Hi, I've been running Coleman lamps for a while and always try to leave them with Coleman flue in the tank apposed to petrol as it tends to go off.... I was just wondering if paraffin has the same issues? I'm bound to find out soon enough but thought ide ask the hive mind 1st :-) Thanks in advance :-) Andy
Paraffin and kero are much denser fuels with very high flashpoints. We're talking around 65 Celsius, roughly twice as high as naptha. With this trait, kero/paraffin vaporizes very slowly. I would be more concerned with the water and varnish that'll eventually collect at the bottom of your fount then I would be with if it'll dry up. Also kero and paraffin also have a finite shelf life numbering in just months, they do grow stale and even moldy! Your fount has to be uncomfortably hot for it to vaporize kero/paraffin. Infact not even a straight naked flame will ignite kero/paraffin at ambient temperature. Kero lanterns are recommended to be drained if you don't plan on using frequently for the aforementioned reasons. Coleman Fuel and sometimes white gas have additional additives to prevent corrosion and such. In theory you can keep a coleman lantern full indefinitely as long as you keep the fount sealed.
In practice I leave the paraffin in mine if I am going to be using them within a month or so, otherwise I drain and filter the fuel back into the plastic containers I use. As Dashwood says if the stuff is left for years it tends to leave a smelly deposit.
