I have some kerosene that's about a year old. It was stored in a blue 5 gallon storage container, the typical gas storage jug specific for fuels. Anyway, it's got a yellow tint to it. It started out as water clear 1K kerosene from a pump. I've burned this without problem in stoves in the past but I'm curious to know if anyone can describe exactly what chemical changes occur to the kerosene to cause it to pick up a faint yellow tint. The reason I'm curious is that a Dyna Glo kerosene heater I have has a number of warnings in the instructions to never burn this kerosene in the heater. Its a wick-fed heater. If its so detrimental to the heater, for unknown reasons, why? Gasoline does the same thing. Unleaded I keep in a jug for my mower turns yellowish at a much faster rate. Coleman fuel never seems to, though it has green dye added perhaps to obscure this change. I've used literally 20 year old Coleman fuel without any issues whatsoever. I've even broken down a generator in a Coleman suitcase stove to look for abnormalities and found none. Thoughts? Obviously oxidation, but what is chemically happening and what can result in a worst case scenerio?
Ah that happens with age. Most likely won't hurt the burn. With time it will separate into the other chemcials but I have some 5 year old stuff that still burns blue. If it doesn't the wick heater will burn it no problem. Jeff
It's been my experience that wick heaters are MUCH more prone to not burn old kerosene well as compared to a pressure stove. Tar balls tend to build on the wick with the yellowed stuff, but stoves burn it fine. Not recommending using old kerosene, but I don't recommend throwing it out either. Burn it in something that's easily cleaned. I have a Reddy Heater(like a jet engine) that gets all my suspect heavy fuels. It doesn't even flinch and burns well on even red kero and diesel, so a bit of old kero is no big deal. However, I find that plastic containers are not good for long term storage of ANY fuel. May get some flack on this, but I've experienced the yellowing in plastic too. Perhaps if I was able to keep it in a temperature controlled environment like a basement, which I don't have, I would have different results with the plastic containers. If stored in a metal container, however, kero will stay good for years. I save my 1 gallon Coleman fuel cans and either paint or label them "K-1 KEROSENE" I just opened an old can I filled 3 years ago, and it's still crystal clear. I reuse the 5 gallon metal kero cans as well and refill them when I find a decent price on bulk K-1. Which is getting very hard to do. Mike
All plastic is permiable. Given any internal preasure (read: vapor pressure) the volitiles leach through the plastic (although very slowly). sealed metal, not at all. If you leave the cap loose, the same thing happens, only faster.
Kerosene and diesel fuel both absorbe moisture from the air. When this happens a bacteria begins to grow in the fuel. It doesn't actually grow in the fuel but in the water in the fuel. I don't know the name of this bacteria but there is little you can do to stop it except to keep your fuel in airtight containers. Plastics as you have been told are not really air tight. Because Coleman Fuel has none of the additives of regular unleaded fuels it does not absorbe moisture so long as the container remains sealed. Red kerosene and diesel are just as clean and pure as water white fuels. They have been dyed to identify them as non-road use fuels. This means no road taxes have been paid or are required to be paid on them. Condensation of moisture from the air is the greatest danger to any kind of fuel. This is why founts for lanterns and stoves should be stored empty or completely full. Especially in colder climates. I had a Coleman lantern in which the fount was compeletly rusted out on the bottom because the owner never dried out the fount following his camping trips. The lantern was quite old but that is not the reason. If you notice when you release the pressure of a fuel tank there seems to be a fog in the fount, this is the moisture in the air condensing into water vapour. Over time this water vapour will condense on the sides of the fount then settle to the bottom and rust out any unprotected metal. This is what happened to my lantern. It happens in brass stoves too but since brass does not rust you will not lose the stove. lance
