The Cornish made a significant contribution to the world once upon a time - the Industrial Revolution would never have occurred without us! Yet the history books have ignored much of what we did?
Take one cup (300 - 330g) of Calcium Carbonate (Limestone Flour) and add to each gallon of heating oil/paraffin - leave for 5-7 days, decant and filter. (The residue may be dried and used once again) The resultutant fuel burns infinitely more efficient, and clearly much brighter - with the added bonus of course, of neutralising any smell whatsoever. *Dependent upon clean jet, good seals and all obvious* I use a lighter as standard now - these little pressure Stoves and Lamps are the sweetest on an A1 spark up, and as I’ve said before - it’s like turning a key! Prior Planning (Preparation) Prevents Piss Poor Performance - most certainly in regard to these Stoves I’ve found. For every scruple and moan I ever heard about these Stoves and Lamps, why they were being scrapped or made redundant - it all makes you reassess things? Slapdash maintenance, bodging, crappy fuel, blocked jets etc - most things being cumulative disorders :-( And this aside, sloppy filling with priming fuel and likewise parrafin/kerosene 28 sec heating oil ......... Look after your Stove/Lamp and she will look after you, spend a little time on the fettling works wonders ;-) I was told a story about Sir Goldsworthy Gurney by my Grandfather as a young kid - it was to exemplify the virtues of an inquiring mind, whilst pointing out why his old stove was made redundant for the while. It was he who told me of the aforementioned treatment - as kids we all had a pressure lamp for fishing off the river and coast here at Padstow, or lusted after them - then as soon as we’d been kitted, it appeared everyone switched to gas? The old fishing boat galley Stoves (day boats) would stink to high heaven, then I guess - poor maintenance, seals, dirty jets, salt corrosion and poor fuel again? I am indebted to Colin Greer for having enough faith to give this process a try - in doing so, proving it works extremely well indeed. I do wonder what Sir Goldsworthy Gurney would have made of the Primus No.85 - in particular its burner arrangement?
I can see why people moved away from these stoves and fuel types, much more convenient with electricity or propane. Using my stoves keeps my attention and gives me something to do when camping. Duane
I can well understand that to Duane, for the many reasons mentioned - but that said, these beasties have certainly made me more organised, exacting and keen to get the very best out of them by preparation and fair maintenance. I’ve never been too keen on propane and electricity has its own limits on the road. They most certainly do keep your attention :-)
Just found this - bearing mind that calcium oxide creates a luminescence at 2000 deg Celsius ..........
I've hit a snag unfortunately: The first batch I prepared using the calcium carbonate method went perfectly. I still have about a gallon left but the secind batch I currently have on the go doesn't seem to be working. The only difference is the type of calcium carbonate I used this time which was sold as limestone flour for animal feed supliment purposes. Theoretically it should be exactly the same but it does not appear to be removing the smell all that much if at all. I've just ordered some pure CaCO3 ultra fine powder which is white and not grey like the limestone flour was and I'll try again. In the mean time I'm eaking out the de-odoured batch I have until I can make more. I'm not buying expensive pre-packaged paraffin unless I absolutely have to.
