Running diesel in a Petromax-clone

We do get kerosene from the pump around here. Mostly for several reasons: 1) it's a common heating fuel, 2) we have a lot of Amish, and 3)we add it to diesel to keep the fuel from gelling in the winter cold. One reason that it cost so much less is that it's not a transportation fuel, so there are no road/highway taxes on it.

 

Well, I think one has to view this from the perspective of Petromax. Diesel is smelly when lighting up and extinguishing and will clog the vaporizer earlier than kerosene. Allowing your customers to run PX lanterns on diesel will probably lead to increased customer complaints and reclamations. So of course Petromax tells its civil customers not to use diesel and only allows the military customers the emergency use.

But is all of this really relevant for enthusiasts/collectors? I don't think so. We are generally neither dependent on our lanterns for home or work illumination nor are we soldiers in the field.

It takes me maybe 5 minutes to dismantle a PX vaporizer and cleaning it (including the Preston ring) is a straightforward affair.

So why not? I run one of my PX500 on diesel just for the heck of it. When hosting a garden party I like the astonished reaction when I tell people that this lantern runs on the same diesel they put into their cars every day.

Cheers,
Götz

 

Hi Götz,

Good job! I want to do the same thing this summer: Run a Petromax on diesel, just for the heck of it and to see how it differs from paraffin.

I'd like to ask: From your experiences, did you notice anything different and if yes, what was it?

Thnx,
Peter

 

Hi Peter,

yes, you really need to preheat vigorously and only run the lantern outside. Once the lantern is running full throttle it doesn't smell at all, but you can't really avoid the diesel smell in the warm up phase and shutting down.

Regards,
Götz

 

How you clean the Preston loop of the vaporizer?

 

I take an old Bowden cable from a mountain bike, bend the tip a little and insert it from the top end of the vaporizer into the Preston loop. I work it back and forth until I'm through. If the tip frays, I cut about a cm of and start over.
After that I insert an old rubber seal from the Rapid starter from the bottom end into the vaporizer. I push it up the vaporizer until it stops at the constriction between the Preston loop openings. Then I use an air compressor to blow out the vaporizer. Because of the seal the air is forced through the Preston loop.

Cheers,
Götz

 

You are a very handy man Götz! Thanks for this great tip.

Best regards,

Wim

 

I have been using 0,5mm piano wire to push through Preston loop, but it seems that it's not fully satisfactional way to do it.

I am making some parts to make better cleaning for vaporizer, but it will need some more work...

 

Twisted e.g. brake cable is likely to be better - the ends of the individual strands splay out and remove more carbon...

 

I only have 3mm brake cable from 1st. generation mountain bike. That seems to be too thick. (I have some old Sturmey Archer brake cable sets but I don't want to destroy them since replacements are almost impossible to find. )

New generation 1,2mm gear shifter cable seems to go Prestol loop with an insertion tool that I made. Pressure air blowing through the Preston loops seems work with brass plug that I made. Plug prevents air flow to go directly through the vaporizer without entering the Preston loop.

 

I use a thin steel cable for this. Like the one in the centre of bowden cables, as already mentioned. Just much thinner than the 'ordinary' ones.
You can split one end and attach the other end to a power drill, and then work it back and forth in the loop while rotating at moderate speed.
But this is a bit tricky since it will wobble pretty much when in its upper position and much free wire.

Another way is to tie a knot and let this pass back and forth through the loop to manually work the inside.
You get a better picture of what I mean by reading this old post on the topic.
I always heat and quench the vapourizer now and then during the process to help loosen stuff up better.

And finally the best method I have tried: high pressure steam.
If you are in the position that you can use this, it generally works well and is worth a try.
Steam is actually used to de-coke and clean the tubes inside the boilers themselves at regular intervals, and it works on these smaller items too.
We have up to 40 bar steam at work, and it's easy to attach a tube to a vapouriser and let the steam and time do all the work for you.
Just remember that you need something to block the central part of the vapouriser in order to force the steam around the loop. I just use a small screw where the shank fit inside the thinner central part of the vapo bit the head wont pass. Once the steam is applied (from the end where the screw was dropped, of course), the pressure will keep it seated and thus also blocking the centre passage.


*Edit after reading your second reply made during I composed this post: If you want to find a thinner cable, you can use those that many lights are hanged with in the ceiling at e.g. offices.
That's what I use, and also what you can see in that post I linked to above.