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==Lubricating oils== Oils whose primary use is for lubrication.
===Machine oil=== Machine oils are a class of thin light petrolum oils used for undemanding lubrication, such as small machinery, hand tools etc. They are also widely used to thinly coat steel tools before export, preventing rust.
Sewing machines and many other appliances use machine oil.
Some machine oils are edible, such as for use on food processing equipment, some are not.
===Baby oil=== Baby oil is a higly refined petroleum oil, much like a food grade machine oil, with a little mild perfume added, and this is a very convenient way to buy a machine oil for many DIYers. (The method of its extraction from babies remains a closely guarded secret.)
===Engine oil=== Engine oils are excellent lubricants. They are highly stable petroleum derived oils, with additives to enhance their stability even further.
20/50 was once the most common engine oil grade, but 10/30 took over as the dominant grade a couple of decades ago. 10/30 is less viscous, and pumping it uses less energy.
===Used engine oil=== Used engine oil is blackened by engine deposits and assorted burnt matter. It still lubricates, but the potential for toxicity of a contaminant and its dirtiness make it unpopular for DIY use.
50/50 engine oil and paraffin or diesel has long been used to preserve woodwork. Its effective and cheap, but dark in colour and contains unspecified engine contaminants. New oil and paraffin is a better alternative, with neither of these issues.
Used or new engine oil can be used for steel hardening.
===Castor oil=== Castor oil was the original engine oil, and the source of the name Castrol. Its still available for historic vehicles designed to use it. It is a fixed grade of oil, unlike today's multigrades, hence its viscosity varies considerably with temperature. It is much more prone to gumming than modern engine oils, and is not suitable for today's engines.
===Gear oil=== Related to engine oil, gear oils are designed to survive higher shear forces than engine oils. Engine oil is not recommended for gearboxes (with the exception of the original Mini)
===2 stroke oil=== Another petroleum lubricating oil.
===Silicone oil=== A high price oil occasionally used as a DIY lubricant.
==Fuel oils== Oils primarily used as fuels
===Diesel, 35 second oil=== Red diesel and 35 second oil are the same product. Also known as gas oil.
Red diesel is only legal for non-road uses.
Its occasionally used as heating oil for old installations. 35 and 28 second oils aren't interchangeable, 35 second requires a larger burner jet and causes more heat exchanger fouling.
Red diesel has 2 markers, one visible (red), one not. These stain filters.
Tankers are labelled UN1202.
Despite being a petroleum product, diesel is not easy to ignite. Applying a naked flame to a pool of diesel isn't likely to light it.
===Paraffin=== Best known as a fuel for heating & blowlamps, paraffin has several other uses too
- mix with oil to make a penetrating oil
- engine oil flushing additive
- cleaner especially effective for all types of vehicle & road dirts, oils, tars, bitumen, etc
Paraffin can be used neat for cleaning car parts, or it can be mixed with water & a detergent.
Paraffin is now also known as:
- premium burning oil (PBO)
Paraffin has been dyed with several different colours over time, including blue, pink, yellow, green.
===Heating oil, 28 second oil=== aka
C2
- Tankers are labelled UN1223
Widely used for central heating. Its a less refined grade of paraffin.
Since it can run an engine it contains a yellow dye plus a 2nd invisible marker to detect illegal on-road use. Its not the same grade as road diesel, its thinner, but it does work. The long term effects of this vary widely depending on the engine, some designs are tolerant of it long term, some not.
Supply of 28 second oil is a competitive market that tracks crude oil prices. Its worth phoning around and pitting the suppliers against each other.
===Lamp oil=== Deodorised dyed paraffin, avoids creating the famous oil heater whiff.
==Other oils== ===Oil thickener=== Very thick oils are used on their own in speed reducing devices, eg in devices to slow the opening of cassette deck doors.
They are also added to car engines to thicken the engine oil, reducing the blue smoke output of worn engines.
Oil thickeners are available from car accessory shops.
===Penetrating oil=== Penetrating oil is a mix of thin oil and an agent such as paraffin which cuts the oil's viscosity.
Penetrating oils are able to penetrate tiny gaps and help unseize corroded fixings. These are much used in car repair.
If no penetrating oil is to hand, a mix of thin oil and a viscosity cutter (eg paraffin) works.
===hydraulic oil=== As used in hydraulic jacks. what type is this? (Brake fluid is not oil)
==Decorator's oils== Mostly used in finishing
===Linseed oil===
- Thins oil based paints, but greatly extends drying time.
- Enables water based paints to adhere to a greater range of surfaces (mix in 1-2% linseed oil)
- Makes a range of putties & mastics
- Used in some finishing oil mixtures for wood
Raw linseed oil is just linseed oil. Boiled linseed oil is today linseed oil plus chemical dryers. Boiled oil sets to a gum in time, raw either doesn't or takes an extremely long time. Boiled should be used in all the above applications, though raw is also fine for tack rags.
===Tung oil===
===Danish oil===
==Additives & alternatives== ===Engine oil & paraffin=== A 50/50 mix has several uses.
- corrosion inhibitor - but it becomes slightly sticky
===Graphite=== Graphite is a solid lubricant. Graphite powder is sometimes added to oils to improve lubrication, and in some cases can even be used instead of oil. Its electrically conductive.
