Panel wipe as fuel?

[Aicchalmers]

Ok so this is a bit out there .. but I was looking up fuels to use for a coleman stove and a lot of people were suggesting either Aspen 4t or 'panel wipe', which seems to be pretty much the same thing, distilled napthalene. Now could it also be used as a cheap clean chainsaw fuel? It's a bit cheaper at ~1.70-2.10/L and seems to be clean .. Has anybody used this or other alternative fuels? Only issue could be that it has the wrong octane/hexane rating?

Although I'd love to see what an insurance company would make of it

[Stubby]

Interesting ! If its any good it could bring the price of Aspen down

[Daythe trees]

Just googled that, any chemists about want to comment on the molecular construction of both?

[Aicchalmers]

So from an msds (looks like there's 'fast' and 'slow' degreaser) this is the fast ..

Naptha (petroleum) hydrotreated light

Boiling point 105-135 C 760mm Hg

Density 710kg/m3 (petrol is 710-770)

Vapour pressure 4.2kpa 20C

Flash point 11C closed cup

Auto ignition temp 283 C

Flammability limit lower: 0.8% upper 6.5%

 

Pulled from ARCO standard unleaded petrol msds:

Boiling point range 26.67 to 221C

Density 750kg/m3

Vapor pressure 48-103kpa

Flash point closed cup -42C

Flammability lower: 1.3% upper: 7.6%

 

Pulled from Aspen 4t MSDS:

Naphtha (petroleum) full-range alkylate butane-contg

Naphtha (petroleum) isomerization)

Boiling point range 35-195 C

Flash point < 0 C

explosion limit lower: 1% upper 8%

Vapour pressure 55-65kpa @ 38C

density: 690-720kg/m3

spontaneous combustion >300C

 

So all looks pretty similar, could be interesting to get a junk saw and try it out! Might well be that that fraction is worse for fumes, could burn pretty cleanly..

[Aicchalmers]

Correct me if I'm wrong but ..

1) It's a narrower range of compounds -good -bad?

2) Density is similar

3) Vapour pressure is wildly different but could be due to different test temperatures

4) Flammability is similar

Other concerns could be storage and corrosive effect on rubber etc.

But for camping stoves people seem to think it's a good equivalent and that it works similarly to aspen and burns cleanly.. anyone from the US use coleman fuel in their chainsaws? (Just had a quick google and it appears people do ..)

[landrover 101]

Have thought about using Coleman fuel in a saw but never tried it yet, it smells the same as Aspen and as I sell Coleman fuel to go with the stoves and lanterns I sell I get it at a good price.

 

Naptha based panel wipe is quite widely used as a cheaper alternative by a lot of people in the stoves and lanterns but again as I only pay trade on the fuel I buy in I only put the proper stuff in my stove and lantern.

 

Would be interested to know if anyone has tried it in a saw though as it would be cheaper than aspen as there is no fuel duty on it

[Agi-Smash]

 

Are you saying you would knowingly use fuel that hasnt had the correct rate of duty paid on it for the purpose at which you intend to use it?

 

:wink:

[landrover 101]

Isn't the duty on fuel road fuel duty though ?

 

If used in a chainsaw technically there shouldn't be any duty on it if that is the case

 

Coleman fuel is sold as a fuel for cooking in there stoves which I guess means when I sell it only 5% of the sale price is vat same as on campingaz refills and disposable cylinders the gas is vat rated at 5%

[wyk]

Do they have an octane rating? Is it basically 'white gas' or Coleman fuel? Remember, camp stoves do not need high octane - it just needs to burn. It will also lack lead substitutes, as well as any protective additives. It also burns hotter than pump petrol. The Coleman version stateside has this for it's wiki page:

 

Though Coleman fuel has an octane rating of 50 to 55 and a flammability similar to gasoline, it has none of the additives found in modern gasoline and cannot be used as a substitute for gasoline, kerosene or diesel fuel in modern engines. Its high combustion temperature and lack of octane boosting additives like tetraethyllead will destroy engine valves, and its low octane rating would produce knocking.

[Stubby]

Do they have an octane rating? Is it basically 'white gas' or Coleman fuel? Remember, camp stoves do not need high octane - it just needs to burn. It will also lack lead substitutes, as well as any protective additives. It also burns hotter than pump petrol. The Coleman version stateside has this for it's wiki page:

 

Though Coleman fuel has an octane rating of 50 to 55 and a flammability similar to gasoline, it has none of the additives found in modern gasoline and cannot be used as a substitute for gasoline, kerosene or diesel fuel in modern engines. Its high combustion temperature and lack of octane boosting additives like tetraethyllead will destroy engine valves, and its low octane rating would produce knocking.

 

Thats that then . Its a No . I would not any way after reading that .