alterative to parafin for parts bath

[MattF]

Here parafin is what you make candles out of. Hence the term Kerosene

We have variations whch are completely different too. Liquid paraffin, for example, isn't paraffin but rather something they use for medicinal purposes. Then there's paraffin wax, which is obviously different again. Confusing much?

 

[Shox Dr]

We have variations whch are completely different too. Liquid paraffin, for example, isn't paraffin but rather something they use for medicinal purposes. Then there's paraffin wax, which is obviously different again. Confusing much?

I thought they were for making different coloured candles

One white the other brown

 

[Bsmith]

There used to be 2 different types of paraffin in this country. 1 was used as "burning oil" for heaters and stoves etc, the other was "vaporising" oil which was used in Tilley pressure lamps and TVO engines. Vaporising was far the better for parts cleaning but is unavailable now. There are obviously different grades of paraffin still available as Tilley lamps and TVO engines will now run efficiently on a paraffin called "Royal Standard" (which costs roughly the same as petrol) while they will not run on the more available grades of paraffin.
I don't know which would be called kerosine.

 

[rtcosic]

Kerosine. Not Kerosene - that is obsolete pre WWII English and current American spelling. Often shortened to Kero. The spelling changed at the same time as Gasolene became Gasoline, way before my time in the Oil Industry.
Kerosine is the term used within the Refining & Distribution sector of the Oil Industry. Paraffin is the term used in the Retail and Independent Distribution sectors for the same product .
There are 4 grades of Kerosine that are 'commonly' available.
BS 2869 Class C2. This is normal UK central heating oil. Sometimes referred to as burning oil, 28 second heating oil, industrial paraffin, standard kero and probably many other weird and wonderful terms.
BS 2869 Class C1. This is a 'lighter' fraction intended for Flueless devices such as Greenhouse heaters and other wicked devices such as hurricane lamps, Tilley lamps etc.
This used to be readily available at all hardware shops (As a child in the 1950s, I recall the local cobbler sold it and a chap did the rounds with a horse drawn cart selling it). Anyone recall the television ads for Esso's Esso Blue to the tune of Smoke Gets in Your Eyes?
Very hard to find nowadays and when you do it's sold in prepacked plastic containers at prices approaching Petrol & Diesel even though it is virtually Duty free.
Then there is Kerosine as Jet Fuel. There are 2 grades of common grades of Jet Fuel - the normal commercial grade and a second grade less common grade that was used by the US Navy.
I don't know of anyone still blending Tractor Vapourising Oil, but I'm sure someone will correct me.

Paraffin Wax is a whole other treatise!

 

[rtbcomp]

...... Anyone recall the television ads for Esso's Esso Blue to the tune of Smoke Gets in Your Eyes.........


Their jingle went "Boom, Boom, Boom Esso Blue". There was also Aladdin Pink, but that was for girls.

Very hard to find nowadays and when you do it's sold in prepacked plastic containers at prices approaching Petrol & Diesel even though it is virtually Duty free.

Paraffin costs £7.99 for 4 litres at my local petrol station.

 

[Bsmith]

I remember the Esso Blue ad very well. It got to be really difficult to obtain TVO at the end. Last time I bought a gallon for parts cleaning I had to write down what it was to be used for and sign for it, at the time I think there was an issue about people adding oil to the TVO and using it as diesel in their cars.

 

[PTvor]

As I understand it, in the 50s and 60s there was a big demand for domestic paraffin, Esso Blue etc. To be safe for domestic use, this had to be a very fine cut from the fractional distillation with no volatile component. The volatile fractions weren't good enough for petrol but if they added them to the fraction used to create domestic paraffin, they got TVO, which would do as a low octane tractor fuel.

Times changed, the demand for domestic paraffin dropped and diesel engines became more widely used on tractors. Refinery technology also improved and with it the ability to turn previously awkward fractions into something there was demand for.

I wouldn't be at all surprised that at the end there was clamp down because people were using it as road fuel in some way as BSmith says.

These days, tractor enthusiasts make it by adding petrol to heating oil. You're supposed to have a licence to make it and there are restrictions.

http://www.fofh.co.uk/tech/tvo.htm

 

[rtbcomp]

Slightly OT, what became of National Benzole? I remember the yellow pumps with the winged helmet motif, but can't recall when it disappeared from the forecourts.

 

[PTvor]

Slightly OT, what became of National Benzole? I remember the yellow pumps with the winged helmet motif, but can't recall when it disappeared from the forecourts.

An interesting story.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Benzole

It started after WWI as an idea to use benzole, which was available cheaply, as part of a petrol mix. It was eventually taken over and more profitable uses were found for benzole anyway.

The brand was pretty much phased out by BP in the early 90s.

Whatever happened to Cleveland Discol, the petrol with alcohol?

 

[rtbcomp]

Cleveland Discol - forgotten that one, I didn't realise it was a blend.

Interesting article, I vaguely remember the pumps changing from "National Benzole" to "National."

 

[Drains]

Kerosine is the term used within the Refining & Distribution sector of the Oil Industry. Paraffin is the term used in the Retail and Independent Distribution sectors for the same product .
....
BS 2869 Class C1. This is a 'lighter' fraction intended for Flueless devices such as Greenhouse heaters and other wicked devices such as hurricane lamps, Tilley lamps etc.

So for those in any doubt - the C1 fraction is Paraffin, everything else is Kerosine. (It doesn't matter how the industry identifies it - if you're out at B&Q for some fuel for your greenhouse heater, you don't go asking for BS 2869 Class C1 kero, unless you're smoking a pipe )

I buy and use both and the usual references are paraffin or heating oil. Paraffin is, as said above, hard to get in anything other than gallon (ish) plastic bottles.

 

[Robotstar5]

We used to have 3 paraffin heaters in the house during the 60's, if you ran out of fuel outside normal shop hours the local hardware shop had a coin operated dispenser to fill your can up.

 

[PTvor]

We used to have 3 paraffin heaters in the house during the 60's, if you ran out of fuel outside normal shop hours the local hardware shop had a coin operated dispenser to fill your can up.

Gruesome. Not all memories improve with the rosey glow of nostalgia. We had two of the stinking things, a Valor and an Aladdin. Paraffin heaters were pretty much on the way out by the mid 60s.

I remember going to the garage across the road and getting a pop bottle filled with paraffin for 3d. I suppose a gallon must have been 2/- (10p).

 

[Bsmith]

Gruesome. Not all memories improve with the rosey glow of nostalgia. We had two of the stinking things, a Valor and an Aladdin. Paraffin heaters were pretty much on the way out by the mid 60s.

I remember going to the garage across the road and getting a pop bottle filled with paraffin for 3d. I suppose a gallon must have been 2/- (10p).

I don't know what price the paraffin was in the 60's, but my dad used to pour some of the Tilley lamp paraffin in the solid fuel stove to help light it in the morning, so it wasn't too pricey, maybe packets of fire lighters were available then but I don't remember them.

 

[Bsmith]

...... Anyone recall the television ads for Esso's Esso Blue to the tune of Smoke Gets in Your Eyes.........


Their jingle went "Boom, Boom, Boom Esso Blue". There was also Aladdin Pink, but that was for girls.

Very hard to find nowadays and when you do it's sold in prepacked plastic containers at prices approaching Petrol & Diesel even though it is virtually Duty free.

Paraffin costs £7.99 for 4 litres at my local petrol station.

If I remember right, TVO was always quite pricey compared to burning/heating oil. Farmers who ran their tractors on it got receipts when they purchased it, then claimed a re-bate off the government.