I found a local Aladdins Den type Garage that still sells kerosene from the pump. 97ppl which i didnt think was bad given the current prices. (God knows where my Boiler Juice oil order is!!). I picked up some red for the tractor and anthracite substitute while I was there too!
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julianf
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It will soot up things way worse than kerosene, but I know from running all sorts through these things that it won't break the pump.
I guess if someone cranks the pressure right up in the hopes of better atomisation, then it might, but that's not really the diesel, but the operator.
I run our riello burner here on B100, which is harder to ignite than mineral diesel. I have it cranked up to its safe limits to atomise as best as possible, and I've not broken a pump from over pressure yet...
So, yes, in my experience of running non standard fuels though them for over a decade, I'd be confident that mineral diesel does not break the pump, unless the operator does somthing foolish themselves.
Loads of larger non condensing / non low level flue boilers even have setup instructions for 35sec in their manuals.
I changed to a smaller nozzle and increased the pressure for gas oil.
I spent years servicing hot pressure washers including many forecourt car washes. Customers were using either red diesel or heating oil or a a mixture of both, with each burner set up according to the fuel.
Those on heating oil had a very clean burn but because it was less oily you were fitting a new fuel pump every year @ £70 a time. It also used more fuel to get the same heat output.
Those on red diesel very rarely needed a new pump & used less fuel but no matter how well the boiler was set up it never burned as clean so it had to be stripped annually for a desoot (horrible job)! Another common issue was that some numpty would lift a drum of red dyed detergent & fill it into the fuel tank, turning it into a nice pink non flammable mix!
Those on a mixture had the best of both worlds, clean burn, long pump life with decent fuel economy. But it only worked where there was someone reliable enough to fill it with the same mix every time! That's what I run my space heater on.
The best fuel of all was Southern Ireland's version of our red diesel only it is dyed green. It burned far cleaner than red so you rarely had burner problems with any boilers using it.
Those on heating oil had a very clean burn but because it was less oily you were fitting a new fuel pump every year @ £70 a time. It also used more fuel to get the same heat output.
Those on red diesel very rarely needed a new pump & used less fuel but no matter how well the boiler was set up it never burned as clean so it had to be stripped annually for a desoot (horrible job)! Another common issue was that some numpty would lift a drum of red dyed detergent & fill it into the fuel tank, turning it into a nice pink non flammable mix!
Those on a mixture had the best of both worlds, clean burn, long pump life with decent fuel economy. But it only worked where there was someone reliable enough to fill it with the same mix every time! That's what I run my space heater on.
The best fuel of all was Southern Ireland's version of our red diesel only it is dyed green. It burned far cleaner than red so you rarely had burner problems with any boilers using it.
anto44
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Cars run great on it too
Bobupndown
What could possibly go wrong?
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They do, but the fines are steep when caught!Cars run great on it too
julianf
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Yes. But it's really about the viscosity.
The 28sec for kerosene and 35sec for "gasoil" actually refer to real life seconds...
There's a cup (standardised) with a hole in the bottom of it (standardised) and when the cup is filled, at some special (standardised) temperature, it will empty through the hole in 28 seconds if you fill it with kerosene and 35 seconds if you fill it with gasoil.
I mean I'm sure it's done with much fancier machines now, but those cups probably still exist somwhere.
tom 748
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not at 2 pounds a litre in lidl
Onoff
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Can't even get the 4 packs of their tuna in sunflower oil at the moment in my one!
Onoff
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Ta. Still not clear though, what am I buying when I buy "heating oil"?
Heating oil is what is now called Kerosene, pretty close to Paraffin. Gas Oil is pretty close to red diesel. Rarely used in domestic boilers, gas oil is mostly used in industrial heating plants. When I was an apprentice I had to clean out the firebox at Leyland Motors Social Club, this ran on gas oil, and once every 6 months the ash had to be raked out. This was bright pink due to the dye. I had to crawl around inside it with a shovel and bucket.
Later on, I maintained the "hot water washes" used for cleaning off the new Bus chassis after road tests and prior to stripping on factory recon gearboxes. One wash was always seizing fuel pumps. We got down to the last pump available, when someone noticed that it was supposed to use diesel, all the other washes used heating oil, (strangely, this came in tins marked "Special Cleaners") and the operators had been using this in the diesel heated wash. Once running on diesel, it never seized again.
Later on, I maintained the "hot water washes" used for cleaning off the new Bus chassis after road tests and prior to stripping on factory recon gearboxes. One wash was always seizing fuel pumps. We got down to the last pump available, when someone noticed that it was supposed to use diesel, all the other washes used heating oil, (strangely, this came in tins marked "Special Cleaners") and the operators had been using this in the diesel heated wash. Once running on diesel, it never seized again.
We changed a large steam boiler from gas oil to kerosene (it was cheaper at the time) and the chap who set the burner up left me a new oil pump. He said the old one will definitely seize up, it may do an hour it may do a month. It did three days.
julianf
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It's interesting that swapping that way (from diesel to kerosene) creates issues but not the other way around.
Tax aside, running a car on kerosene is said to cause issues. I've always assumed it was due to the lack of lubricating properties of kerosene, but now I'm wondering what would happen if you ran a mechanical injection system on kerosene from new?
julianf
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There is no need to reply like that.
I have not recommended anything on this thread without knowing (from personal experience).
I was questioning about kerosene in a mechanical injection pump. I was neither recommending it, not saying that I had done so, not even saying I had any desire to do so.
There was no need for the tone you used.
anto44
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Cars do not like running on kerosene, they knock very badly when running on it. I had a merc cdi brought to me years ago that someone had accidentally filled with kerosene, it sounded like the bottom end bearings were gone when it was ticking over. I emptied the system, put a new fuel filter on it and refilled with diesel and there was no permanent damage done.
Onoff
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What? Never said I was going to try anything. I was just interested in the difference.
Onoff
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Would it help if you added some engine oil to the kero?
julianf
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That's where your special cup with the hole in it comes into play.
Match the viscosity of the original fuel.
Engine oil has a buffer package which wrecks stuff long term (I'm told, ive never wanted to try) so the people I know who run static engines generally go for hydraulic oil instead.
Onoff
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What If I saved the sunflower oil dregs from the tuna and mackrel tins? Only half joking...
