G'day all, Rather than looking all over the web I thought someone here might know. I've just seen mention of Coralite. It is mentioned in a 1930's article as "an English super filtered kerosene" the article goes on to state that the Coralite is a kerosene lamp fuel. I can tell they mean for wickies. What I would like to know is, was Coralite recommended for use in pressure lamps?
Coralite kero can be used in pressure lamps just another brand even here it came under the brand of COR up until the 60s here. Bob
Yes, it was here from the 30's and yes the COR was the company name. If Coralite and Mobilite were kerosenes perhaps that is what Shellite actually is?
"Shellite" never was is or has been any thing like Kerosene a can I have here is labeled for petrol burning appliances "DO NOT USE IN KEROSENE APPLIANCES ". "Mobilite" is Mobil Oil Co name for their Equivalent
Shellite = Recosol = Coleman Fuel. Shellite is used in "gasoline" pressure lamps. We used to have Corolite kerosine in 4 gallon drums on the farm, back in the day. Cheers Tony
Woops! I meant to say we had COR kerosine on the farm in 4 gal. drums. We also had 44 gal. drums of kerosine (I can't remember what brand) for the Ferguson tractor... Cheers Tony
... And if I recall correctly, Shell's home kerosine (kerosene) was called "Blue Pennant" Kerosine. Cheers Tony
My Grandfather used "power kerosene" in his tractor, and also on the weeds and on the lawn edges, he reckoned it was the bee's knees. Does anyone know if power kerosene is different from everyday kerosene?
Pete, Yes, I noticed the words Power Kerosene and it was used for just what you say. Power Kerosene meaning for use in Kerosene motors. It's no wonder consumers then and I now get confused. Coralite was kerosene. You would expect that Coralite being a big name in the kerosene market would, educate a lot of people the 'lite' part meant kerosene. A housewife that was used to using Coralite could most certainly be excused for using Mobolite or Shellite in it's place if she found it in the shed. It's just another example of how confusing fuel names were and are.
In Australia "power kerosene" was used in machinery engines (eg tractors). It was a mix of kerosene and other products which are normally extracted in the production of kerosene in order to give it a high octane rating. Power kerosene is also known as Tractor Vaporising Oil. Cheers Tony
Funny how your brain plays tricks on you... I was wandering around work this morning and all of a sudden I had a flash of memory about the Ferguson tractor on my parents' farm. A vivid image of the glass bowl at the bottom of the carburetor came into my mind... of course! The Ferguson TE20 was a petrol (gasoline) tractor in Australia. The 44 of kero must have been there to fill up the 4 gallon drum to then take to the house for the heaters etc. Cheers Tony
I agree. Trying to convince many of that is a hopeless proposition. I would appreciate it if anyone knows the octane rating for Shellite. It may have changed over the years so any ratings that are known, if it has changed, would be greatly appreciated.
Tony, I think the kero Fergies had to be started on petrol. ..... I don't know how it all worked but I'm sure that's what I heard a while ago
Tony, After seeing your post I read that what you said was correct. You started it with petrol then switch over to kero once it was warmed up. Of course, it depended on what motor was in your Fergie. That was cool you brought the petrol starting thing up as I didn't know about it.
Since he said it was a TE20 they had on the farm, it was made for petrol alone (just as the TEA), but I bet the memory of exact model could be warped. It's the TE-D20 that used kerosene, and of course had two tanks so you could start (and also stop) with gasoline. The little grey Fergie is a very popular tractor in Sweden, and the TE-D seems more common. Atleast in my parts, which is a pity today since the kerosene you need to run an engine on isn't available here anymore.
This is an important point. There seems to be a lot of kerosenes that were used for specific purposes. To be honest, until yesterday I thought kerosene was just that. I didn't know there were specific kerosenes for different purposes. I say again, the 'Lite' in Coralite signifies kerosene. It seems madness that other products that weren't apparently a grade of kerosene like Shellite and Mobilite would have the same 'lite' suffix.
Most enthusiasts blend their own TVO now, usually a 1:1 mix of unleaded petrol and heating oil (kerosene) in the UK, I'm sure there are people in Sweden who have their own blends they could share. There was one company who were selling 205l drums of TVO in the UK quite recently, I can't remember their name. HD
....Yes, 1:1 is a standard mix, but some prefer to mix their own..... ...Also different if the engine is 'Working', i.e. 'Under Load'......as opposed to ticking over.... ....You can still get 4 star leaded....not sure about the other grades..... Pb
When using heating oil, we have about the same proportions petrol vs. oil as you do. A bit less oil, perhaps. It's recommended to use 40-45% oil and the rest shall be petrol. Otherwise the old mix generally was to use 75% diesel and 25% petrol, and it worked well until they started to put ethanol in the petrol and RME (FAME?) in the diesel. RME and alcohol doesn't mix. One of the two is no problems, but both is not good. But I buy the diesel at a marina (there's no RME in that fuel). Not long ago you could also use Shell V-power to get petrol without ethanol here, but that is spoiled nowadays with a 5% mix of ethanol in it. People just have to try out which mix works best for their engines. I know people who just simply use 50/50 of RME-free diesel and petrol. And some add a bit of two-stroke oil. White spirit can work directly to run an old kerosene engine. I heard that in an old engines rally, and tested on a stationary kerosene engine when I got home. It worked well.
...Hi Christer, ....Interesting stuff......... You mention Diesel from a marina...... Do you mean what we would call 'Red' Diesel or some other? Regards, pb
Not sure. We used to have dyed diesels too before to see the difference regarding which type of taxation it belonged. I'm not sure it automatically means that it is with or without the additives we don't want here. You just need to check if it has RME/FAME.
....Ok.......I think the U.S. system of numbering the amount of bio fuel is helpful...... Wish things were more open over here..... Boat owners put up with diesel bug for years and had to stamp, yell, petition until grudging partial acknowledgement....
I'm still coming to grips with all the different kerosenes. Now you are saying there are more than one type of diesel? I knew oils aint oils (old Australian TV ad) but but don't bring me to my knee's where I scream out 'Mendoza' by hitting me with more than on diesel.
...As well as the white derv (diesel engine road vehicle) we also have what most people call 'Red' diesel (Gas Oil) which is very similar but distinguished by a red dye (so the police/highway officers/Dept. of Transport officers who stop vehicles for random checks can tell if you are using it)..... .....It used to be way lower in tax and only for use with farm vehicles, boats, machinery, mobile cranes off road type stuff......... They have stopped boats from using it and want to make everyone else use white but then they have to claim the tax back ...more red tape.... ...Oh I say!... Splendid idea, What? ... pb
FAME is present in agricultural (red) diesel in UK as there are now issues with it sitting for prolonged periods in tanks...
Matty One of the problems/virtues we have in Australia, is that, because there are very few oil refineries in this huge country, the range of fuels is very limited. Except for some very specialist purposes not supplied through the retail industry, what you buy at the pump is standard engine diesel as used in road transport, power generators and farming; and most kerosene is Jet A1 as used in jet aircraft (at this point someone from the USA will usually say no, Jet A - but the fact is, Jet A is used almost exclusively in North America and is not used in Australia). Cheers Tony
