Does any one know if you can use kerosene instead of the expensive lamp oil in oil lamps. Also can you use kerosene in Coleman stoves instead of camp fuel?

-- Tim Jaeger (tjkayaker@yahoo.com), September 23, 2001

Answers

No, you can NOT use kerosene in Coleman stoves instead of camp fuel. The jets are the wrong size for one thing. I have used unleaded regular gasoline on occasion and years ago regularly used white gas without any problems.

-- Joe (CactusJoe001@AOL.com), September 23, 2001.

I'd be careful about using current-day unleaded fuel - it's loaded with cancer-causing agents - cyclic or aromatic petroleum products - benzene and derivatives. They put them there as a replacement for what tetra-ethyl lead did in fuel! You really don't want to breathing those as fumes. White spirit or what we call Shellite ought to be safe as a fuel, but whether it's safe in a particular stove I can't say.

This and a lot more was covered pretty thoroughly in the old "TimeBomb 2000" forum on LUSENET - you might be interested to check that old forum out - there's a LOT of information there.

-- Don Armstrong (from Australia) (darmst@yahoo.com.au), September 23, 2001.

No, you can't use keroscene in a coleman stove, however, we have used it in place of the expensive lamp oils for our lamps when we lived for 2 and a half yrs without electricity. We were breaking the ban buying lamp oil and at times it wasn't even available in the stores. So an old timer said try keroscene. you have to clean the globes more often and keep a lower flame.

-- Bernice (geminigoats@yahoo.com), September 23, 2001.

COUGH,, yes you can use it in a coleman lantern. Its NOT recomended. It will soot EVERYTHING up,, and will require a throurgh cleaning. I used it a couple of time,, kinda an emergency,, works better if you cut it with white gas or unleaded.

-- stan (sopal@net-port.com), September 23, 2001.

As for the lamp oil question, I prefer paraffin lamp oil to kerosene lamp oil because it burns cleaner and without the stink. It is more expensive but can be bought on sale and stocked up on. I find it's cleaner qualities worth the extra cost.

-- Alison in NS (aproteau@istar.ca), September 24, 2001.

Yes you can use top grade K-1(the water clear stuff, not the yellowish stuff) in oil lamps. I grew up calling them kerosene lamps. The water clear kerosene will not soot the lamp flue any sooner than perfumed stuff. The lesser grades of kerosene(yellowish looking) will soot quicker. Diesel will send black smoke constantly out the flue and instant soot, also plugs the wick quickly. I havent tried it, but heard charcoal lighter fluid will also work in oil lamps. It does look just like kerosene and imagine that is probably what it is or at least something very close. Generic version is usually much cheaper than lamp oil.

You probably can get by with unleaded gas in place of coleman fuel. Far as I know Coleman fuel is just the old "white gas" with some stabalizers added. Modern unleaded fuel has extra chemicals for octane boosting and pollution control. Coleman does sell some modern stoves and lanterns designed specifically to burn unleaded gas. Dont know what difference is if any.

-- HermitJohn (Hermit@hilltop_homestead.zzn.com), September 24, 2001.