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So... after being asked by the Police to stop burning kerosene on Cuba Street on Saturday night I got to wondering... what else can I burn ! Seems people who suffer from Asthma don't do well Kero fumes. Anybody got ideas for burning in confined or poor ventilated spaces... I figure Eucalyptus Oil would be a good choice... ?
So what we gonna burn when the Oil Runs Out ?
So what we gonna burn when the Oil Runs Out ?
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Re: Green alternatives to Kero ?
Tue, June 12, 2007 - 6:09 PMkero is the fuel of choice because it is cheap... and safe...
other options are:
-Colman's fuel (white gas) this burns clean and bright but will burn if it is on you (even though it is only for a short time)
-Pegasol this is basically (as I understand it) refined kero, it burns cleaner.
-Diesel - good for day burns because of the smoke trails... but really bad for you health wise.
-Lamp oil- you can get citronella lamp oil... I burnt with this in the states and it's nice to spin slow, but if you go fast you can put out the flame quite easily , it burns clean and keep the bugs away... but if it gets on you it will burn you like a burn you get from a deep fryer.
Denatured alcohol... nice clean burn...but hard to get.
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Re: Green alternatives to Kero ?
Wed, June 13, 2007 - 12:51 AMPegasol 3440 special from mobil refineries, clean burning, no smell and little taste
price has gone crazy though
I think shellsol is the shell equivalent
..have made and experimented with bio-diesel
smoky, poor flame, long burning, green...ish, smells of whatever oil you make it with
white gas (shellite, calite...) is good but very dodgy, hot bright flame
explosive, low flash point but a lot of people use it
just have to be aware of safety
citronella as Miles said but the fumes are pretty toxic
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Re: Green alternatives to Kero ?
Wed, June 13, 2007 - 3:12 AMI find lamp oil works really well with big wicks, its pretty much what i spun all the time
I avoid colmans fule, its flash point is FAR FAR to low for my liking, -
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Re: Green alternatives to Kero ?
Thu, June 14, 2007 - 7:24 AMjust read in fire breathing tribe
one guy is using an overproof alcohol 50/50 with olive oil
50% will give a nice blast by itself... down into a brazier
straight out of the still we were getting 70ish% but I was wary of trying it
blowbacks blablabla
mixed with a high flashpoint oil might be the way to go
greenish, safe ish
absinthe and hemp oil???? -
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Re: Green alternatives to Kero ?
Thu, June 14, 2007 - 2:01 PMyups... if you get a home brew kit you can use undistilled alcohol for spinning (you must distil it if you want to use it for fire breathing) then blend it down with lamp oil.
and I used a mix of lamp oil and colmans at bm (as I could not buy kero)... and it works quite well too....
Be aware that my worst burns have been from spinning low flashpoint oil... it will fry your skin... make sure the mix is reasonably volitile and avoid any oils that have high viscosity. What happens is that the oil in the wick heats up and if it is not of the nature that it will evaporate away when a wick hits you... then you have hot oil on your skin...
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Re: Green alternatives to Kero ?
Fri, June 15, 2007 - 4:30 AMYeah i saw your burns at BM Myles, They did not look nice at all :(
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Re: Green alternatives to Kero ?
Sat, June 16, 2007 - 3:42 AMJust jumping in here with a comment on brewing alcohol... I have no idea how it is for spinning.
A still/distillation that gives you 70% alcohol is not so good, based on my very limited experience. This is with a reflux still-- you should be looking for 90%, 95% for a really high quality distillation. Maybe a pot still produces 70%, though, and it is fine-- I don't have any experience with those.
Using a turbo yeast and sugar you can get up close to 17-18-19% with good technique, I think. I can't imagine this would burn, as 40% alcohol from a bottle does not burn, really? I think you need to get to 50%, 100 proof.
Like I said, coming at this from the brewing/distillation angle, not the burning angle :-) -
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Re: Green alternatives to Kero ?
Sat, June 16, 2007 - 6:37 PMThe aim is to get something that does not actually burn...
kero is nice in that way... if you hold a match to it... it does nothing...
When on a wick however... it is good... as the fuel moves along the wick it warms and evaporates into a gas state where it will burn.
I have been meaning to do some experiments with canle wax actually... just to see what it's like...
and yes Tuatha... it was a painful learning curve to get the blend right... not something I would recomend...
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Re: Green alternatives to Kero ?
Sat, June 16, 2007 - 9:36 PMOK people I just made my fire hoop and two burns of that baby with kero and I feel nauseous. This pegasol stuff... just how expensive is it, and does anyone have experience in having it getting right in your face the way hooping does, and how they react to that? -
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Re: Green alternatives to Kero ?
Sat, June 16, 2007 - 10:12 PMpegasole usually works out at around $6 a liter everywhere I have looked...
I have not had any incidents using it... but you may simply want to try the fibreglass wicks like I said...
I have some that you can have a play with if you like... -
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Re: Green alternatives to Kero ?
Sun, June 17, 2007 - 10:41 PMI bought a 200 liter drum for 850
was only 500 when I first ordered, Apparently the Auckland refineries are cheaper ... transport costs...
should be up there this weekend so will check it out
Make sure it's 3440 special and NOT the explosive thinner type
Very little smoke, no probs ,yet, with kero type rash from extended breathing
Everyone in firebreathing raves about Lamplight farms, ultra pure lamp oil
..anyone know of a New Zealand distributor? -
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Re: Green alternatives to Kero ?
Thu, June 21, 2007 - 9:00 PMAn easy quick fix
Buy some boric acid from a chemist, little 100g pot
4ltr bottle of meths from industrial cleaners
Keep mixing boric powder into methylated spirits and shaking solution until it stops dissolving
Roughly the same flashpoint as kero, weakish flame that sprays a little off the wicks
GREEN flames with no smell
Pretty toxic though, methanol and ant killer/ antiseptic -
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Re: Green alternatives to Kero ?
Mon, June 25, 2007 - 11:45 PMWaitomo Petroleum, Ellis St, Hamilton
Pegasol 20ltr/ $88.10incl @ $4.10/ltr
200ltr?$751ish, was a bit of a dodgy quote but works out around $3.75/ltr
They almost double the price to ship it over the Kaimi's to the Waitomo on the Mount
..dont want to tell them the Hamilton branch price in case the price over there gets raised
just told them I could get it cheaper and if they could do better let me know -
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Re: Green alternatives to Kero ?
Thu, June 28, 2007 - 9:22 PMThese guys had an article on Jackrabbit Speaks - which didn't give an email:
lafc.org/green_burn.html
they suggested Ethyl Acetate as an ecofriendly fuel. Industrial cost is 40c a litre.
However I'm not sure it is - it's made in Indian chemical plants from ethanol and acetic acid, with conc. sulphuric as a catalyst, so I'm not sure these plants are safe or unpolluting.
You could make it yourself by brewing/distillation, and recycle the H2SO4 from car batteries (carefully!)
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