Running diesals on kerosine

[slackerTHEpinstriper]

Thoughts?

[cjj]

Depends on the age. Older (mechanical) diesels will run on kerosine, chip pan oil etc.

Running a modern (2000-on, for a lot of engines, like a HDI) common-rail on such things is often a recipe for disaster.

[slackerTHEpinstriper]

Jul 10, 2020 8:51:22 GMT cjj said:

Depends on the age. Older (mechanical) diesels will run on kerosine, chip pan oil etc.

Running a modern (2000-on, for a lot of engines, like a HDI) common-rail on such things is often a recipe for disaster.

2005 2L rover streetwise

[stealthstylz]

Will be fine in the Rover. A friend (lol) runs all his cars on it, around 6L of new veg oil to a brimmed 25l drum of kero (about 27L ish) is about right to maintain performance. More veg you put in more resistant it is to diesel knock. He uses Soya bean oil from the local Chinese supermarket unless Veg is on offer at Tesco.

[scimjim]

Kero is missing a lot of additives that pump fuel has - and doesn’t lubricate as well, so it’s generally mixed 50/50 not neat.

There’s also the HMRC implications - you can use 2500 L pa without paying tax (use 2501 L and you’ll be charged tax for the full amount).

www.gov.uk/government/publications/excise-notice-179e-biofuels-and-other-fuel-substitutes

[dodgerover]

Kero is for off road use only, if you are going to run a 50/50 mix with veg then from a legal point you may as well just run on cherry at least that is actually diesel!
The only exemption is as a fuel additive which obviously at 50% it isn't.

[Dez]

It works in the older IDIs as mentioned. I’d never put it in anything common rail.
The sweet ratio was about a Jerry can full of kero (so 20l) to 3x 1L bottles of veg. Any less and it would knock, much more and it started to feel sluggish.

[cjj]

Jul 10, 2020 10:14:42 GMT Dez said:

It works in the older IDIs as mentioned. I’d never put it in anything common rail.
The sweet ratio was about a Jerry can full of kero (so 20l) to 3x 1L bottles of veg. Any less and it would knock, much more and it started to feel sluggish.

Also, the Veg Oil thing is a bit topic on terms of home-made 'carbon-neutral' diesel manufacturing, using Rudolph's old "any old curse word" formula CI engines were designed for.  That is, anything that contains fats will wax up, so you can either process it and make soap out of the fat etc, or you have to protect against cold weather.

Known a few winter disasters with blocked up pipes and pumps, even on the old stuff.


I looked at it about 10 years ago and it seemed like a lot of work for little gain when people sell it quite reasonably.  Or they did at the time, I recall.

[stealthstylz]

My friend has been doing this for donkeys years and never had a issue with blocked pipes or similar. Engines are a lot quieter too and don't smoke as much, or black the oil up to the same extent. At around half the price of pump diesel it makes for cheap running.

[sausage]

Add some engine oil for lubrication as kero is lacking in that department (or veg oil mixed in), there is a performance hit of guessing around 7% (i forget exactly what but it is noticeable) so you end up mixing 50/50 with diesel to minimise both issues. Legal? No.

[damageandy]

The same outcome as running red diesel if you get caught. £500 fine or vehicle seized, HMRC may want to look in to your financials too, for claiming back lost tax.

Should run fine tho.