The North/East is plum out of kerosene says TB2000. What is the real world importance of this? I can't get past kerosene lamps, so please nudge my thinking along.

TX

-- uh_oh (uh_oh@oh.no), January 26, 2000

Answers

Kerosene stoves. I have two Kerosun heaters that I use in the garage and patio in the winter. Many peeople who live in the mountains, heat their mobile homes with kerosene.

-- bardou (bardou@baloney.com), January 26, 2000.

I use a mix of 50% fuel oil and 50% K1 To heat house. K1 helps keep fuel lines from jelling when it gets cold. Bath room heater uses K1.

-- && (&&@&&.&), January 26, 2000.

other products are added to kero to make jet fuel

-- ... (///@//./), January 26, 2000.

TX:

I think that an answer is starting to gel here [or not gel with K] and you can fly with it [or not without jet fuel]. You can keep truckin' but not without #2 in the north. Perhaps you can convert your house into a meat storage locker.

Best wishes,,,

Z

-- Z1X4Y7 (Z1X4Y7@aol.com), January 26, 2000.

People in the mountains of northern California and Southern Oregon commonly use kerosene for heating their homes and water. The "new" Monitor heaters vent to the outside and are programable with a thermostat. We use two of these at work.

The Toyotami systems produce hot water on demand.

Many of us don't have access to natural gas. Because of air quality standards in some areas, like southern Oregon, people are not allowed to burn wood on certain days. I am not sure about the very newest efficient woodstoves. They may be allowable. The kerosene heaters are an allowable alternative.

Less common are the diesel furnaces. I happen to have one of those. I put efficient woodstoves in last year for supplemental heat and use far less fuel oil than I did previously. It was not uncommon in past years to use 650 gallons of fuel to heat my house for a year. A furnace overhaul and the woodstoves have cut fuel use dramatically. Of course that is counterbalanced by the value of heating wood.

Heating a home electrically would be cost prohibitive here.

-- marsh (armstrng@sisqtel.net), January 26, 2000.

Jet-A fuel=FILTERED KERO

-- d........... (dciinc@aol.com), January 26, 2000.

Fuel: Kerosene. Fuel Density: 0.81 g/cc. Fuel Freezing Point: -73.00 deg C. Fuel Boiling Point: 147.00 deg C. In January 1953 Rocketdyne commenced the REAP program to develop a number of improvements to the engines being developed for the Navaho and Atlas missiles. Among these was development of a special grade of kerosene suitable for rocket engines. Prior to that any number of rocket propellants derived from petroleum had been used. Goddard had begun with gasoline, and there were experimental engines powered by kerosene, diesel oil, paint thinner, or jet fuel kerosene JP-4 or JP- 5. The wide variance in physical properties among fuels of the same class led to the identification of narrow-range petroleum fractions, embodied in 1954 in the standard US kerosene rocket fuel RP-1, covered by Military Specification MIL-R-25576. In Russia, similar specifications were developed for kerosene under the specifications T- 1 and RG-1. The Russians also developed a compound of unknown formulation in the 1980's known as 'Sintin', or synthetic kerosene. Rocket propellant RP-1 is a straight-run kerosene fraction, which is subjected to further treatment, i.e., acid washing, sulphur dioxide extraction. Thus, unsaturated substances which polymerise in storage are removed, as are sulphur-containing hydrocarbons. Furthermore, in order to meet specification requirements of density, heat of combustion, and aromatic content, the kerosene must be obtained from crudes with a high naphthene content. RP-1 is an excellent solvent for many organic materials. The flash point is above 43 deg C. Above that temperature RP-1 will form explosive mixtures with air. The temperature range for explosive mixtures (rich limit) is 79 to 85 deg C. RP-1 is not so toxic as the JP series of fuels because of its lower aromatic content. In the United States, suitable kerosene fractions in 1960 were limited almost exclusively to the West Coast. The estimated 1956 United States production was 7700 tonnes, and the price was $0.05 per kg. By the 1980's it was typically $ 0.20 per kg. Russian formulations have typical densities of 0.82 to 0.85 g/cc, and even higher densities were achieved in the N1 and Soyuz 11A511U rockets by superchilling the fuel prior to loading.

