hi all i recently acquired 20 litres of 28 second oil for my pressure lamps - 20 ukp so a good enough price we are away in the tent - large tent etc so the first night i am running the lanterns on b&q paraffin little smell today i filled up with the 28 second ..... lamps run fine no difference in output etc but the smell is quite a bit more still ok but more than the b&q oil any tips on bulk oil - similar to the b&q stuff ? i can use the 28 oil as i run my lamps at home outside for atmosphere etc so the smell is not an issue thanks for any thoughts simon
Basically premium paraffin is less smelly but it comes at a price.... Lamp oil is better still but it costs a fortune!
Lamp oil seems to come with fragrance, and for a pressure device that might cause issues with clogging the vapouriser - if the 'fragrance' doesn't burn clean. Good for wickies so I'm told. I've just bought 40 litres of 28sec - labelled and sold from a forecourt pump as Kerosene at 75p per litre (£15 20 litres) from Parkers garage in Ditton Priors, Shropshire, a real 1950's styled place. There's the regular fuel pumps out front, and two round the side of the main building - one for Red diesel one for Kerosene. They haven't caught up with the LCD age having pumps that display in the older glowing hot wire numerals. There is a slightly more pungent smell from the 28sec, but in all other respects it burns just fine in both pressure stoves & lamps, and wick lamps. Most places sell pre-pack at anything from £6.99 up for four litres. The highest price I saw was £9.99 for 4 litres in a hardware shop in Little Chalfont (Stockbroker belt, Home Counties). Maybe Harrod's could beat that though.
Standard "lamp oil" is not scented neither is it coloured, the whole point of it is that it is odour free... I see people on Amazon selling premium paraffin for £14+ for 4L. Talk about take the p...
Having just moved to a house with oil central heating, I now know that 28 second oil (described as Kerosene on the ticket) is just under 50p per litre. If you take 2,000 litres, that is. Ian
I stand corrected, though tints and fragrances are available. How about this: Link 200ml for £3.60. That works out to £18 a litre, or £81.83p per gallon. That must be a mistake, as from the same company Citronella lamp oil is £1.70p a litre!
To quote: - "To determine the viscosity (in 'Redwood seconds') of a liquid hydrocarbon and also the effect of temperature on the viscosity. The viscosity of a hydrocarbon can be expressed as the number of seconds taken for the collection of 50ml. of the liquid when flowing under standard conditions through a jet of standard dimensions. The equipment specified is the Redwood Viscometer" There's more - read Mike Barnes post: Link Basically the lower the number the thinner the oil.
thanks mate , very obvious once I have read the answer . most things like this are . I appreciate it . cheers , kerry
Engine oil numbers are another area of oft mistaken knowledge, take SAE for example. Couple of links for those interested: http://www.upmpg.com/tech_articles/motoroil_viscosity/index.html http://www.carbibles.com/engineoil_bible.html PS If you ever wondered why so called leaded petrol was outlawed, check this out: http://www.whale.to/b/simons.html
Hi Derek. Same price down here in Sussex on pump - 75p a litre for 28 sec kerosene. For those in the UK who can't find kerosene on pump, phone around the local heating oil suppliers as they will be the people filling the tanks that supply the pumps and can tell you where they are. Kero via pump seems to be more available in rural areas where there is a greater use of oil for heating. Alternatively, ask down your local allotments or gardening club. Those guys won't be paying £9.99 for 4 litres to run their greenhouse heaters. Heating oil is a little more 'aromatic' than premium kerosene, because it's designed to be used in sealed heating boilers where smell is not as issue. It runs fine in kero stoves and lanterns. Terry
that is a lot better price than here in Tassie . even buying by 20 litre drums it is over $3 per litre . kerry
I'm giving 28 sec heating oil a try, my supply having recently got down to about a pint of paraffin... I found a garage on a regular route I take thats owned by a bulk oil supplier, paid about 75 pence a litre and filled my 5 gallon and 5 litre jerry's to their brims (less a few drops lost to the rubber mat in the car on the way home because the big can's seal seems not to be quite 100%. As such I can confirm that heating oil does not smell nice like paraffin in its raw liquid state - in fact it stinks... But once burning in a lamp, it doesn't seem to smell much, if any, different from paraffin. Indoors, my lamps are used in the fire grate, so the exhaust vents straight up though the chimney and there is no odour at all in the house
