tiki torches and wick lamps. Pressure lanterns usually work less well with lamp oil-type of kerosenes or paraffins. There are many types of kerosenes. They differ by their sulfur contents and boiling temperature ranges. You can try odourless mineral spirits as the substitute for kero in your devices but do check their SDS and technical datasheets beforehand to ensure they are of the right types and fall within a suitable flash and boiling point range. They are usually more refined and cleaner than most kerosenes.
