Pros and Cons of Using 'Amish Mix'...

So I have seen the occasional reference on this forum to a so-called 'Amish Mix' of 75% kerosene and 25% white gas that is reportedly preferred by the actual Amish themselves for regular, workaday use in their kerosene lanterns.

From what I gather, this mixture goes a long way towards eliminating the fouling of generators, nozzles and the like, as well as burning with less odor, etc. Furthermore, it seems to burn brighter (brighter than what is not mentioned).

My questions are legion:

- has anyone given over to mixing up batches of this stuff for regular use? How well does it keep in, say, a gallon can or a five-gallon container? You can keep kerosene in a sealed can for a pretty good while, or so I am told; would an Amish mix keep as long?

- Is it brighter-burning? Than straight white gas? Straight kerosene? How well does it run in a kerosene lamp - does it start easier?

I have read here that people make conversions from Dual Fuel 295 lanterns to kerosene-powered units by swapping the generator out for a 639 generator - which apparently pops right in. Add a preheater cup and Bob's your Uncle. Or a close relative of some kind.

But the 295 has two 250 CP mantles instead of the single 500 CP mantle found, say, in my Coleman 639. Will Amish-mix be kind to this unit? Or at least a better option?

Finally, are there any caveats I should know about when using 'Amish-mix'? For example, I bought a Coleman cap with a Scraeder fitting in it so I could pump my lanterns up with a tire pump. Just like the Amish, or so I hear. Plenty to be careful about there!

Mixing fuels is a chore. I am trying to find out if it is a needful one.

Steve

 

Amish mix is useful on a device that's made to work on kerosene. The most important feature is that the mix makes the fuel easier to start/ignite, especially when the weather is cold. The reason is that the mixture would then have some proportion of more volatile components (white gas/Coleman Fuel/Light naphtha) in it. The resultant energy content would be lower than pure kero. It'd require a little less oxygen per volume for complete combustion as compared to straight kerosene.
This makes it ideal when you're having a gas tip orifice or jet that is a little worn or enlarged due to prolonged use. So, in effect, it could temporarily improve the light output due to an improved combustion of the fuel. This only applies when the existing gas tip is worn and not in pristine condition for operation with straight kero.
If you're comparing two lanterns that do not have defective or worn parts and working with other factors being equal, then the one with the Amish mix would not burn any brighter than the one running on straight kerosene. In fact, it might even be slightly less bright, due to the lower energy content of the mix.
If you're comparing with a non-defective kero lantern running on straight white gas, the Amish mix would fare a little better since it'd have a higher energy content per volume than the lighter white gas.
Coleman Fuel or real white gas is composed almost entirely of aliphatic hydrocarbons. That's almost without the alkenes and aromatic hydrocarbons present. The sulfur content is also much lower than most of the kero you're likely to get on the market.
The resultant mix whitegas/CF with kero would in general, have greater thermal stability. Lighter alkanes are pretty non-reactive to most chemicals and have a higher thermal-decomposition temperature. This makes it a lot less likely to undergo pyrolisis when heated within the generator without oxygen. Kerosene has a lower resistance to pyrolisis than the lighter alkanes/whitegas and more likely to breakdown to carbon when heated without oxygen.
This makes fouling or coking up of the generator more likely when using straight kero as compared to Amish mix.
If you're having highly-refined kero or an Amish mix that's made out of it with Coleman Fuel, then I'd say both would keep well in a sealed metal container.
If your 'Amish mix' is made out of kero and regular unleaded, then the only advantage is easier light-ups and some of the combustion improvements as for when you're having an enlarged gas tip/jet. Mixing with regular modern gasolines would however, result in fouling up of the gen even more than straight kero.

 

Thank you! Just what I needed!

Steve

 

Masterly summary @MYN

Exactly. Presumably the practice originated in the Amish community when gasoline was free of additives.

 

Thanks @presscall
Too bad that there isn't a big enough demand or a wide enough range of applications which could justify additive-free gasoline or light naphtha being made available to the public from the rest of the fuel stations Worldwide.
Even kerosene had become unavailable from the pump stations for a while.

