White Spirit used in Oil Lamp

[r brooks]

We have an Oil Lamp, the type with the wheel to adjust the wick up and down. It seems to burn more of a white spirit rather than an actual oil. We have been told if we use ordinary (say cooking oil) oil it will *choke* up the wick and you then have to buy a new wick.

Since the official Oil Lamp Oil is quite expensive, we are wondering if ordinary white spirit such as you would buy for cleaning paint brushes would work as well? We have been told the barbeque lighter fluid works just fine, but that only seems available from the stores around Spring Time.

So would white spirit be likely to work OK? Since the barbeque fluid seems almost identical to white spirit. Thanks.

[charles]

lamps used to burn paraffin. Not being a chemist I don't know the difference from white spirit, but I'm sure it's not the same stuff. Since greenhouse heaters are still sold, I imagine you must be able to buy tehn stuff somewhere; I used to buy it at our local petrol station.

[Nick Odell]

Paraffin is the usual fuel for ordinary oil lamps and is available in B&Q - though probably available much cheaper from your local garage or ironmonger store if they stock it at all.

Nick

[Dave Liquorice]

Lamp oil is expensive 'cause it is highly refined to reduce smoking and sooting up of glass/ceiling, the refined nature will also reduces the smell but it may well have some "nice perfume" added as well.

Lamp oil is a paraffin/kerosene, white spirit is a turpentine (wood based) substitute. My burning of white spirit has given me the impression that it very dirty, lots of soot, compared to ordinary paraffin let alone lamp oil.

BBQ fluid don't know what that is. Safety Data Sheets indicate something like paraffin but they seem to vary. I'd be concerned about how volatile BBQ fluid is compared to lamp oil/paraffin.

[The Natural Philosopher]

also sold as 'lamp oil'

white spirit is completely different.

>

[Andy Burns]

B&Q amongst others, but it's £8 for less than a gallon.

[Huge]

My local ironmonger stocks it, prepacked in 5L containers, but it's very expensive.

[newshound]

White spirit is a mixture of hydrocarbons, but they have longer chain lengths than those in kerosene / paraffin and hence it is less volatile. Like motor oil (where the chains are longer still) it burns well once it gets started, but it does not burn as well on a "wick" as paraffin does.

[The Medway Handyman]

Boom boom boom boom!

[Adrian C]

Goose fat? Plenty of jars left in our local Morrisons.

[Gazz]

wonder if human fat would do? imagining a home liposuction machine that feeds the collected fat to burners, loose weight at home without getting off the sofa, and light the house for free.

[news]

I wonder if the special oil that was recommended for the wicked rayburn would be more economical. It is a more refined kerosene than the 28 sec stuff for oil burners and we were told we should not run the rayburn off the same tank (the wicks had been choking up so we stopped using the rayburn).

The smoke point test is a way of checking organic liquids, I think it correlates to the auto ignition temperature. A standard wick lamp is used and the wick is increased till the point the flame becomes sooty, this flame length is measured. From what I remember the shorter the chain the longer the flame for aliphatic compounds but aromatics have a very short smoke point.

AJH

[Tim Streater]

Weight is not loose, though, that's the problem. It's tight.

[polygonum]

No, no, no! It's the damned clothes that are tight. The fat is all to loose - it flops all over the place. :-(

[polygonum]

*** too ***

[Dave Liquorice]

smoking

reduces

Probably I suspect you are looking at £5.00/l for a fancy lamp oil. Nope I was £19.98/l from an ebay seller...

Later today I'll know the current 28 sec heating oil price for 2000 l delivered. I'm expecting about 54p/l ...

BS2869 Class C1 (Paraffin) is intended for flueless appliances rather than flued aga/rayburns though I guess there is no reason why you shouldn't use it in an aga/rayburn. This would be a "premium kerosene" and is supposed to be a cleaner burn. Less smelly than:

BS2869 Class C2 (Kerosene) is the "regular", low sulphur, burning oil.

Donno but looking at a few datasheets on C1 and C2 oils the C1 stuff tends to be over 30 mm the C2 less than 20 mm.

[Jim K]

So a puddle of white spirit will take longer to evaporate than s puddle of kerosene?

Jim K

[news]

Is this the length of flame in a smoke point test?

Total Butler recommended we change to Glowmax, we didn't but a quick google seems to suggest this is 28sec with an additive rather than a lighter fraction.

AJH

[Dave Liquorice]

Yes, I think so. At least that is the number and unit next to "Smoke point" in the data sheets ...

There does seem to be an awful lot of smoke and mirrors in the oil industry particulary in relation to heating oil, evaporative burners, addatives, Class C1 or C2 and changes in the formulation. I don't think the viscosity of C1 is less than C2, so both are 28 sec. C1 just has a different balance of hydrocarbon types and chain lengths to make it a "cleaner burn" than C2 as indicated by the different smoke points.

C1 is aimed at the unflued appliance market, room or greenhouse heaters etc. C2 is for use only in flued appliances.

[Weatherlawyer]

Although not normally marketed as a fuel, white spirit can be used as an alternative to kerosene in portable stoves, since it is merely a light grade of kerosene.

Kerosene was a brand name for paraffin that caught on with the US Americans. (Thus kerosene jet fuel is paraffin.)

I think the other product mentioned (BBQ lighter) is a naptha base that will be even lighter than turps. It is dangerous to use in confined spaces but I think that is due to its flashpoint and the likely use of it in tents by ignorant campers.