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Using Diesel in Kerosene Heaters

108K views 38 replies 21 participants last post by  MyPrepperLife 
#1 ·
I have used kerosene heaters for about 5 years. They have actually been the primary daytime winter heat source for the last 2 years or so.

Never heard of using diesel but just came across it and plan to try it. It is about half the price of kerosene ($2.35 vs $4.98 in my area). From what I have seen it works very well BUT additives must be used or the wicks on the heater will clog up after a short time. Even with additives it is still about half the cost of kerosene. It is also supposed to burn longer and produce more heat, and the man in the video below said it has no odor whatsoever (whereas the kerosene did have an odor). The quality of your wick matters, so if you have a cheap junky wick you may have problems.

They say using a diesel additive and/or one part 90% isopropyl alcohol is a must. Research the exact amounts for yourself, it doesn't take much.

There are also youtube videos of guys testing the CO output and it is coming up at basically zero. Apparently years back diesel had a high amount of sulfur which meant it didn't burn as cleanly, but modern diesel has had most all of the sulfur taken out of it.

Here is one video to get you started if you use kero heaters and are interested:

 
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#3 ·
I use a kerosene heater in my not so well insulated garage. DONT PUT DIESEL IN IT. Its not for the heaters sake, not the wick, not the soot or even the smell. Its how you feel like complete crap after burning diesel in it.
I tryed one tank of diesel in my wick style heater after 10gal of red died kerosene...never will i put diesel in it again.
Just try it before you go filling up a 55gal drum for use in your heater. For me il spend the few extra bucks and live longer.

Kerosene at the pump around here is about $3.25 at the moment. I buy about 20gal in the early fall.
 
#5 ·
Hmmm. Will take your advice and try a half gal before buying more. I assume you tried diesel in the last few years (since the sulfur level has been reduced).

Wonder if it also affects people differently. The guy that did the video says he used to get a slight headache from kerosene but doesn't from diesel. I used to get a slight headache from a natural gas fireplace (even with good ventilation, in that case a dog door right next to the hearth) but I don't from kerosene.
 
#7 ·
So try it (once) and get back to us, will you. I had no idea this was even a possibility and would have been too chicken to try it. But the chance of making a kerosene heater into a dual-fuel device is pretty interesting.

Curious minds want to know.
If you are curious also check out the youtube videos. There are a handful of them some of which also use CO meters, they provide better reviews than I will.

But when it gets cold I will try it and let you know.
 
#16 ·
Yeah Miles Stair's website is great. When I ordered my kerosene heaters off amazon someone suggested buying wicks from Miles Stairs to replace the cheap wicks that came with the unit and I did. Also read 100% cotton wicks are NOT supposed to be dry burned, I have dry burned mine a few times and it still works, now I wonder what sort of wicks I bought.

I didn't know about water degrading the wicks and have used kerosene from the winter before, will be sure to add some alcohol next time.
 
#13 ·
I have two kerosene heaters. I have been burning Jet A fuel in them. It works great.

(Around here, K1 clear kerosene is like $9.00 per gallon, which is outrageous.)

I buy the Jet A fuel at the local airport. I haven't purchased any in awhile, but I think I was paying $3.00+ per gallon.

If you are going to buy Jet A fuel, be sure you buy it WITHOUT the additives the airports put into the fuel when fueling aircraft.

As woodzman said, the Miles Stair Web site is a great resource. I have spent quite a lot of time on that site.
 
#14 ·
A bit different an animal, but my vented, Toyotomi Laser 56 mini furnaces have no issues with the ultra-low sulfur Diesel fuel.
I service my own stuff and have seen no ill effects in the burn pot or exhaust parts.

Diesel's just cheaper and easier to find around here.

I'll be looking for Jet-A for the un-vented units:
(Toyo moonlighter, omni-105, alladin patriot.)
 
#15 ·
I bought a protemp heater from northern tool for my garage specifically because the manufacturer says it can burn diesel. Around my area, there is only one gas station that sells kerosene and it is ridiculously expensive. I'll admit, I didn't get to use it as much as I wanted last winter but the few hours that I did use it was great. I noticed a slight hint of diesel smell when it first fired up, but after it ran for a minute or so, there was no smell at all. I didn't feel odd after using it either and haven't heard of that before. Hopefully I'll get to use it a little more this winter
 
#18 ·
That is just the regular diesel sold for cars, right? I googled "ultra low sulfur diesel" and it said it was "Premium Diesel" but I don't think I have ever seen different grades at the gas stations, just one type (not that i ever paid much attention).

Is the stuff sold for cars pretty much all the same?
 
#19 ·
ULSD is just pump diesel now days. Didn't used to be the case. Even offroad diesel is ULSD... only difference now days it the dye and tax. The pump will have a label that clearly says ULSD or "ultra low sulfur diesel". Most every newer diesel requires ULSD to meet emission standards.

