Hi and welcome to CCS. Ideally, you want water white kerosene (this is a description, not a brand). I usually get it in the paint section of a hardware store. Coloring agents and other additives and impurities can negatively affect stove performance. On the other hand, sometimes that's all you can get. Lamp oil can be a decent grade of kerosene -- after all, no one wants their lamps to smoke -- but it is usually formulated with non-pressurized wick lanterns in mind, and MAY have impurities. Some lamp oils are scented. You shouldn't burn scented lamp oil in a pressure appliance. With non-scented lamp oil, it's kind of a crap shoot. (I just inherited a quart of unscented lamp oil, and now have to decide what to do with it.) Coleman fuel is gasoline, minus the additives -- the ignition retardants necessary to prevent knocking in high-compression car engines, and the detergents to keep the retardants from gumming up the engines. Both of these types of additives will gum up a camp stove or lantern. As others have said, use only the fuel(s) your stove is designed to burn. Using the wrong fuel will cause a smoky mess at best, and a dangerous-to-life-and-property flare up at worst. If you're not sure, tell us what kind of stove you have, or post a photo (we like photos), and we'll help you figure it out. ....Arch
Lamp oil here in the USA is more frequently liquid paraffin, and completely unsuitable for our stove uses. Unless you pull an MSDS and verify the constituents, I would avoid it entirely. It's also dreadfully expensive.
The usual designation in the States is K-1 kerosene; found in all hardware stores etc. This is the right stuff.
The simplest way to buy paraffin/kerosene is at a petrol station which is a bit pricey but not too bad. I use domestic heating kerosene which is very cheap particularly if you're not careful about how you light the stove and spill some. Sorry, that was UK specific... petrol station = gas station but you probably have better solutions in the States.
Thanks for all the help and ideas... It is hard, at least in my area, to find kerosene at gas stations anymore. I never thought of looking in hardware stores or paint stores for it, so that is where I'm going to look. I ordered the necessary gaskets and pump parts to rebuild this stove, so once that's done, I can't wait to fire it up...
They are called SDS's now " Safety Data Sheets" and were supposed to be switched over to the new format at least 5 years ago. Mike
Look for a kerosene pump set apart from the gas/diesel pumps. Sometimes there is a pump for 'Off-Road Use Only' diesel and a 1K clear undyed, untaxed, kerosene pump next to it. I paid around 3.80 per gallon last time I bought it. I can buy undyed, untaxed kerosene at the pump. I am a little west of Asheville. That said, I now prefer to buy the 1K clear kerosene in the 5 gallon can at Lowes, or other places. Look through here, you may get some ideas. Note this is a world wide forum. Good places to buy fuel Ken in NC
