Several of my kero lamps have developed a sort of green slime. It acts almost like a bio-film, spreading wherever the kero has seeped or dripped, and completely infusing/ruining the wicks. Kero doesn't dissolve it, nor mineral spirits, alcohol, or bleach. Toluene does the job, with some scrubbing, but it is tough to scrub the inside of a burner. I'm thinking to try a citric acid soak next. It isn't just a bad batch of kero, because a couple other lamps that aren't effected were topped up from the same jug. (Two out of four of my boat's running lights and the cabin lamp are slimed; another running light, the anchor light, a hurricane lamp, and my Op45 are not.) I have no idea what it is, or where it came from. Has anyone else encountered this phenomenon? Have they any remedies? Slime solvents? Not sure if Fettling is where this belongs, but I'll let others decide. Alex
Sounds like some kind of kerosene eating bacteria. I heard something like that is used to cause bio-degradation of spilled oil in the ocean. See this: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/n...started-to-clean-the-deepwater-horizon-spill/ Yonadav
Are you sure it's not vertigres? In the presence salt air. it can remain almost runny like. It also forms from the cloride in salt. Columbia Encyclopedia: verdigris vûr'dəgrēs'), one of three copper acetates: blue verdigris, Cu(CH3COO)2·CuO·6H2O; green verdigris, 2Cu(CH3COO)2·CuO·6H2O; or neutral verdigris, Cu(CH3COO)2·H2O; or a mixture of them. It is a poisonous gray-green to green-blue substance that is formed by the action of acetic acid on copper or copper oxide, e.g., verdigris can form on copper pots used to cook acidic foods such as tomatoes. Verdigris is used as a mordant in dyeing, as a pigment, and in making Paris green. Verdigris may also be used to mean patina.
The brass is subject to de-alloying in corrosive environments. The zinc is leached out of the brass leaving only the copper. Those are the red rust spots you always find on old stoves. That surface copper may be subject to corrosion as described by dspearsy2k above.
Is it actually slimy? In addition to bacteria, there are some fungi that can oxidize kerosene (or diesel) in a humid environment. Do you have access to a good microscope?
A number of years ago I helped a friend empty the diesel fuel out of his 30' S2 sailboat because the fuel had developed some type of bacterial contamination. There seemed to be greenish brown clumps in the fuel. A nasty job as we were pumping the tank with a small hand pump, into gallon jugs. The lamps may have been contaminated with a bad batch of fuel in the past. Paul
Yonadav: Very interesting article --thank you! That is something like what I was imagining it to be, but how the deuce did it get into my lamps!? Dspearsy2k: I don't think it's verdigris. I've got a fair bit of that elsewhere on the boat, and this is different stuff. Chef BC: Might be something in the metal, I guess. They're all Den Haan lamps, so even though they were purchased over the course of 30 years, they're probably the same alloy. But why only three out of the five I keep aboard? Then again, why only three of the five that I filled from the same batch of kero... Sparky: Doesn't seem like a corrosion or de-alloying. It's gooey, like syrup, and wipes off (with effort and toluene). Itchy: Yes, it's actually slimy/gooey/sticky. I can smear it with my finger. I hadn't thought about a fungus, but I suppose that's as likely as a bacteria or archea. I tried to get my wife to take some in to her laboratory and put it under the microscope, but she flat out refused: said she wasn't about to bring an unknown, possibly-biological contaminant into an environmental engineering lab. More practically, she said isolating what had caused the slime from what might then have contaminated the biofilm would be a serious piece of research --sort of like figuring out who had built the office building by looking at who was now living/working in it. Ulysses: Hah! That may be the same stuff! Did you and your friend then clean the tank with some sort of biocide? Did he have any further problems? (I'll just bet that was a nasty job.) Update: I gave the lamp parts a soaking in a pretty fierce citric acid bath. That seemed to get rid of the slime, which argues in favor of a biological contaminant: at my wife's lab, they use a citric acid rinse for removing biofilms. The founts and burners are a wee bit pink (yes, I rinsed them afterward), but the slime seems gone. Alex
My friend kept his boat at the northern end of Lake Champlain. With the relatively short seasons, some of the fuel may have been in the tank of a year or two. We did the work prior to commissioning in May or early June, so the fuel sat in the tank over the winter. I believe he flushed / cleaned the tank and apparently did not have the problem after that, although he may have drained the tank each season after the incident. You might consider draining or burning the fuel out of your lamps at the end of the season. Paul
Ulysses: I know that season well; my boat and I are both from Maine. I think you're right, that draining or burning out the lamps at the end of the season may be the way to go. I *didn't* do that two winters ago, which may have contributed to the slime habitat. Thanks for the advice. Itchy: Maybe it's because it was a bit of a struggle to land this job that she's so touchy; usually she's better about priorities. After all, it was she who suggested finding an alky Op45 to match the kero Op45. Me, a little uncertain: "another stove?" She, incredulous: "of course!"