Hi OGD. I used to use 28 sec heating oil from my heating oil tank but now use 28 sec kerosene from a pump at a local garage at 69p a litre. They are pretty much the same product but the stuff from the garage is much less smelly. I assume it has to be less smelly as some people will be using it in wick heaters rather than sealed heating boilers. I collect it in ex-military 20 litre jerry cans. The ex-military ones have much better seals than the knock off civvy versions, but you need to get a proper military pouring spout. Terry
Thanks for the info Trojandog... Fact is though, both my Jerry cans are genuine x-military items - I would not use anything else... I'll ask about kero' at the garage next time I need some, its an old style country place, fill your tanks for you and unusually sell red diesel too for boats etc. Trouble is, the big one, ex british war department, is quite old, and dated 1953 (my year of birth) which makes it 61 years old. I changed the gasket recently (genuine rubber item) but it may not have squished down to form a perfect seal yet... Also the tag on the cap closes down until it hits the front of the handles - maybe getting worn out... I was lucky the spill in the rear footwell was both small, and even better, not a drip made it off the rubber mat - which had a good wash and scrub when I got home. I'm thinking of replacing the old one, there are plenty of almost new ones available dating from the early ninety's onwards... The small 5 litre can is ex-swedish army (correct id and 'three crowns' stamped) - this one seals perfectly...
Heating oil and kerosene are slightly different . heating oil has oil in it . you need to look up the oil kerosene chart to see the make up etc boiling point viscosity etc There is so much difference. It all adds up to a smelly running lantern or lamp . Bob .
Thanks, appreciate all the help and advice on here... I thought I would give the 28 sec' stuff a try as others more lamp-wise than me have said they use it... I'll ask the guy at the filling station if he has kero' when I need to re-stock. I do use lamps indoors, but venting straight out - up the chimney. Sited as such, there is zero odour or smell in the house... I'll keep an eye on whether the 28 sec 'soots' the lamp up, but i've used the same one for five or six hours on each of the last three evenings, and they seem to be burning just as bright as they were with paraffin from the hardware shop (which was about double the price)...
As a liquid, the 28 second variety is definitely more pungent and smells like diesel in the liquid phase. When burning in a properly maintained lamp or lantern there should be no smell and there isn't in my lamps. But if you have a leak, either liquid or vapour, then you will notice the smell - just as you would if you had a leak when using kerosene. The answer is to keep your lamps and lanterns in tip-top condition - which anyone here will be doing as a matter of course, naturally...
Yep, your'e right David, I found that in liquid state, it really stinks... Gotta' sort out the gasket in my vintage five gallon Jerry can - next time I might not be so lucky with the stuff only getting on the rubber mat in my car . At least the pong' will alert me to any leak!
Hi Chaps The reason it smells i was told by a heating engineer is that if you have a leak it makes it easier to detect before you have a very major spill inside your property , & as we all know a slight whiff of 28 second lets you know that there may be a seal or other problem in the offing! I use 28 second now in all my toys from Hinks duplex wickies & valor blue flame heaters to all my pressure lamps & stoves that use this type of fuel , lighting wick stuff until it settles down & snuffing blue flame or wick lamps or stoves outside is a good idea , unburnt fuel vapour will smell strongly until the burner cools , snuffing a pressure lamp without bleeding the pressure off first , then opening the control cock accidently letting a stream of vapourised fuel spilling into the atmosphere will stink out any room . In the past we have talked about adding a 5-10% solution of panel wipe or similar to give a more volotile fuel with a lower flash point for more troublesome pressure lamps , now the heating fuel companies offer a premium version of 28 second kero which has special addatives & is only a few pence more per litre , but i saw no difference in my lamps although this would have to be a long term test conducted in a rigorous way. Stick with what works well & is cost effective for you Stu
That makes sense... a bit like putting dye and 'smell' in meths' to discourage people drinking it... Lets hope the premium 28 sec oil doesn't burn too hot, given the reports on here about the 'super grade' paraffin melting vapouriser tubes!
