Another stove question: Kerosene

[TrainChaser]

Some people find fault with every type of stove known, but in the recent conversations, no one mentioned kerosene. 

There are two regular types of kerosene, the 'white' kind and the dyed red kind.  I read that both of those should be clear, and if it's not (cloudy, I guess), there could be more than than the usual impurities in it, and it wasn't advised for cooking.

I've never used kerosene, but it's used in many places in the world.  Just between the clear and white, what are the differences in actual use?  Smell?  Smokey?  Indoors or out?  Other issues?

 

[Every Road Leads Home]

I don't know how it is for cooking, but I know it's more readily available in rural areas. My local gas station has a pump for kerosene.

 

[John61CT]

I've used it for lighting, but don't like the smell, wouldn't want to cook with it.

Alcohol, butane/propane, charcoal, think that's it.

 

[Weight]

Two types of kerosene. Number 2 is similar to a high grade diesel or fuel oil. Number 1 is also called "water white" and is used in lighting, un-vented heaters and cooking. There are better grades of #1 available in cans. They all smell like kerosene.

 

[tx2sturgis]

I heated with kerosene for years when I had access to good quality kerosene, but about 15 years ago, pump kerosene got crappy, and canned kerosene got extremely expensive so I eventually gave up. I have never cooked with kero but I have seen the stoves online.

For cooking, you will want K-1, 1-K, (also called water clear) kerosene, the kind you buy sealed in a can from a hardware or camping supply store. It is expensive when bought this way.

If you can find a fuel supply vendor, that sells farm diesel and propane, sometimes they will have what is called a 'blocked pump' and can dispense 1K kero at a lesser price, but be careful, as these places sometimes don't sell much kero, and it can accumulate water, which will ruin a wick.

Red-dyed kerosene will also plug up a cooking or heating appliance that uses any kind of wick.

Diesel can be used if you can't find either of the above, but should not be used indoors. Jet-A from a local small airport can also be used.

If you plan to buy a kerosene powered stove, or heater, that uses a wick, then you should also buy a chamois and a funnel and plan to filter your own fuel manually to remove any water.

Here is an article that has more information than you will ever need to know about kerosene:

http://www.milesstair.com/kero_fuel_primer.html

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

Some people find fault with every type of stove known, but in the recent conversations, no one mentioned kerosene . . . 

I've never used kerosene, but it's used in many places in the world.  Just between the clear and white, what are the differences in actual use?  Smell?  Smokey?  Indoors or out?  Other issues?

There are two types of kerosene backpacking stoves that I've had experience with: jet and wick.  The jet type need some other fuel to get them started, usually alcohol or white gas.  Wick type are easy to light but require wick maintenance to keep from smoking.  Some diesel boats use diesel stoves (basically less refined kerosene with additives) because they have a fuel tank full of it.  They have good ventilation over their stove.  Up to the early 70's kerosene stoves were popular with mountaineers because of its wide availability.

Advantages:

• Hard to light, won't create a fire hazard if spilled.
• Available world wide.
• Burns hot.
• High BTU output per gallon, you will use (and have to carry) less.

Disadvantages:

• Fumes are toxic.  WHO advises to not use indoors.
• Difficult to clean up after spill; smell lingers for a long time.  Evaporates very slowly.
• Some people are sensitive to the fumes.
• Priming can create a flare-up if not done correctly.
• #2 kerosene is highest grade of diesel.  If bought at a gas pump it may have additives and may have transportation tax added.  I think the red dye is added to distinguish taxed vs. untaxed fuel.

 

[Dgorila1]

I believe jet fuel is kerosene. Remember that smell from my military days.

 

[mr_elijah_gardner]

I used to have an off grid cabin. I heated it with a kerosene stove (pic attached) I cooked on it a few times. A heater like this wouldn't work well in a vehicle it needed a lot of buffer space around it. I'd be paranoid of the kerosene smell getting into food and using it in that small of a space gives me a headache thinking about it.

 

[TrainChaser]

Okay, that's about what I thought. Many people use good kerosene stoves for canning, but they do it outdoors. Thanks!

 

[frater secessus]

I have a stove that run on kero, a pressure lantern modified to run "amish blend" (kero + coleman), and way too many cold blast (wicked) lanterns. In my experience the kero smell is most pronounced when starting/stopping, and minimal while running. All the pressure gear requires priming (pre-warming) with something like alcohol to get the gear up to temp before the kero is introduced.

 

[steamjam1]

I'm not  huge fan of paraffin stoves either. The smell is just too strong. I played around with using a Primus 210 camp stove in my van:

[img=355x266]https://classiccampstoves.com/attachments/1224429733-210_1-jpg.107292/[/img]

But I found them to be too impractical due to the need to pre heat them... And boy does it stink...

 

[highdesertranger]

dang Steamjam that stove belongs in the Smithsonian. real cool. highdesertranger

 

[frater secessus]

They are still made with the same basic design.  Here are the two main variants running on white gas (coleman fuel ):



[video=youtube]

I'm a coleman pressure gear fanboi but that primus/optimus/svea burner makes the best roaring sound.

 

[highdesertranger]

I have the Svea the one on the left. I have had it since the late 60's, still works great but it's white gas not kero. highdesertranger

 

[John61CT]

Still a stink issue inside the van though right?

 

[TrainChaser]

Thanks for all of the info! I am planning on having two stoves, mainly divided between indoor and outdoor types. I guess the kerosene type would be the outdoor one, if I got one. I have met two people in my life who were big canners, and they both used kerosene. They both said they mainly used kerosene because they were canning outdoors, so the smell didn't matter. One of them was using the outdoor brick BBQ grill set-up.

I've never seen it done with kerosene, myself.

 

[John61CT]

I wonder why, is kero cheaper? Propane is still under $2.20 a gallon around here if you shop around.

 

[tx2sturgis]

Kerosene yields half again as much BTU per gallon or per pound carried, especially if you factor in the weight of a steel propane tank vs a plastic jug to hold kerosene.

But, in most camping/boondocking situations, it's probably not enough to make much difference either way.

The only reason I carry it (or diesel) is to burn in my kerosene lanterns.

 

[John61CT]

Yes I meant for a high BTU usage like canning, seems so archaic, wondering if there is some advantage (other than energy density)

 

[TrainChaser]

John: "... wondering if there is some advantage (other than energy density)"

I don't know. I didn't can then, so I didn't think to ask. Maybe they use it for something else, and buy in bulk.