Kerosene sources

Where is a good place to buy kerosene? A can at Lowe's is $8/gallon, which seems a tad high to me. The waste oil heater I'm building for the shop needs to be started on kerosene, and from what I've read, to burn fully synthetic oil (most of what I have), it helps to also drip in a little kerosene to keep things going. I'm sure that a little bit will go a long ways, but $8/gallon is just silly.

What about jet fuel at an airport? That's basically kerosene, right? I've certainly hauled enough of that stuff around the world. Google-Fu says that I can buy jet fuel for around $4/gallon at the small plane airports. Will they freak out if I show up at their pump with my truck and a 5 gallon gas can? Does anyone know if that is going to be JP4 or JP5? JP5 would be pretty safe.

I just buy it the gas station.

around you: http://www.yellowpages.com/search?search_terms=kerosene+gas+stations&geo_location_terms=+Fayetteville%2C+AR+

From what I understand, diesel and kero are VERY similar outside of sulfer content.
Can you use Diesel?

Call around first but a couple of your local gas stations (especially any focusing on the more rural population) should have a kerosine pump over near the diesel.

Local gas station for me as well. Always seems expensive to me - usually a buck or so more than diesel.

I'd fire it off with diesel as well, but most gas stations around here have a kerosene pump. They are usually off to one side of the station and the tanks are above ground a lot of the time.

I have an old Kero-Sun heater that I use in the garage. 25 years ago I used to heat my (much smaller) house with the same heater. It will burn for about 12-15 hours on a gallon of kero. After 3 hours or so it will cook me out of the garage so 5 gallons of kero lasts a long time.

Paid $4.09/gal yesterday for #1 kero at an old-fashioned service station 3 miles from my house (full serve only, three bays, mechanic on duty).

Diesel runs around $2.65 around here and I can buy "off road" diesel for about $2.25 if I go 3 miles in the other direction.

Supposedly, the #1 kero burns cleaner with less/no odor. My heater smells a bit on start up and shut down, but is otherwise hardly noticeable.

I thought about #2 Diesel as well. The Steward's Department would use that in the burn barrel on the stern to get it going. "I heard" that when "they" screwed up a batch of jet fuel at the refineries, they would just call it "Diesel" and sell it as that. Dunno if it's true or not. We ran everything through the ship's Diesel engine: #2 Diesel, 6 oil, JP4, JP5, waste lube oil, anything laying around.

While #2 Diesel will work, it does put off more odor than #1 kerosene. Around here the Ace Hardware stores have it in bulk, much cheaper than by the gallon. Edit: if you are going to buy Diesel, find a station with the off-road diesel, no reason to pay road taxes for heating.

There's a couple of gas stations that sell it near me but also check out your local hardware store. Those old school hardware stores like the one near me sell it in bulk. Most that I know of are "True Value" brand. I just take my 5 gal jug and he hand pumps it full. The price is not much cheaper then your big box store but it is cheaper.

Your Google-fu must be broken. Here is a list of gas stations that sell kerosene in or around Fayetteville, AR:

http://www.yellowpages.com/fayetteville-ar/gas-stations-with-kerosene?sem=tas%3Dgoogle%26headingcode%3D8003578%26utm_type%3Dg%26utm_medium%3Dc%26utm_account%3DYPC+-+DSA+MCC%26utm_campaign%3DDSA+-National-+Industry,+Manufacturing+%26+Agriculture%26utm_adgroup%3DKerosene-8003578%26utm_kw%3Ddynamicads_category%26utm_matchtype%3Dbroad+match%26ad_level%3Dhigh

Kerosene is sold at just about every gas station here. We have oil heat and I've been using offroad diesel this year since we couldn't swing a $400 fuel bill at the beginning of the season. I had previously used kerosene but offroad diesel/#2 fuel oil/kerosene are essentially the same thing and offroad has been cheaper by at least $1/gallon. It was $2.60/gal at the beginning of the week here.

Yes, I saw that, Evan, but those are not Fayetteville. Closest one there is Springdale, 30 minutes away and I'm not sure that is a gas station. I also found another listing of gas stations with kerosene, but one of them is close to my house, closest station, actually, and I stop at fairly regularly and I have never seen kerosene there. They do have #2 Diesel though....

Does Agway sell this? Do you have an Agway or another Farm type store around?

http://www.macraesbluebook.com/search/company.cfm?company=685110 Try that oil company in Fayetteville.

We have a few local convenience stores that sell K-1. I'm still not sure why it's so much more expensive that diesel. K-1 SHOULD be undyed, but most people are saying their's is dyed.

That's a restaurant and office district, Iggy. Probably the HQ for the oil company, not an outlet.

Gawrsh! Even here in and around the sophisticated metropolis of Richmond Virginia we have access to kerosene. Not every gas station carries it, but quite a few do. I haven't bought any this year, so I have no idea what it costs, but I bet it's less than 8 bucks.

Dr. Hess wrote: That's a restaurant and office district, Iggy. Probably the HQ for the oil company, not an outlet.

Back in the good old days I used to stop in at a local oil company with an empty milk jug and get a gallon of varsol for less than a buck.

1988RedT2 wrote: Gawrsh! Even here in and around the sophisticated metropolis of Richmond Virginia we have access to kerosene. Not every gas station carries it, but quite a few do. I haven't bought any this year, so I have no idea what it costs, but I bet it's less than 8 bucks.

This. The area where I live is somewhere between suburban and rural, and there are 3-4 gas stations that sell kerosene within ~10 miles of me. That there wouldn't be that many in a primarily agricultural state like Arkansas is... surprising.

Dr. