Kerosene - what is it?

[Tig]

Although I still don't see the need in doing this because the stuff out of the local pumps is being run all winter by vehicles without mixing kerosene in it. Why would it be different in a tractor, unless it is the use factor where the vehicle is being used every day but my tractor may sit for a few weeks at a time before using it in the winter.

Way back in auto shop class we were taught that fuel additives were adjusted seasonally in cold climates to prevent icing etc. If so problems could arrise if you have a tank full of summer fuel and the weather gets very cold.

 

[cp1969]

dknarnd said:

...Although I still don't see the need in doing this because the stuff out of the local pumps is being run all winter by vehicles without mixing kerosene in it...

In the past, #1 was blended with #2 to improve cold flow characteristics, so many times what people thought to be #2 diesel (because that's what the pump says) were actually pumping a blend of the two.

I don't know how it will work this year with ULSD hitting the pumps and as far as I know, there is no ULSD #1 to mix with it. This might be the winter that gives a true test to anti-gel additives, depending on how cold it gets.

BTW, dknarnd: Good screen name.

 

[dknarnd]

BTW, dknarnd: Good screen name.

Very few people ever figure it out but I had to shorten it up to fit a liscence plate.

 

[cp1969]

I don't know how it will work this year with ULSD hitting the pumps and as far as I know, there is no ULSD #1 to mix with it.

I was mistaken. It looks like there is ULSD #1 after all, at least in some places.

http://www.magellanlp.com/docs/Y-Grade No. 1 Fuel Oil.pdf

According to that spec sheet, max sulfur ppm is <10.

 

[RalphVa]

I've heard of Vermonters using 50/50 kero/diesel in the winter time to avoid gell formation. (Actually, it's wax, not gel, but the wax will gel the fuel. Kero keeps it dissolved. We use kerosene in propane dewaxing plants industrially to wash the filters used to remove the wax from lubricating oil.)

Ralph

 

[KICK]

. (Actually, it's wax, not gel, but the wax will gel the fuel.
Ralph

I believe its parafin, if you wanna split hairs.

 

[midlf]

I believe the Brits call kerosene "paraffin oil".

 

[tallyho8]

I'm pretty sure that i've heard a few old timers around here call it "coal oil".

 

[Tom_Veatch]

I'm pretty sure that i've heard a few old timers around here call it "coal oil".

I'm quite sure you did. When I was growing up in the piney woods south of Shreveport, La., during the late 40's/early 50's, before the REA brought electricity into the area, our interior lighting was by "coal oil" lanterns. At that time, "Frigidaire" was the common term for all home refrigerators, or, in more recent times, any copy machine was a "Xerox machine" regardless of the actual brand name.

The "original" product was extracted from coal (see here), but has been largely (entirely?) replaced by kerosene, a petroleum distillate. But I still think of kerosene as "coal oil" while I get a cold one out of my Frigidaire on the way to make a Xerox copy from my IBM computer. Old habits and thought patterns die hard.

 

[purpony]

is anyone using straight home heating oil 100% in their tractor? I was thinking if the truck comes to fill the home heating tank, way not have them fill a 55 drum with it for the tractor as well.