 

This reminded me I needed to do this and I changed out the genny today. Used 50/50 Amish mix and the lantern has burned well for the last hour and a half. In place of a heat cup I used a Tilley preheater.

 

295/639/50/50%Amish mix

 

Looking good

 

Some people use Amish mix to cut the cost of the Coleman fuel in heavy use situations. I carry a lantern to the barn at night or early morning when it's dark almost every day. I run a kero 201 coleman on straight kero mostly. I have played around with 75% CF/25% kero in my gas lanterns and the instant light function still worked. It didn't work at 50/50 mix but at 50/50 one of the bendable stem mini butane torches was good for preheating the generator for an easy light up. If you're running a lantern daily Amish mix can lower your c.f. cost by the percentage of kero you're adding. The last Crown camp fuel I bought was $11/gal, the last kero I bough In January was $2.83/gal. At those prices my 50/50 is $7.91 a gallon.
Extrapolate the math for 25% kero/75% CF and my fuel price for an instant light lantern is $8.96 a gallon. That can add up over a year of heavy use.
Of course it is far cheaper to run straight kero but we all do our own thing.
Also kero can get a little stale after a long time and not burn well. Adding 25% CF to the old kero will freshen it up and allow it to be used instead of going to waste.
Don't be afraid to play with your fuel mix. The worst that can happen is you have to clean out a generator.
Coleman kero and kero conversions can run on dang near any petroleum based fuel. I've run mine on both kinds of unleaded gas, pump kero, canned kero, kero substitute like Kleen Heat, charcoal lighter fluid, tiki torch oil, low sulphur diesel and many mixes of the above fuels. Diesel is the hardest. It is more viscous than kero, it requires two full cups of denatured alcohol for a preheat. 75% diesel/25% gas behaves just like kero. Most lanterns will like a mantle that puts a lot of heat on the generator. Run them wide open on kero or diesel. Expect to clean your generator more often. Do it regularly like every 100~ hours to keep the coking from getting hard to clean. With high sulphur diesel clean the generator at 50~ hours.
With the uncertain times we're in the fuel supply chain is shaky at best. Learn now what your lanterns will run satisfactorily on now instead of waiting until you can't get your fuel of choice.

 

With kero lanterns that do not have positive shutoff valves and Coleman type check valves in the pump ie: NRV valves I do not recommend any gasoline/Coleman type fuel or gas mixes. I'm talking about Petromax patterns, Tilley, Vapalux, and so on.
I have run my Petromax and Hipolito on the kero varieties stated above plus charcoal lighter fluid, tiki torch oil, and diesel. While I've never had the other types of European kero lanterns I see no reason why they wouldn't run on those fuels as well.

 

Theoretically very interesting for my quest to achieve the very best burning characteristics in paraffin burning lamps and a heater. Coleman fuel (or any other mixture of clean, low boiling alkanes) would be the ideal "fuel additive" to paraffin. It's price is prohibitely expensive though. "Cheap" road petrol is way too dirty and would just make the situation worse.

It's not just additives. Gasoline (petrol on this side of the pond) has loads of aromatics and it does have heavy components.

 

Gasoline in any lantern without a “positive” shutoff is dangerous. I know some Aida and Petromax lanterns are suppose to use gasoline but you are playing with fire when you do!

 

Yup, done that and it works a charm!

As I understand it, Amish mix is used in kero lanterns to get a better burn annd often an easier start. Apparently it helps to keep the jet cleaner although im not sure about this.

Runnjng white gas in a kero lantern is not recommended because of the possibility of a catastrophic failure. Kero lanterns don't have a positive shut off and the NRV (check valve) is not designed for high flamability fuels like Coleman Fuel.

Also, the number of mantles is not as related to light output as you might think. There are much cleverer people who can tell you why, but increasing the number of mantles doesnt necessarily increase the light output in a linear fashion.

Usjng a Schrader valve plus a footpump is a quick way to add pressure but there are some lanterns, mostly ones with brass tanks, where you need to be careful. It is possible to blow the bottoms of brass tanks this way.

