Hello all, As a newcomer and having only recently discovered this site, I'd like to say how much I've enjoyed spending the last few hours engrossed in all things lampy. Not having used a Tilley lamp since my scouting days 40 years or so ago, It was a pleasure to be renewing my acquaintance with my recent purchase on a barn camping trip to Brittany. Realising I need more light for the next trip I've just bought a couple more lanterns, whilst trying to source paraffin for them locally, (I'm in Devon) I was astonished at how much paraffin has gone up. My local DIY store is selling 4 litres at £6.99. The thought occurred to me wether anybody has tried using any alternative fuels for their pressure lamps? I wondered about white spirit, or perhaps 28sec heating oil. Whilst I was in France they had a product that appeared to be a type of biofuel for use in a 'paraffin' type of heater at around 16 euros for 25litres. Perhaps one of the sages may be able to...(dare I say it!) cast some light........sorry about that! anyway just a thought. Regards to all V
28 second oil is essentially paraffin and will work fine in most kero lamps including Tilley. White spirit as sold in the UK does not burn so forget that one. If you think kero is expensive here try looking for naphtha to run a gasoline lamp on. Upwards of £9. a gallon if you can find it. ::Neil::
If Neil's the sage, does that make me the onion..? But yes, as Neil suggests, 28 second heating oil is fine to use in kero lanterns - I've done it myself on many occasions. Trouble is, it's usually supplied in quantities of 500 litres and upwards. Even then, it's still not cheap and the price is rising - a friend pays, IIRC, 50-60pence per litre, which is probably OK if you just want to burn off a little in your lanterns, but a bit of a bu&&er when you need 1000 litres to get you through the winter. Anyway, maybe you could find someone who has oil-fired central heating and bleed a little from their tank. You could also try your local allotment association who can usually buy paraffin in bulk and supply it to their members at an advantageous price. Another wheeze I've tried is to wait for the end of the barbeque season - particularly if we haven't had one (again!) - and buy BBQ lighting fluid when the likes of Wilkinsons are desperate to clear their shelves for the ensuing tsunami of Halloween/Guy Fawkes/Christmas tat. It generally gets down to 30-35 pence per litre bottle and burns well in lanterns. Too late for this year, though...
Hi V Paraffin is certainly difficult to obtain in bulk now, the pre packed variety being very expensive. However you can still get it in bulk if you search around. I can get it fairly locally for around £1.00 a litre (last visit six months ago).But the outlets for it are few and far between.I usually purchase 25 litres at a time. Al
Well that's cheered me up! I was making the same observation on paraffin prices a few months ago on CCS. At that time my local DIY store was charging £7.99 for 4 litres. I went in there on Monday and it was £9.99! Big stack of it next to greenhouse heaters. How can people run greenhouse heaters at £2.50 a litre?? There is nowhere in my part of the world selling paraffin on draught. However, after reading the above comments by Neil and David, I went and checked the last delivery note for my heating oil (never bothered before). It clearly says 'Kerosene 28sec'. So I've got 1350 litres of lamp and stove fuel sitting in a tank at the back of the house! Now, where did I put that plastic tubing?
I recently read an article on bio jet fuel. If they can run a jet engine on some sort of cooking oil, then they must be able to make a kerosene / paraffin variant. Don't know if the demand will warrant the expense though.
Normally jet fuel is mildly adulterated kero and can be used in lamps. Mind you I have never been able to find any to try. I suppose a bio jet fuel will have to be the same sort of stuff but finding a supply might be difficult. ::Neil::
Thanks all for your replies, I guess I'll be raiding the rayburn fuel tank then!! let's hope I don't end up with a mouthfull! don't you hate it when that happens?
ASDA SELL PARAFFIN 4 LETRES FOR £5 I know this isn't exactly cheap but not as bad as the DIY sheds. And ASDA stores are everywhere in the UK. US people might want to give Wallmart a try. fortunately for me a petrol station in my town sell it on draught for 80p a letre
The Asda price is the best I've seen in the UK for containerised paraffin. I freaked my sister-in-law out a few years ago when a big bunch of us were flying from the UK to Florida for a family Christmas. At 35,000 over the Atlantic in a 747 I casually pointed out that the plane was running on paraffin.
I use a solvent called Kensol-30 (K-30 for short) that I buy by the barrel from a local fuel supplier. The flash point is 10F higher than standard kerosene, and the flame in a flat wick lantern is much whiter. It was recommended by our local Amish since they use it in their lanterns. I use it in heaters, flat wicks, Aladdin, and pressure lanterns with great success.
If there are any members in the Horsham, West Sussex, UK area, then there is a guy selling 400 litres of Kerosene as a job lot. Keep your lamps burning for a while! He might take an offer for part of it? Just search for 'Domestic Oil Fuel' on Ebay UK.
In Ireland, every self respecting service station sells kerosene at the pump. Current prices are about 49cent
I suppose its a bit dated this post.... but recently in fact a couple of days ago in Penryn ..near Falmouth Cornwall ...I purchased 4 litres of Caldo pre pack premium Paraffin for £4.60 a unit. at Macsalvors @ the boatyard side of docks on the main road .. they had shelves of it... best other I could find was £8.90 at Homebase...rather pricey .. a few oil dealers with kero around too that would sell you..
I was given a litre of 'Cocofire' , claimed to be a safe, ecofriendly alternative to kero, made from coconut oil, even the fumes smelled of coconut. I contacted the supplier for more information but they no longer produce it.
I use 28 sec heating kero in my stoves and lanterns. Current price is under 50p/litre and as I use kero for heating I syphon of 25L a time in some scavenged plastic containers. I've had some success de-smelling it (heating kero stinks if you're not careful) with a technique that 'doesn't work', even though it does work... and it's relatively easy, it's just a shame it doesn't work (even though it does!) I've actually used UK white spirit in a stove to see what happened and it worked perfectly... it gave a good clean good burn plus it won't ignite with a naked flame so it's safe. It's not cheap though so I wouldn't use it regularly.
I have two paraffin invector heaters, very efficient but they do gobble up the paraffin, original plan was to run them on heating kerosene but the wife complained, well it does stink a bit. A 205 litre drum of premium paraffin delivered costs £280.00, still expensive but the cheapest paraffin I can find if you are using a lot.
