Good evening fellas, i have a question, here in Australia Shellite, white petrol is getting more expensive and not as readily available in 20 ltres, but i can get 20 ltr of brake cleaner for 110.00 dollars, can i run lamps on brake cleaner with no bad effects
Hi @outback boy, I would assume you are going to use it on lamps that are designed to run on volatile white gas / gasoline-like fuels, Coleman campfuel and the like. It depends on the type of brake cleaner that you have in mind. Not all brake cleaners are suitable. Use only those that contain light aliphatic or paraffinic hydrocarbons. Avoid those that contains significant amounts of aromatics such as toluene, xylene, etc. Some brake cleaners might contain some alcohols and acetone. Avoid these as well. A quick check on the product's MSDS should reveal the constituents of the brake cleaner. Some of us here have use brake cleaners and panelwipes with success.
Hi MYN, yes i only want to use in lamps, lanterns that are designed for Coleman, white gas fuels, it is good to know that there are different types of brake cleaner, i will try to check out its ingredients before buying/using it, thanks for the heads up
Brake cleaner should be free of acetone. Else it will ruin the gaskets and the lantern. Lantern should fit for use of gasoline.
Thanks for the input fellas, Tony the brand is Diggers, do you have any knowledge of its brake cleaner
In the UK we have Holts brake cleaner which seems to be Naptha, my coleman lamps run fine on it. The aerosol version also makes a great easy start substitute, a tiny burst in the air intake starts up two stroke engines a treat.
outback boy, I assume you are looking for an alternative to shellite because of the cost. Fair enough it is out of control. I am using a shellite from Melbourne Solvents and highly recommend it. There is also a Sydney Solvents and it would be worth you finding out if they have a supplier in your area. About the same price as kerosene.
Outback boy - I just ordered some shellite (20 litre drums) through Bunnings...took a week to come in.
@outback boy I’ve just checked a data sheet for Recosol Brake Cleaner and it is 80% naphtha and up to 20% iso-propanol (alcohol). I use Shellite but bought in bulk (20 litres or 200 litres) labelled as Recosol R-55. Recosol R-55 and Shellite are the same product labelled differently. I just looked and the brake cleaner v Shellite were the same price on line for 20 litres. I’d go with Shellite/Recosol R-55 rather than naphtha mixed with alcohol. Cheers Tony
Thanks for the info Tony, and the others for their replies, i still have some Shellite left, i think i will stay with Shellite unless i am stuck and carn't get it
