In the kerosene thread below, the last poster mentions using JET FUEL or JB4 instead of Kerosene.

Jet Fuel MAY be more "pure" than K1 kerosene, but part that may be that the fuel MUST be more pure and have no water in it.

If you plan to buy K1 Kerosene from a tank that is pumped like gasoline, buy a gallon first and then test it for water.

Pour some in a clear glass and let it sit for an hour or so. If you get little "bubbles" on the bottom of the glass, you've got contaminated kerosene. These aren't bubbles, they are globs of water.

when this water in the kerosene gets sucked up into the wick of the heater, it can block the flow of kerosene (just a bit, but after a while it adds up) and this affects the burn rate of the heater. You have to keep adjusting the heater.

Those of you with those "kerosun" style convection wick heaters, when was the last time you looked at the directions?

I just bought 2 - 23,000 btu heaters and the directions have a full page on the back about buying and using kerosene.

I tested some of the kerosene that came from a local gas stations tank and it had "some" water bubbles on the bottom. the less the better.

My heater recommends that one uses the pre-packed 1 gal containers first (! ouch!), then get fuel directly from a bulk fuel dealer and LAST, buy K1 Kerosene from a gas-station type pump.

I'm going to guess that Jet fuel tanks are not the same as underground gas tanks, but I'll try and find out this weekend. Ashland Propane, on the south side of Chicago is a big propane, kerosene, truck stop sort of place and when I was asking about kerosene (they have 2 pumps for kerosene) the guy mentioned something about Jet Fuel, but I let it slip right past me.

Jet Fuel may be the way to go !

report will follow.

-- plonk! (realaddress@hotmail.com), November 19, 1999

Answers

Years ago, I worked at a job that had, in the reference library, copies of all the ASTM standards(it stands for something like american standards of testing and materials or something equally official) and also standards of other organizations that promulgate the standards for all many of materials and products- many shelves filled with volumes detailing the exact procedures of tests used to verify quality or suitability of products..

Anyway, at the time I was interested in learning what made kerosene different from paint thinne, diesel fuel,r and jet fuel, etc. It turned out that much of the testing that is done with kerosene involves burning a sample using a special"standard" wick, and inspecting the flame and also the wick.

Most of the standards involving kerosene (as I recall) had to do with how well it burned in a wick appliance. Diesel fuel has other characteristics pertaining to operation of an engine, jet fuel still other characteristics desirable for jet engine use. It would be possible, I suppose, to make a product that could 2 or 3 of these jobs well, but it would probabley be more expensive thatn making the product just for the intended purpose. A lot of the requirements of kerosene had to do with deposits (ash and minerals) left on the wick as the kerosene burned. So, good jet fuel might not burn the best in an appliance using a wick, just as K-1 kerosene may not work the best in a diesel truck or jet plane due to lessor lubricant qualities or other shortcoming.

Just my 2 cents.

Jim

-- Jim (jiminwis@yahoo.com), November 19, 1999.