Originally Posted by
staehpj1
Just to be clear we are talking two different things entitrely if comparing ronson/zippo lighter fluid and charcoal lighter fluid. The ronson /zippo stuff is naptha and pretty much the same a white gas. The charcoal lighter is something else and pretty much the same as or at least very similar to kerosene. At least that is my understanding.
The mineral spirits you mention are closer to the latter, right? My understanding is that I ought to use the kerosene jet if burning mineral spirits in the whisperlite and it probably is a bad idea to burn them in the SVEA 123 at all. So correct me if I am wrong, but mineral spirits should be considered a 1-K Kerosene substitute. Everything I have read indicates they are not a white gas substitute.
Also, if you are at a place that sells mineral spitits there is a good chance they also sell naptha which should be fine as a white gas substitute, right? If resorting to buying a quart of someting from a big box store, hardware store, or paint store a quart of VM&P naptha typically costs about the same as a quart of mineral spirits and is pretty much the same as white gas as far as I know. Is there any reason why you'd prefer mineral spirits?
The differences are more a matter of degree than being entirely different. Lighter fluid is a mixture (
C6 to C9 and
C4 to C11) that has a boiling range of 3°C to 194°C. The second part of the mixture has a slightly higher boiling range of 20°C to 190°C. Coleman fuel (
C6 to C9) has a 3°C to 194°C boiling range. (All boiling ranges are approximate.) The Coleman fuel has a bit more benzene in it which changes the flammability some.
“Mineral spirits” is a somewhat broad range of materials. Odorless…which is the most commonly available now…is a
C9 to C16 mix of hydrocarbons with a boiling range of 150°C to 290°C. Kerosene (
C9 to C16) has a slightly higher boiling range of 180°C to 300°C.
Naphtha, which “odored” or low flash mineral spirits and is a C7 to C12 hydrocarbon mixture, has a slightly lower boiling range than odorless mineral spirits of 90° to 230°C.
This only scratches the surface of a rather complicated range of products. You can see that there is a lot of overlap in terms of boiling ranges (a key to volatility) and carbon chain length. Mineral spirits is just a suggestion as it is widely available in smaller quantities than Coleman fuel and large quantities than cigarette lighter fluid. Again, it would be best to test any of these at home before leaving. A jet change may not be necessary for some and not for others.
Since my reason for looking for an alternative is for smaller than quart sizes I am out of luck with either the naptha or the mineral spirits any way, but the ronson/zippo stuff comes in several sizes ranging from 4-12 ounces so it remains the only naptha product I have found that I can buy 12 ounces or less. The other possible option is to burn auto gasoline, which I'd do in a pinch. That may be awkward to get a tiny bit, but possible.
MSR suggests that gasoline should be a last resort fuel. I agree and wouldn’t use gasoline for most anything outside of a car engine.
Zippo lighter fluid is probably just a bit less volatile (being able to be converted to a gas) than Coleman fuel or white gas (which is
not car gasoline and would make a car run very, very poorly). Charcoal lighter fluid is probably slightly less volatile than naphtha (aka type one mineral spirits or “odored” mineral spirits). Mineral spirits is slightly less volatile than naphtha and kerosene is less volatile still. In terms of decreasing volatility I’d rank the fuels as
Gasoline>>>>>>Coleman fuel (white gas)>Zippo>charcoal lighter fluid≥naphtha>mineral spirits>kerosene.
Gasoline isn’t a bad fuel but it is just too volatile to be used safely.
Switching jets and using something like kerosene or mineral spirits would be okay for my whisperlite, but since I have not found a source for less than a quart at a time I'll rule that out for anything other than an unforeseen emergency. I might have a different perspective if I travelled in different countries. I wouldn't put it in my SVEA 123 though.
I’m not a liquid fuel user so I can’t really say if a jet change would be needed or not for different fuels. From what I’ve read, it’s not that kerosene needs a different jet but it does tend to clog more. Mineral spirits tends to be a tighter cut of the petroleum distillation curve and may have fewer impurities so clogging would be less of an issue.
I am looking at this like a chemist and just looking at the volatility and some composition. The various fuels are different but those aren’t necessarily huge differences. Most of them would work in a pinch and any of them from Coleman fuel to kerosene would be a far better alternative than gasoline.