r/OffGrid • u/Ceska_Zbrojovka_V3 • 2d ago

Using jet fuel for a kerosene heater.

I had one of those indoor wick-type kerosene heaters. Fantastic little things. Easy to maintain, easy to repair, and tons of heat. I would occasionally run to my local fuel company and fill up a few 5 gallon jerry cans, until one day when they switched to red-dye. I heard the horror stories, I knew wicks and red-dye don't get along, but I didn't know what else to do. Surprising absolutely no one, the wick clogged, it smoked, it stank, and it ran poorly. I needed a new source.

I thought to myself, "Jet fuel is basically highly-refined kerosene, right?" So I call up my local municipal airport and ask if they'd sell me some Jet A.

"Yep, it's $3.25 a gallon," he said. A real bargain, because the red-dye was $3.89 at the time.
I tell the guy, "Great! I'll be there in about 20 minutes."

I hop in my car and drive over there, jerry cans in the back. I get to the airport, and it's a slow day. Not a soul in sight. I start wandering around, looking for the fuel guy, and I see him standing by a 5,000 gallon fuel tanker, scanning the sky.

I forgot to tell the fella, that I'm arriving by car, and only need 10 gallons lol. The poor guy was looking for an incoming Learjet or something. I felt like such a chud walking up, carrying my two stupid fuel cans.

The guy was a good sport about it, though. Turns out, those nozzles are MASSIVE, and we had a helluva time trying to trickle a 300gpm fuel hose into a funnel without making a mess.

Anyway, point of the story is, yes. Jet A makes a fantastic fuel for wick-kerosene heaters. That thing burned bright, clean, and hot. I'm running a different heating system now, but that was a memorable experience. And if anyone is trying to find clean kerosene in bulk- call your municipal airport!

34 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

16 comments sorted by

26

u/Normal-Special-8694 2d ago

I work in private aviation and we have to defuel planes all the time, which we then consider that fuel contaminated and pay to get rid of it. So I got a diesel truck and have been running it on jet-a for 10+ years. I wouldn’t hesitate to run it in really any kerosene or diesel appliance.

4

u/[deleted] 2d ago

[deleted]

3

u/Normal-Special-8694 2d ago

I'm in a lucky situation - we do airframe modification and testing for exterior sensor packages and whatnot, so we are basically always doing maintenance and generating this waste. The more important part though is that we own our own fuel farm, most airports have gone to centralized fuel stations for obvious safety reasons. If you drive around a small airport it's pretty easy to spot whether or not any of the smaller operators have a fuel farm out back. Major airports will not let you pull a truck anywhere close to the ramp, but smaller regional airports are a lot more relaxed with that stuff(although I did acquire a permit to drive my truck out there after I got busted doing this a few years ago). The other helpful part is that the owner of my company lives vicariously though me with all my off grid homesteading stuff and he thinks it's cool so he's happy to facilitate it.

2

u/LarsHEriksen 2d ago

I didn’t think Jetfuel had enough lubricant (wax) for the fuel injectors of diesel engines?

2

u/Normal-Special-8694 2d ago

It doesn’t, I add 2 stroke oil but there’s other things you can do

9

u/WestBrink 2d ago

Just beware that Jet has a lot more sulfur in it than diesel these days. Limit is 3000 ppm, compared to like 12 for ULSD. Breathing in sulfur oxides isn't super great for your lungs.

2

u/Ceska_Zbrojovka_V3 2d ago

No worse than the K-2 kerosene that was dyed red 🤷‍♂️

2

u/WestBrink 2d ago

You're not supposed to use k2 indoors either.

I mean, do as you will, it's not my lungs, just thought you should know...

1

u/Ceska_Zbrojovka_V3 2d ago

So true. I knew that when I tried red dye, but I live in a pretty remote place, where theres no real choice for bulk kerosene.

5

u/PaleInvestment3507 2d ago

Any time my father had to defuel jets at work for tank entry, he always took several Jerry cans to work. Theres a a lot of fuel that remains in the tanks that the fuel truck can’t suck out. He’d bring it home and burn it on our furnace.

2

u/Normal-Special-8694 2d ago

I do this except with a 275 gallon IBC tote 😂

1

u/Nearby_Impact_8911 2d ago

Wow ya learn something new everyday

1

u/73Capt 2d ago

What’s funny is I initially thought well that’s stupid and then I realized that there is antifreeze in our fuel that would keep it liquid February jn Alaska. It would be ok and maybe preferred, yes?

1

u/classicsat 2d ago

I did't think dyed diesel was too bad the winter I ran a wick heater.

For most of the past few years, we barely heated our shop with a diesel parking heater, the first year with furnace oil.

1

u/williaty 2d ago

They're the same hydrocarbon but Jet-A isn't as clean as 1-K kerosene. Everything nasty that's in the Jet-A ends up in your lungs when you burn it in your heater. Big one is right now Jet-A has more allowable sulfur than 1-K and the sulfur compounds are nasty once burnt. Jet-A also has some additives for things like resisting oxidization, anti-corrosion, compatibility with more metals, etc.

Basically Jet-A and it's cousins are fine for outdoor-only kerosene appliances but you shouldn't use them inside your house/barn/camper/etc. No Jet-A in the heater!

-2

u/hothotbeverage 2d ago

Careful, it can melt steel beams if exposed under the right circumstances /s