Oh, yes! It's quite common on those stoves and lamps I don't use, and just have tucked away for spares. The specimen shown below here is a good example I picked out for you from the storage room in the basement. It stood among other scrap stoves, but this one was not drained. The green goo looks like it's running, but is actually quite solid. It's also typical how it creeps and seeps in all directions, as you can see even upwards the outside of the tank lid! It also tend to creep out under the burner fitting. I have been using acetone when cleaning these stoves. I don't think it's oil eating bacterias, since they need water contaminaterd fuel to thrive, and mainly stays in the area where the water and oil meet. I can't imagine that they would start to crawl out of their cosy dwelling down there. I have seen them in the fuel system of my boat (diesel), and they are more greyish, even if i guess they also might go in green. But that stuff is also more viscous and sticky. And it dissolves much easier from the acetone than this green stuff on my paraffin apparatuses does.
Is it just me or does the old paraffin normally in the tank when this happens smell even better than new paraffin?
Christer: THAT'S THE STUFF!! My lamps looked just like that! What a mess it makes, too. It has trashed the lamp wicks. Any suggestions for how to clean it up? Acetone works better on the stuff in your boat's fuel tank, you say, but not so well in the stove? I'll be draining all the tanks now. Thank you, one and all, Alex
I have a Tilley x246b lantern and have the same green sludge dripping from the pump/fuel filler valve area but it’s hard and dried onto the side. I tried to clean using just soap and water but didn’t remove it all. I’ll try the citrus acid. When I pull out the pump leather I can see the oil is a greenish colour paste but I assumed this was the type of oil used by the person who owned it before me. I’m going to drain and completely clean the tank inside as well. This sounds like a problem that only gets worse over time. I haven’t used Kerosene much will this happen to my Optimus 22 if I store it with fuel in it? Should I drain it completely after each use and rinse with citric acid, if so seems like allot of work to run kerosene. I haven’t actually used this stove yet but now I’m a little concerned as for sure my Tilley have what is see in the photo’s
Oh, the acetone works very well on this green stuff too, no problems there! It's just that it don't dissolve immediately. You might have to give it a minute or two. I placed the tanklid from the stove above in an egg cup filled with acetone, and it was pretty clean after just a minute. The last spots still had to be manually removed, but it was enough to rub them with a dry rag when the lid still was wet from its bath. Instead of lowering the entire stove into a bucket of acetone, I just dipped the rag in it and rubbed the green goo with it, and it came off surprisingly easy. Try it! I think you will find that it does the trick quite well. Acetone is one of my favourites for many special cleaning needs. Tough, sticky residues that won't dissolve in paraffin, white spirit or even paint thinner, will often get beaten by the acetone. No, it's not just you! I think you have a point there. I might also find this to smell better, and it most certainly has much more character than fresh paraffin.
Christer: Sounds to me like I'll be adding a can of acetone to the shop supplies. Seems it might be kinder to the brass than a soak in citric. Thank you for the advice; this stuff had me stymied. Spiritburner: I couldn't say one way or the other about the smell; my nose doesn't work very well. It does give my glasses someplace to sit... New plan: drain all lamps and stoves when they're unlikely to be used for a while. Plan B: use acetone to clean up green slime. I love this forum. Alex
Did anybody try bleach (for removal of the slime, and for prevention of its return)? I can also think of mold removal spray. These ideas are based on the (yet unproven) assumption that the thing is organic. Cannot try these at home, as luckily I don't have this plague here. Yonadav
I think to be safe I'll drain my Kerosene stuff if I know I won’t be using for a long period of time. I generally let my Coleman fluid stuff run dry after camping season ends so I’ll do the same for my stoves. Thanks for the tip on acetone, I find the citric acid can leave some parts a bit reddish if left on too long.
Yonadav: I tried bleach, but it didn't appear to do anything. However, it might kill the organism and simply fail to remove the residue. Boston Terrier Man: I sure plan on draining my lamps and stoves. The stuff is really nasty. Although, if Christer and Spiritburner say it makes the kero smell better, maybe it does have some redeeming value. Has anyone tried burning the beslimed kero? I saw it and immediately fixated on removing it, but for all I know, slime-aged kero is a gourmet treat for the stoves.
