On Mon, 12 May 2008 15:44:13 GMT, Jim wrote:

I used paraffin on the wick. Worked OK, but probably so would have
meths.

Meths will burn cleaner, rather that sooty, though it seems the procedure
is have fuel in the tank, valve closed, pump it a little, open valve to
let fuel down and onto the wick, close valve, light the wick and wait
(pumping up in the mean time) until the fuel in the coil really starts to
vaporise and roar, the open the valve and away you go.

Paid a totally outrageous 7.99 for 5ltr paraffin at our local rip-off
garden centre.

Ouch, road diesel would have been 40p/l cheaper!

Problem no.2: In use.

Any nuts to nip up? There might be an O ring in there that has dried and
shrunk but will now be well oiled.

Problem no.3: In use.
Not really a nice, small pointed flame.

You'll not get a small flame from it. B-) Think of something a foot long
and the diameter of the nose... pointy, stable and basicly blue with some
small yellow flashes should be attainable. It is a bit of balancing act
between valve opening and pressure. Best to try and only adjust one of
pressure or valve at a time. But the pressure will drop as fuel is used so
pick a valve open position that you can repeat and the adjust pressure to
make it run nicely.

Flaring (large or big yellow flame plumes) is indicative of too much fuel
and if difficult to bring under control by adjusting the valve and/or
pressure may indicate a worn jet.

--
Cheers
Dave.

On 2008-05-12 18:52:04 +0100, "Dave Liquorice"
said:

On Mon, 12 May 2008 15:44:13 GMT, Jim wrote:

I used paraffin on the wick. Worked OK, but probably so would have
meths.

Meths will burn cleaner, rather that sooty, though it seems the procedure
is have fuel in the tank, valve closed, pump it a little, open valve to
let fuel down and onto the wick, close valve, light the wick and wait
(pumping up in the mean time) until the fuel in the coil really starts to
vaporise and roar, the open the valve and away you go.

Paid a totally outrageous 7.99 for 5ltr paraffin at our local rip-off
garden centre.

Ouch, road diesel would have been 40p/l cheaper!

Problem no.2: In use.

Any nuts to nip up? There might be an O ring in there that has dried and
shrunk but will now be well oiled.

Problem no.3: In use.
Not really a nice, small pointed flame.

You'll not get a small flame from it. B-) Think of something a foot long
and the diameter of the nose... pointy, stable and basicly blue with some
small yellow flashes should be attainable. It is a bit of balancing act
between valve opening and pressure. Best to try and only adjust one of
pressure or valve at a time. But the pressure will drop as fuel is used so
pick a valve open position that you can repeat and the adjust pressure to
make it run nicely.

Flaring (large or big yellow flame plumes) is indicative of too much fuel
and if difficult to bring under control by adjusting the valve and/or
pressure may indicate a worn jet.

One question: will these run happily on ordinary heating oil (which I
think is Kerosene 28)?

I am thiking of getting one, but have several thousand litres of
heating oil and would rather use that than go lookg for paraffin.

On Tue, 13 May 2008 15:42:50 +0100, adm wrote:

One question: will these run happily on ordinary heating oil (which I
think is Kerosene 28)?

Yes, kerosene, 28sec oil, paraffin, jet fuel are all more or less the
same. Some one has already reported running one on diesel (35sec oil).

Provided you can get the oil to vapourise and the burning oil produced
enouigh heat to keep up a supply of vaporised oil I reckon you could run
it on anything from used veg oil or engine oil to kerosene/parafin. I
wouldn't try petrol or camping stove fuel though...

Veg oil and used engine oil may well increase the need for more
maintenance in keeping the thing clean. I doubt old engine oil would burn
particulary cleanly. Used veg oil would have to be filtered before use.

--
Cheers
Dave.

On Wed, 14 May 2008 00:26:11 +0200, Martin wrote:

Isn't burning old engine oil an offence? It releases stuff that can
cause cancer.

Grandma, old engine oil is full of all manner of nasties from "simple"
toxins to carcinogens. However there is burning as in on a bonfire (low
temp incomplete combustion) and burning as in a X300 (high temp, complete
or very much better combustion), very different.

--
Cheers
Dave.

On 2008-05-13 22:07:11 +0100, "Dave Liquorice"
said:

On Tue, 13 May 2008 15:42:50 +0100, adm wrote:

One question: will these run happily on ordinary heating oil (which I
think is Kerosene 28)?

