Regarding 1-K kerosene with red tax dye...

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I have heard rumors about the relatively new red dyed 1-K kerosene might be a problem in a kerosene heater, so I tested my trusty old Corona with some "red" last night when I was prepping it for winter use in my garage.

It burns wonderfully. No smoke, no soot, and my wick is fine. It burns just like the clear. So, I guess everything I heard about it damaging your heaters was so much bunk.

In summary:

The "red" non-taxed 1-K kerosene is safe and works in kerosene heaters without damaging the heater or wick...

(FYI... the red dye was added by .gov so that some truckers who were using this stuff in the diesel trucks, would be fined if the red color was noticed in their tanks. Since it was not road taxed it was cheaper)

scratchin' an itch...

The Dog

-- Dog (Desert Dog@-sand.com), October 06, 1999

Answers

I think the problem with the red dye is that it accumulates over time in your wick and machinery (if you use it that way)

-- walt (longyear@shentel.net), October 06, 1999.

Our "red dye" kerosene tanks at the local distributor say that it is not "safe" for use indoors. Many people here have vented Monitor type heaters. According to the distributor, it is supposed to be safe in those but not the floor heaters. I assume that "unsafe" means that some sort of toxic by-product from the dye is emitted in floor heater burning. However, as the government now leaves us no reasonable alternative for fuel for floor heating use, people are continuing to use the stuff in their floor heaters. I did last year.

Another side issue is the "red dye" issue. If you put stabil in your fuel, it dyes it red. Wonder how they will sort that one out. I also heard that you should not use "stabil" treated fuel for cooking. Anyone else have info. on this?

-- marsh (armstrng@sisqtel.net), October 06, 1999.


I used it for the all my lantern 6 of them in the nite plus for my car since 15 months and the truck which I use for log cabin building but if caught on the road must pay 700 $ fine. It is risky but I do it anyway. Truck is on the land and it is not running on the road.

-- Nasseri (ibmcc@colba.net), October 06, 1999.

I called Citgo and talked with "tech", they say it is safe for indoor use. I asked for that in writing........can't do that.

-- && (&&@&&.&), October 07, 1999.

We've purchased from a hardware store, a Canadian produced 1-K kerosene. It is triple filtered, fuel for low sulphur emission heaters. It has a reddish tint, which I have read is to indicate the low sulphur content. Is this tint what we are talking about here?

-- Jim Young (jyoung@famvid.com), November 14, 1999.


Our local guys told us that it's cool but that, occasionally, companies inadvertently mix a trace amount of diesel with their kero since many farms WANT a 70 (diesel) 30 (kero) mix for winter use (not lamps, machinery). If the kero is pumped and stored correctly for separate all-kero purposes, the dye shouldn't be a problem.

I suspect that this is a small urban legend compounded by the fact that some folks just plain get headaches from burning kero in ANY form.

-- BigDog (BigDog@duffer.com), November 14, 1999.


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