can I burn Jet Fuel in my kerosene torpedo heater?
- Thread starter Badger
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denverpilot
Tied Down
That's what we do with ours, point it at our bums and go to work. LOL.
They come with this cool thing called a manual that says what they'll burn.
John221us
En-Route
They won't even fuel my plane if my compressor kicks in, let alone an open flame.
I know I will be dating myself... (57)..
... BUT..I clearly remember taking a 3 gallon jug down to the local Gulf station back in the early 1960's and buying Kerosene... There were pumps for gas out on the front islands and they had No-knocs for high test. Good Gulf for the regular grade.. Around back they had 2 pumps.. One was for "white" gas... That was for outboard boat engines and our Jacobson 2 stroke lawn mower. Next to that was the Kerosene pump. IRRC it was .007 cents a gallon......
Boy, those were the good ol' days...
Who would have ever thought JetA, which is basically Kerosene would cost 7.50 a gallon.
Richard Rao
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Flying squirrel
How about 100LL?
DaleB
Final Approach
Ten years. Is there a necropost record?
100LL in a kerosene heater would probably be great for entertaining people who read the Darwin Award web sites.
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Richard Rao
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Flying squirrel
Well I guess I wasn't getting one 10 yrs ago. But thnx for answering my question.
SkyChaser
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SkyChaser
If there were a necropost award, it would go to the guy who resurrected a thread from 2006 the other day...
AggieMike88
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The original "I don't know it all" of aviation.
Just how deep are our archives?
SkyChaser
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SkyChaser
In Hangar Talk, it goes back to Feb 2005. Not sure if it goes deeper elsewhere.
Randomskylane
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My friends heater takes jet /kerosene/diesel but not biodiesel. Anyone here have an idea why? TIA
Pinecone
En-Route
Using any type of combustion heater, get a home CO alarm and use it.
I would NOT burn 100LL or used aircraft oil in any heater. You would be putting the lead in the air you are breathing.
Burning 100LL will NOT go well in these heaters. They are NOT designed to burn gasoline fuels.
I would NOT burn 100LL or used aircraft oil in any heater. You would be putting the lead in the air you are breathing.
Burning 100LL will NOT go well in these heaters. They are NOT designed to burn gasoline fuels.
Because bio fuel is crap and has lard in it, IMO. It has too much viscosity and small fuel pumps can't handle it like in your turbo heater is made to burn light fuel like kerosene. Even diesel fuel will shorten the life of the fuel pump in equipment that is made for kerosene. Bio fuels has messed up more than one piece of off road equipment especially when its cold out. Been there done that.
When the wick type kerosene heaters became popular during the 1970s "energy crisis" there were quite a few explosions and house fires caused by idiots who didn't read the directions and didn't understand the difference between kerosene and gasoline.
Around here (CT), many gas stations have a kerosene pump. Since it's not taxed as road fuel, it's dyed red for identification, which caused consternation with people concerned about confusing it with 80/87.
Around here (CT), many gas stations have a kerosene pump. Since it's not taxed as road fuel, it's dyed red for identification, which caused consternation with people concerned about confusing it with 80/87.
Jeff Oslick
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I think that is about as old as POA. I joined in March 2005, and I think I was among the first refugees from the AOPA Red Board.
Lycosaurus
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Meme Curator
Here's my experience and my 2 cents. Hopefully it will help you.
I have a 50,000 BTU Mr. Heater. It's specs say it is good for diesel, kerosene, jet-A. I have used kerosene at first, but diesel works just as well and I notice no ill effects ... no smoke or different smell. I use it in an unheated hangar.
Find the manual for yours and see what it says. Otherwise, I would empty the fuel from your heater and try a gallon of diesel and see what happens. You might have to adjust the fuel pressure (there's a screw on mine to adjust the mixture).
If it creates smoke, the mixture may not be right, or you have water in your fuel.
