Sometimes I think it is all better, but then it is not.
I even had the Kirkman #2 go out sometime in the past 24 hours (still fuel in it), which really freaked me out.
I had tried running the street lamp at a bit higher flame setting last night, hoping the additional heat would help, but sometime during the night it ran away, making a royal mess.
I took the street lamp down, took out the globe and tank, put the rest in to my wheel barrel, filled the wheel barrel with soap and water and soaked it good. The globe got a good cleaning as well. The wick, only a few days old, looked a bit more discolored than I would have thought it should have for only having burned for a few days so I replaced that as well.
Do I have bad Kerosene? What makes it "bad"? I am running it thru a water filter and adding a small amount of Methenol to remove water, so it should not be a water issue. A friend of mine designs engines for P&W (for the last 30 years). Kerosene is "jet fuel", so I am going to email him tonight and see if he has any clues as to what can change in kerosene over time.
I refilled my kerosene cans (20 gallons worth) in early September at a local gas station. I am wondering if the kerosene had been sitting in the underground tanks for several months (all summer) when I bought it. After all, how many people buy kerosene in the summer? Also, does anyone know if there are summer and winter grades of Kero like there is with gasoline?
I switched to another container of Kero tonight. It was all bought at the same time, but maybe by chance I had something in the particular container that I have been using since all this issue started.
Saturday I will take a trip to the Kerosene pump and fill up a container with whatever they are pumping out now. It has been pretty cold lately, so I assume people have been buying the stuff and there have been new deliveries recently. It is a convinience store, so the guy behind the register won't know anything at all if it doesn't involve the Slurpie machine.
I remember about this time last year fighting with several #39 lanterns, trying to keep them going. It took several months of messing around before I figure them out, so it looks like this winter will be the same thing with different lanterns.
Come to think of it, the #39's I modified the burners of I KNOW should burn 100% in this weather, and much worse even. Maybe I should put some of this kerosene in them and see what they do with it right now.
At least it gives me something to ponder on when the weather sucks.
Rick
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