Yes, kerosene, 28sec oil, paraffin, jet fuel are all more or less the
same. Some one has already reported running one on diesel (35sec oil).

Provided you can get the oil to vapourise and the burning oil produced
enouigh heat to keep up a supply of vaporised oil I reckon you could run
it on anything from used veg oil or engine oil to kerosene/parafin. I
wouldn't try petrol or camping stove fuel though...

Veg oil and used engine oil may well increase the need for more
maintenance in keeping the thing clean. I doubt old engine oil would burn
particulary cleanly. Used veg oil would have to be filtered before use.

Ta.

Now - if my heating oil is basically jet fuel I wonder if I can run my
diesel car on it......it's about a third of the price of diesel.

On Wed, 14 May 2008 17:24:30 +0100, adm wrote:

Now - if my heating oil is basically jet fuel I wonder if I can run my
diesel car on it......it's about a third of the price of diesel.

Kero is a bit light and volatile for a diesel but yes it will run on it.
May well shorten engine life as it will be going BANG a bit earlier and
with more UMPH. Having said that the engine management systems might be
able to cope and reduce the fueling and adjusting the timing of injection
depending on how sophisticated the engine is. Of course using heating oil
on the road is illegal and it now has yellow and hidden tracers in it.

Veg oil how ever *is* legal up to 2,500l per rolling year without telling
HMR&C (I'd still keep accurate records though). Veg oil can knacker rubber
(or is it synthetic rubber?) parts of the fuel system and also has a
strong cleaning effect. So when running on veg oil or a mix veg oil/diesel
keep a fuel filter handy at least to begin with and change it after the
first couple of thousand miles anyway.

Running on Straight Veg Oil (SVO) can produce starting problems
particulary if it's cold but most people who use veg oil seem to run a
50:50 SVO/diesel mix without problems. But take note of the effects veg
oil can have on parts of the fuel system, do some research before bunging
20l of SVO from the cash 'n carry into your fuel tank...

--
Cheers
Dave.

On Wed, 14 May 2008 12:26:38 +0200, Martin wrote:

The high temperature of the oil being burnt must be at least 850C for
two seconds.

It won't last that long in the flame but I should imagine the temp will be
well above 850C.

The answer to my question is: It is an offence to burn old engine oil,
except in an incinerator meeting DEFRA and EU requirements.

Probably, that's why I started with the word "Grandma" hopefully to imply
the "nanny state". B-) I don't think DEFRA (Department for Environment,
Food and Rural Affairs) would be at all bothered, the EA (Environment
Agency) on the other hand would be. The EA is directly responsible to
Ministers not via the "enviroment" part of DEFRA.

--
Cheers
Dave.

On 2008-05-14 21:53:21 +0100, "Dave Liquorice"
said:

On Wed, 14 May 2008 17:24:30 +0100, adm wrote:

Now - if my heating oil is basically jet fuel I wonder if I can run my
diesel car on it......it's about a third of the price of diesel.

Kero is a bit light and volatile for a diesel but yes it will run on it.
May well shorten engine life as it will be going BANG a bit earlier and
with more UMPH. Having said that the engine management systems might be
able to cope and reduce the fueling and adjusting the timing of injection
depending on how sophisticated the engine is. Of course using heating oil
on the road is illegal and it now has yellow and hidden tracers in it.

Veg oil how ever *is* legal up to 2,500l per rolling year without telling
HMR&C (I'd still keep accurate records though). Veg oil can knacker rubber
(or is it synthetic rubber?) parts of the fuel system and also has a
strong cleaning effect. So when running on veg oil or a mix veg oil/diesel
keep a fuel filter handy at least to begin with and change it after the
first couple of thousand miles anyway.

Running on Straight Veg Oil (SVO) can produce starting problems
particulary if it's cold but most people who use veg oil seem to run a
50:50 SVO/diesel mix without problems. But take note of the effects veg
oil can have on parts of the fuel system, do some research before bunging
20l of SVO from the cash 'n carry into your fuel tank...

I was really joking on the heating oil comment - and as it's a very
expensive high end new German diesel engine with only around 1,200
miles on it, I'll probably not be putting any veg oil in yet!

Thanks for the info though.