Can Optimus 111 (kerosene burner) run on white gas / gasoline?

Hi everyone,

I believe the title of this thread says it all. I recently acquired a never-used Optimus 111, which I completely restored, and I don't really enjoy running it on kerosene (too dirty, too smelly). Given that I have a large reserve of Aspen 4, I couldn't help but think that it might work on it. Is there any reason I shouldn't do that? Also, should I use the gasoline jet from an 111B?

Many thanks for your input and my apologies for asking silly question. While I definitely caught the stove-bug, I'm very much still a beginner.

Best,
W.S.

 

Yes. Jet for a 111B would be ideal, make sure pip is good in the NRV.
Duane

 

For this reason … A cautionary tale

 

Thank you for your quick and wise replies. I've never fired up a new-to-me stove without replacing all the gaskets and pips first. Same with the 111. The NRV is working perfectly and no fuel reaches the pump tube.

I've also read the cautionary tale, it's something I will always keep in mind.

 

I understand your dislike of the smell from kerosene too. Can run a blend of the two also. Its called Amish mix here in US. Different % blends for different results.

 

I've had in my hands or pass thru my hands three 111B's, all needed the pip in the NRV replaced. Many issues arising with stoves can be caught before things go bad by observation.
Duane

 

Honestly, these Yanks... what a culture shock! For decades in Blighty, the whiff of paraffin outdoors meant hot food and drink was on the way...

 

I absolutely detest the smell of kerosene but since getting a 111 with a kerosene burner I have grown fond of it if only based on the safety of it. Now I have a few kerosene stoves, but can't imagine smelling it and thinking of something good haha.

 

I only use the majority of my large stove collection out camping or backpacking, rarely inside, so smell isn't a factor selecting a stove to use. My most stinky stove is my Coleman marine stove, kero model, the preheater stinks up things fast.
Duane

 

Thank you very much for all your comments. I must admit that I don't really dislike the smell of kerosene (it reminds me of my childhood vacations in the countryside), but I truly dislike how sooty it burns. Maybe my kerosene is not top grade, but my 111 is already black and sticky after only a few runs.

Speaking of the "amish mix", with what ratio should I start?

Many thanks,
W.S.

 

Some stoves I have received over the years from Europe have been dirty, sticky. Less quality fuel there? Wrong grade of fuel? Both petrol and kero/paraffin stoves.
Duane

 

1. I don’t know what “kerosene” you are using, but a properly set up kerosene stove, with the correct sized jet, using good quality kerosene, will produce a clean blue flame and no soot.

Stickiness? Not if above is correct.

Note: The jet in a gasoline nipple is larger in diameter than that for kerosene. If you burn kerosene with a gasoline jet it will run rich (very yellow and sooty). The same will happen if you run gasoline through an enlarged jet.

2. Amish mix: Start off at 10%, bur remember that the more gasoline you add to the kerosene, the higher the volatility.

Tony

 

Properly operating kerosene pressure stoves produce no soot or smell whatever. So has been my decades-long experience.

Modern K1 kerosene in the States is very nearly odorless in its liquid state. Much different than the kero of my youth, and I get the impression that in the UK and Europe there may be grades of varying aroma.

I have mentioned in similar threads that about the only time I get that distinctive kerosene smell is from the hot vapor after prime, just before ignition, if there has been an interval. Actually, I wish I caught a whiff of that old scent more often.

 

Ha Ha What a wonderful experience you have had, connecting kero smell and good food. Did not grow up with kero and the smell is different for sure. Spilled kero the worst. Found transporting brassies empty helps with the kero spills. My brass singles all burn clean and soot free and from now will connect the smell with good food. Thinking it is time to do some cooking with mine. Thanks

 

Hi and many thanks for helping out a newbie in stove matters. Regarding your observations, all I can say that, if I clean the stove (especially the residue covering the jet), the flame is blue. Then soot slowly builds up around the jet again and the flame starts to become slightly unstable and slightly yellow at extremities. After reading your comments, I start to believe that the fuel is inferior. My plan is to give it a run on aspen 4t just to clean it up and then experiment with the amish mix.

Thank you,
W.S.

 

@Winston Smith , are you preheating the burner with kerosene or alcohol (methylated spirits)?
Kerosene will quickly foul the burner with soot but alcohol will leave the burner clean.

 

I'm priming it with alcohol, it doesn't produce soot.

 

I've never had a spill or leak in the pack in backpacking with kero stoves in the last 16 years. I am careful, and I put the stove and tin in a gallon ziploc as an extra measure. I put fuel bottles in ziplocs, too.

I'll grant that a kero spill in a pack is undesirable.

 

I see the romanian flag there - it has earlier been known as a country with very dirty fuels of any sort but I don't know if they fulfill the latest EU fuel standards or still procrastinate.
Lamp kerosene, lampenpetroleum or other pure and clean fraction of that grade is the right fuel for a kerosene/paraffin burner while the old sort of heating kerosene is a messier mix.
If the residues become sticky, I suspect someone has fueled it with a green/bio/whatever organic/vegetable "lamp oil" that usually make a sticky stinky sooty mess in most burners - turpentine use to be an effective solvent for still sticky vegetable oil residues while acetone use to be effective on hardened ones.
Aspen 4(lawn mower fuel) and other sorts of "white gas" is the secondary designated fuel for the regular 111 and should work fine with the standard kerosene jet - while paying extra attention to any possible leak as that fuel is more volatile and any leak have the potential to be very spectacular and scary if there is an ignition source nearby.