Kerosene

-- Teague Harper (tharper@cyberhighway.net), January 26, 2000.

Would be wonderful if someone could give us some more detailed info about kero #1, #2, diesel, and gasoline.

Question.. Is jet fuel just super refined kero??

How closely "related" are kero and diesel??

Kerosene is so NOT used in my area (soutwest Dallas (TX) county) that I had to go to five different places, past fall, to purchase it. One guy suggested that I go out to the airport(DFW) to get it. That's a 2 hour round trip without any traffic. Home Depot sold it for $15 for a 5 gal can. I finally found it at a welder shop, where he hand pumped it out of 55 gal barrels for me. He paid around $2.50 a gal (fall 99) and sold it to me for a little less than $3.00 a gal. The delivery companies wouldn't deliver. I think it was because my order was too small. I wanted 100 gallons kero and 500 gal diesel. This fall they were "very busy" as they kept telling me.!!??? One woman told me that her son had never been so busy before and they were having trouble keeping up with deliveries. Surely it must have had something to do with Y2K as this week is the first "winter" we have had. We have had record high temperatures ALL winter. Until this week most days were in the 60's, 70's and many reaching 80's. Only one or two freezing nights until this week.

We have always used kero for our auxillary heating and lamps. We are freqently "off grid" when the wind blows harder than normal. The squirrel trees eat up the lines and transformers. Christmas 98, with day time temp in 30's, we were without electricy for eight hours during day...when everyone was preparing Chritsmas dinner. That's pretty normal out here. Happens once a month or so. Not too bad when wind isn't blowing but always happens when wind is blowing sometimes putting wind chill below 0F. Pretty hard on the elders.(Yes, I do take advantage of the wind with a wind generator...hope to install some more and more batteries when I can round up the funds)(The Wind 403 is very granny friendly weighing in at only 15 lbs or so. Mounts easily on roof if you have right conditions. Grams doesn't like for granny to climb around on the 30 ft high roof so she has to wear climbing gear, a bicycle helmet, and carry a cell phone D:) Granny's Paw got stuck on a roof one time and had to wait hours for someone to come by so he could get off. Paw was 84 when this happened and has a blast telling the story. Granny would have been bored to tears. Think she'll carry a book with her next time..just in case.

-- granny-TX (westamyx@bigfoot.com), January 26, 2000.

Mucho Thanks, T Harper. Great Info!!!

-- granny-TX (westamyx@bigfoot.com), January 26, 2000.

"Question.. Is jet fuel just super refined kero?? "

No.

All Jet Fuels are blends.

95% of jet fuel IS Kerosene, but the remaining 5% is different additives for different engines and starting conditions.

-- plonk! (realaddress@hotmail.com), January 26, 2000.

JP-4 is an Air Force jet fuel while JP-5 is the Navy version. Navy nees a less volatile fuel for the hazardous and confined spaces of the hanger deck and the flight deck. It's still dangerous, we lost two good men and seven aircraft in a flight deck fire on 30nov88.

-- jim (jim@jim.com), January 26, 2000.

In Glenwood Springs, CO all the RVs in my park use propane for heating. All the mobile homes use natural gas. No bulk kerosene usage around here.

-- Guy Daley (guydaley@bwn.net), January 26, 2000.

We use kero for heating. We have a Toyotomi heater with computer thermostat. Also a Toyotomi radiant heater for backup if the electric goes out. The fancy one needs electric to run. We use the radiant one a lot up here cause it is constant heat and really warms the place up. The other one has a fan and since this old house is drafty it seems to blow the cold air around more. We really love our little kerosun heater -:) . A lot of homes in Maine are using the Toyotomi and the monitors now as they are cheaper to run than fuel oil or electric at least they were till last week lol......

-- jules (jules@fridgid.net), January 26, 2000.