Also, you say that mixing is a chore... possibly, but I use an old measuring jug, throw in lets say 300ml of kerp, top it up to 400ml with CF or naptha and pir it in the tank. Job done!

 

'Burning brighter' than straight kero.. Kerosene has a higher BTU than gasoline although not that much and i can cofirm that it will give off more light. I couldnt say how much brighter though.

 

Hi, late to this party but a very interesting topic and thread. I am running 25% CF/75 Kero in my Coleman 237 and it ‘seems’ brighter. With the luxmeter held 6” from the globe at mantle height I’m getting steady output between 4,000 and 4,200 lux. Will report back on straight kero.

 

PS. With 90 degree beam angle and 6” distance I calculate 4200 lux as 305 lumens approx.

 

It's nice to have actual data - keep it coming Ulf.

 

Excellent scientific answer and explanation!
Much appreciated!

 

Well done Ulf!
I measure lux output with an App on my Cellphone. As all Coleman Lanterns have a slight flicker, I take an average Lux reading over 30 seconds.
I make sure different lanterns always sit in the same place, relative to my Lux Meter, (phone), which also sits in the same place, I.e. repeatability!

PS
I find significant fluctuations, as I rotate the Lantern through 360 degrees.
I take the highest reading, for comparison of different Lanterns!

One should do the same research for different mantle brands and sizes!!

 

Looks good.... Be exact and compare lux readings.

 

Thanks for sharing your experience! Makes me realize how immune Coleman lanterns are against fuel variations!
My aim is to get the most lumens from a lantern, by playing with fuel mixtures and mantles!

Anybody out there with mantle experience?

 

​

A lux meter will read near enough in candle power at 1 meter distance. I took this light meter to Newark some years ago and measured several lamps with it. This is a lux meter mounted in a 6” dia tube with 2” baffles in the middle and end in order to eliminate ambient light and the baffles prevent reflected light from bouncing down the tube. In full daylight it read 0-1cp. In this image it is measuring a Coleman 236 which demonstrates how rarely any lamp delivers its rated cp. Mind you since most of our lamps are well used perhaps this is understandable. I would normally take 4 readings at the quarters and record the average and peak cp. All lamps hunt to some degree so each reading was taken as an average of the fluctuating readings. It can never really be exact because the measurement can’t be precise without damaging the mantle and there is also the fact that a mantle is not a point source as they are shaped with maybe a 1” difference across the incandescent surface but it is repeatable to within about 10% perhaps.


This is the table of results from those 2008 measurements. I only recorded the peak in this case but it shows how nearly all pressure lamps fail to make near their rate. ::Neil::

 

When I met Neil and by change got the lightmeter of the guild, some years ago, I made a webpage about this subject: Lichtmeten.

 

Absolutely.
Long carbon chains, or "heavy" fuel, as well as aromatics, cause carbon buildup in the generator.
Stick to light Naphtha.

Remember, any flame that heats up
the oxides in the mantle, will make it glow. The challenge is to get a flame with minimum negative side effects, like Carbon buildup.

 

Not sure if anyone uses Klean-Heat as a kero alternative but was told it burns alot cleaner and is easier to strike up on a preheat.

 

Please elaborate on this fuel. Never heard about it.

 

Supposedly it's like the Aspen 4 equivalent of kero. Synthetically formulated type of kero of the highest purity with non-existent sulfur content. Burns with no odor and greatly reduced carbon fouling during use, great for extending the life of your burners and etc. They're sold for kerosene heaters but I found it works great on my petromax.

 

Thanks Dashwood,
I checked on Aspen 4. It contains practically no aromatic hydrocarbons. This is the bad stuff that forms carbon deposits in generators, (pyrolysis).
Sounds very similar to light Nahptha. I believe Amish mix is a close emulation.

Take note, Aspen 4 is free of Benzene. Benzene is carcinogenic and very different from Benzine.
I use Benzine in my Amish blend.
I would stick to Aspen 4, if I were you!

 

Until we find out what they have put in Aspen..
I have no illusion that both are in any way healthy when burned (in a lantern).

 

Thank you for this table, Neil, excellent info! RxR