On my first year of owning it, I had to change the fuel hoses, as they were cracked badly. A couple of years later I needed to service the air pump. Just a dis-assembly of the air pump which is similar to an airplane vacuum pump. Just clean the innards of all the dust after freeing the vanes. Has worked flawlessly for the last 10 years since maintenance.
I have a 50,000 BTU Mr. Heater. It's specs say it is good for diesel, kerosene, jet-A. I have used kerosene at first, but diesel works just as well and I notice no ill effects ... no smoke or different smell. I use it in an unheated hangar.
Find the manual for yours and see what it says. Otherwise, I would empty the fuel from your heater and try a gallon of diesel and see what happens. You might have to adjust the fuel pressure (there's a screw on mine to adjust the mixture).
If it creates smoke, the mixture may not be right, or you have water in your fuel.
On my first year of owning it, I had to change the fuel hoses, as they were cracked badly. A couple of years later I needed to service the air pump. Just a dis-assembly of the air pump which is similar to an airplane vacuum pump. Just clean the innards of all the dust after freeing the vanes. Has worked flawlessly for the last 10 years since maintenance.
Been in the fuel business since 1983. Yes jet A fuel will work good, same thing only better than kerosene.
Back in the 80s when kerosene convection/wick heaters were all the rage. Our fuel company sold lots of kerosene. I would climb up on the delivery tankers and take samples out of each compartment before unloading to insure the kerosene was bright and clear. Long before the days of red dye. We had a good reputation of selling hi quality kerosene. Our secret was JetA.
We have a bulk plant and would buy JetA by the transport load and sell it for K-1 kero. We delivered it to homes with our trucks aS #1 heating oil and sold hundreds of gallons of it everyday during the winter out of our retail pump for small heaters. This jetA did not have any additives in it like prist. I am not sure if prist is a concern when used in kero heaters?
Like said if you use a convection kero heater with wick in it don't use diesel or #2 heating oil, kero only. The turbo kero heaters can tolerate #2 diesel/heating oil but not good for them as there fuel pumps are setup for light fuel which is kerosene.
I have been heating my non insulated T hanger for 4 winters now only when I am there with propane heaters. I have 3 of them for a total of 160K btu. When it is 30-40°F you need about 75k btus. Colder than 30° I need all 160K btu to make it comfortable after about an hour of running the heaters. As soon as I turn off the heater the heat is gone as there are gaps all along the floors and the bi fold hangar door leaks a ton of air.
After an hour of running the heaters I turn on a floor fan and point it straight up to the ceiling which helps a lot as it blows the warm air around the hangar.
Back in the 80s when kerosene convection/wick heaters were all the rage. Our fuel company sold lots of kerosene. I would climb up on the delivery tankers and take samples out of each compartment before unloading to insure the kerosene was bright and clear. Long before the days of red dye. We had a good reputation of selling hi quality kerosene. Our secret was JetA.
We have a bulk plant and would buy JetA by the transport load and sell it for K-1 kero. We delivered it to homes with our trucks aS #1 heating oil and sold hundreds of gallons of it everyday during the winter out of our retail pump for small heaters. This jetA did not have any additives in it like prist. I am not sure if prist is a concern when used in kero heaters?
Like said if you use a convection kero heater with wick in it don't use diesel or #2 heating oil, kero only. The turbo kero heaters can tolerate #2 diesel/heating oil but not good for them as there fuel pumps are setup for light fuel which is kerosene.
I have been heating my non insulated T hanger for 4 winters now only when I am there with propane heaters. I have 3 of them for a total of 160K btu. When it is 30-40°F you need about 75k btus. Colder than 30° I need all 160K btu to make it comfortable after about an hour of running the heaters. As soon as I turn off the heater the heat is gone as there are gaps all along the floors and the bi fold hangar door leaks a ton of air.
After an hour of running the heaters I turn on a floor fan and point it straight up to the ceiling which helps a lot as it blows the warm air around the hangar.
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