In vented applications... I'd look into using waste oils. Ive seen quite a few guys converting forced air kero or multi fuel heaters to waste oil. Venting is required.
 
#20 ·
Since you seem to know about this stuff, is there a good site to look up the alcohol to kerosene ratio? The video suggests something like 1 pint bottle per 5 gallons but I think the guy is just guesstimating.

Also is it easy to find 90% isopropyl alcohol at Walgreens or CVS? Or is that something that is more likely to be found at a home improvement store? Though I know Heet is easy to find so if I can't find 90% alcohol I can just buy that (but it is more expensive).
 
#21 ·
You can buy 90% at just about any drug store. Not sure if walmart carries it or not. It should be sitting next to peroxide and such.

As far as how to mix it and at what percentages... not sure. I try my best to avoid pump fuel all together... although we blend our waste oils with gasoline to thin them out and get them to burn clean(er).
 
#26 ·
I ran the torpedo heater for a week in the garage when I painted the decking on my pontoon boat. I couldn't afford kerosene at the prices they were asking. It cost me a little over twenty dollars a day to heat the garage for the week. I had to shut the heater down when I was out there working because it would get too hot to work.
 
#29 ·
At work the shop is about 4k 2sw ft. We have one of those jet looking heaters. It uses diesel or kerosene. Since we have a diesel tank we burn diesel in it, I can't stand it. The shop is by no means air tight. We have two huge exhaust fans in one wall that are always open to the outside. The whole shop smells like diesel exhaust the entire time it runs and when you shut it off it smokes for about 10 minutes. I'd never use any kind of diesel heater at home.
 
#30 ·
This will be worse with the type heater she is using and before long she will be buying new wicks and trying to clean her heater out of all the diesel she dumped in it.

The kero is what they were designed to use / run on and it is MUCH cleaner than diesel. If you start them up and shut them down outside they produce almost no smell at all (when using kerosene) so long as you keep the wick adjusted correctly when in use.

I have a heater like OP is using and I LOVE that thing when it is really, really cold (you can darn near cook on top of those things) but there is no way I would ever consider sticking diesel in it and using that inside my home.

NO WAY I would burn diesel fuel in this type of heater in MY home... No chance.


Edited at request of S610. Apologize for anything that my have upset you and was sincerely only interested in helping you.
Again - My apologies
 
#31 ·
DG23 -- thank you.

It really doesn't stink. I notice the a slight odor at first (just like with kerosene) but not anymore.

If I trash the wick it is no big deal. The wick is 4 years old and I have another heater just like it in the shed outside plus more wicks.
 
#32 ·
Thank you for your update, I'd been watching for that, I think it's awesome if you can't find or don't want the expense of K1 you have options!
 
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#34 ·
I tried burning diesel in one of my heaters a couple years ago. I can't remember the ratio now but at the advice of some website or youtube video, I was adding 99% pure methanol (HEET, yellow bottle) to the fuel. My wick was irrepairably destroyed within two tanks of diesel. By the end of the second tank I was having to take the heater outside to light it and letting it run for over a half hour before the burn would finally stabilize to the point where it was no longer filling the room with literally eye-watering fumes. There may be some trick or finesse involved in the mixture or the process that I missed but at the risk of mine and my family's health, and the expense of replacing ruined wicks while I experiment to try to figure it out, I decided that trying to burn diesel is not an option that I am willing to further explore. I tried dry burning that wick 10 times after it got gummed up and I finally gave up and just replaced it.
 
#37 ·
It turns out Miles Stair's website DOES have a thing on burning diesel.

According to him cotton wicks must be used, and the wicks should be unpinned so the burnt edge can be cut off if necessary.
Newer heaters come with fiberglass wicks (mine did but I replaced it with a cotton wick after purchase) and those fiberglass wicks won't absorb/filter diesel very well to keep a steady burn.

He has also done experiments on the exact amount of alcohol to get the best wick burn. His site says 5 ml per quart (20 ml per gal). The small bottle of alcohol from the pharmacy says 473 ml. I ain't no metric or math wiz but the difference seems pretty darn big.


Read more here: http://www.milesstair.com/Diesel_cotton_wicks.html
 
#39 ·
To those who are having trouble finding affordable K1 kerosene: note that Jet A fuel is chemically identical to K1 kerosene except that Jet A fuel contains a small amount of some kind of fragrance. I buy Jet A fuel at our small municipal airport. I take my blue 5-gallon cans to the airport, and a person there dispenses the Jet A fuel into the cans.

I've burned quite a lot of Jet A fuel in my kerosene heaters, and it works very well.

There are a number of Amish families here in my area, and I was told several years ago that the Amish buy Jet A fuel at the airport and burn it in their stoves and refrigerators. This is how I learned Jet A fuel is a good substitute for K1 kerosene.
 
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