Kerosene - storage life experiments

This is something I've been meaning to explore for a couple years, but have been too busy. I'm still not convinced that kerosene goes "bad" in storage, but there seems to be evidence that it has issues for certain uses. I will explore ways to identify and where possible correct these issues, and then will explore some really old kerosene and see just what it's still suitable for.

First up is an issue that I've heard best described as black spot disease. It attacks the mantles of pressurized and non-pressurized kerosene mantle lamps and lanterns. The two most recent victims are an Aida and a Coleman lantern. Both developed the dreaded black spot while running a test on
dyed red pump K1 kerosene. This is not the fuel of choice around here, and was advertised as "Water Clear, undyed" on the pump. It was not. I got one gallon in a steel can. Both lanterns ran fine on this fuel initially, and it may have aged a year before the spots developed. Nothing I did would clear them. They have been waiting for service in my pantry for two years.

The spots. On the Aida it's a large patch on one side.
The Coleman has multiple spots on both mantles.


Covered with dust. It was time to see if this fuel and these precious mantles could be saved.

 

First step was to drain the old fuel and measure it.

Fuel looked good and showed no water or fungus growth.

I suspected that I could save both the fuel and the mantles by using an Amish mix, so called, because the Amish use it in their lamps and lanterns to make them easier to light, and keep the generators running cleaner. I added 20-25% white gas to the original K1 and poured it right back in the lantern through a filter funnel. No crud noted on the filter.

 

Spots are evident at start-up.


They faded nicely after a couple hours run time.

They were almost gone after sunset and I had to choke the fuel almost completely off to get the shot in the dark.

So for old troublesome kerosene that causes black spots on mantles, the Amish mix is a fix. Since Coleman fuel and other white gas in metal cans will store almost indefinitely, it's always good to have some on hand. I just used the last of a can from 1971, and it runs fine.

Later this week I will explore the older stored kerosene that is well over 10 years old. I'm curious to see if it is suitable for pressure lamps with or without the Amish mix or if it's only suitable for wick lamps or heaters.

 

Good info, thanks

 

Keep us posted please.

 

1st, @hot diggity great post! Have never heard of the "Amish Mix". I'll have to play with that...
Earlier this "winter" here in 'bama it got down in the low 20's for a couple of weeks Well as will happen, we got ice on the trees/power lines and we ended up losing power for awhile. When we did it was a windy crappy type day so I went out and shut the genset off for a couple hours.When the house temp got low enough I went to the shed and got a kerosun heater out. This heater is about 10 yrs old, one of those round types, about knee high. Left the existing fuel in it. Topped it off with a previously opened factory 5 gal can of fuel originally bought from WallyWorld. Said fuel is approx. 8 years old and has been sitting in the can in a shed until I need it. Now I'm lazy so I put in a fresh D cell battery and hit the ignite button. She lit right off with no smoke after adjusting the wick. You could smell the kerosene, but not any stronger than any other time. Have no idea how long Kero will last, but this is the oldest I have. I have a couple of sealed drums of Kerosene out back, but they aren't as old.

PS: These type of heaters are ALWAYS for sale around here come May-July for about 25-45 bucks. Most are once or twice used. Should any of y'all want/need one, come spring let me know. You pay the purchase price with shipping and I'd be happy to score for ya.

 

Back in the days I played with the Army, Jet A was stored in tanker trucks all winter and come spring, was used.

The biggest issue was 'biological growth" AKA dinosaur snot.

With a good filter, it wasn't an issue.

So having one of these is a good idea.. Mr Funnel





I've sen these work and think they are well worth the asking price.

 

I didn't think it went bad.

 

Even the high tech super filtered specific viscosity calibration fuel that I used when I was in the diesel fuel injection pump overhaul business is immune from fungus growth. I was amazed at the blob of fungus that would grow in the bottom of a cast iron reservoir inside a climate controlled room. This injector tester wasn't sealed, but it allowed no light to reach the fuel.

@DKR, I remember when we switched from Diesel to a "single battlefield fuel", which at the time was JP8. It was a very clean fuel, and also broke loose all the crud that had been lurking in the fuel systems of all our vehicles. Three to five fuel filter changes later we were in business again. Not the kind of fuel swap I'd recommend if you needed to get somewhere in a hurry.

I'm going to try to access the old kerosene can this evening, but my Miniere's Disease has really been giving me wicked vertigo, so I won't be staying up too late if I can avoid it.

 

Lookie what I found!


That looks like some pretty rough storage conditions. Covered with dust in a forgotten corner of the barn.

We'll see how it works when I get it stabilized at room temperature to prevent condensation in the lamps.

 

It looks just like the day it came out of the pump. Like the sign on the pump said.
"Water clear K1 kerosene. No Dye, No Tax, No Crap."

Handy dandy Du-Bro hand pump for RC engines with silicone hose is 12 years old, and works like new. Lets me fill or empty kerosene lamps in the house without any worries of spills. It is slow, but filling little bedside wick lamps doesn't take much.

 

The K1 looks perfectly clear. Any distortion is from the totally unapproved fuel container.

Judging by the vintage of the blue Blitz plastic kerosene can that this was stored in, this kerosene was put in the barn in early 2012. If I have any Y2K kerosene out there it's stuffed away somewhere and doesn't want to be found.

 

I would hope that K1 would last forever, have y'all checked the price lately?

 

Last I checked it was $4.00 a gallon at the pump. I was a bit concerned that it would get harder to find, but have seen new pumps added at rural convenience stores.

$12 a gallon for Klean-Heat, but it's worth it to have no kerosene odor from wick lamps that sit next to me year round. In pressure lamps this isn't necessary. It can get pretty bad with Aladdin's in a small room. I pull the gallery and slap a red Solo cup over their wick. This seems to help with older stinkers.

 

Twin Rayo's confirm that at eight years old, kerosene hasn't lost any of its ability to burn with a nice white flame in a wick lamp. (New Klean Heat on the left, old water clear kerosene on the right.) The image appears to show a difference in shade, but I noticed none while observing the lamps. Camera may have picked up the different levels of dust on the two chimneys.

 

Drained the remaining Amish mix from the lantern and filled it with the old kerosene. In early preheat it lit right off, since it still had the 25% white gas mix in the generator. I did notice that the small black spots that remained were immediately burned off in this lighting cycle.

From ignition to one hour all appeared to be fine.

At two hours I noticed that the lantern had dimmed. Closer inspection revealed that both mantles had black spots. Plenty of pressure remaining, and 10 ounces of fuel left. The only thing I didn't do was spin the tip cleaner, since this didn't seem like a lean mixture issue.

Drained the 10 ounces of kerosene and added 2.5 ounces of white gas.

Black spots seem to be fading slowly, and lantern is running smoothly with reduced light output due to the spots.

Will let it run out of fuel tonight and see what the mantles look like.

 

I have 3/4 gallon of Kero that was put in the glass bottle sometime in the early '90's that I use for my grandfather clock lube. I lit a bit of it this weekend, thanks to this thread, and it seems to burn just fine. Still smells the same too.