===PTFE=== PTFE aka Teflon is another solid lubricant, and much the same can be said for it as graphite.
===Paraffin=== Can be added to oil to cut its viscosity temporarily. However it eventually evporates.
===Vegetable oil=== Several plant derived oils are used for cooking. These lubricate, but over time they gum up badly. This greatly limits their use, but they're fine for jobs such as lubricating [[screws]]. Feeding the DIYer is the main use.
===Margerine=== Most margerines are plant oil (sometimes fish oil) based, with a large percentage of added water. These can sometimes be used as a last ditch lubricant, but they gum up eventually. The water content dries out, but can cause corrosion.
==Hair oils== A spoonful of oil added to a litre of shampoo acts as a hair conditioner. Commercial conditioners tend to use thick oils such as palm oil, castor oil, jojoba oil etc.
===Palm oil=== Palm oil is thick semi-solid natural oil, and a traditional hair conditioner in some countries. Its available from asian grocery stores, and can be added to shampoo to give conditioning properties.
===Castor oil=== Castor oil is another effective conditioning additive, but availability is poor, and allergic reaction to the castor bean is a known, albeit rare, phenomenon.
===Engine oil=== Engine oil is very effective as a hair conditioner (added to shampoo), but it should not be used due to its entirely unsuitable additives.
===Vegetable oil=== Its not as effective as engine oil, but is safe to use. Vegetable cooking oils are thinnner than the more usual conditioning oils, and this works better for some hair types, and less well for some.
==Branded products== A few branded products are well known in DIY and deserve their own mention. The well known brands can all be replaced with other good products at a fraction of the cost.
===3 in 1===
3 in 1 is a brand of oil that attempts to be 3 things in one: lubricating oil, penetrating oil and corrosion prevention. Since these
3 tasks have conflicting requirements its impossible to make a good job of them with one product.
Since its prone to becoming gummy its not recommended as a lubricant. The cans it comes in are handy.
===WD40=== WD stands for 'water displacer.' Water displacers are of limited use in DIY today, primarily used
- to reduce rusting of tools in damp storage
- to start wet power tools.
Machine oil is the temporary coating of choice for preventing rust, and is widely used as a rust preventing coating on imported steel tools.
WD40 also acts as a penetrating oil, though there are cheaper and in some people's opinion better brands out there, such as plusgas.
WD40 is not recommended as a lubricant as it contains more solvent than oil, and becomes gummy.
WD40 can be used as a cleaner in some situations since it contains Stoddard's solvent. Paraffin is a much cheaper alternative that doesnt leave the sticky residue.
The manufacturer claims
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2000 uses for WD40]. While many of these are not uses we would rush to recommend, and many are simply duplication, there are some practical ones too.
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More uses & information].
Many appliances have been ruined by the indiscriminate application of WD40. It is not a cure-all and there are common products and materials to which it should not be applied. These include rubber products, some plastics,
===Swarfega=== Paraffin gel with additives. Paraffin alone makes quite a good substitute.
==Oil kit== Inevitably opinions vary on this, so this list is just intended as a quick starting point guide.
A good kit of oils for DIY may contain:
- Machine oil (thin lubricant, rust prevention)
- Engine oil (thick lubricant, car)
- Paraffin (cleaning, insect repellant, additive)
- Penetrating oil (frees corroded fixings)
- Linseed oil (paints, putties, polishes etc)
==Not usable== The following might tempt the ocasional DIYer, but are not usable for DIY.
===Petrol=== Petrol deserves a brief mention simply because is is not usable for any DIY use outside of running engines, but occasionally a DIYer decides to try it as a substitute. Its highly volatile and creates an explosive cloud of gas/air mixture. Inhaling the amount of fumes caused by painting with it causes anything from migraine to death.
Petrol tankers are marked UN1203
==Smoky engines== While there is more than one possible cause, vehicles with smoky engines are usually suffering from wear, which allows tiny amounts of engine oil into the cylinder, where it is burnt, producing smoke. This gets past worn valve seals more often than piston rings.
Replacing 10/30 with 20/50 is often done to reduce smoking. Adding an oil thickener can reduce smoke output further. These are of course not proper cures and not manufacturer recommended, but have got a lot of cars through MOTs.
==Plumbing== Oil lines should use only compression fittings.
==Storage== New oil tanks must now be bunded to prevent contamination in case of leakage.
Storage of large amounts of flammable fuel oils is strictly regulated by law.
==Spills== Cleanup methods include:
- burning the contaminated materials
==Disposal== Reusing the oil for something else is sometimes an option. Otherwise oils should be disposed of at the local tip, where its recycled.
Heating boilers have occasionally been modified to burn used engine oil. This is cheap to run, but there are concerns over contaminants, and the relatively viscous oil must be preheated before the boiler can fire.
Its now possible to buy commercial workshop heaters that run on used engine oil.
==See Also==
- [ original article discussion]
- [[Special:Allpages|Wiki Contents]]
- [[Special:Categories|Wiki Subject Categories]]
[[Category:Heating]] [[Category:Fixings]] [[Category:Cleaning]] [[Category:Paint]]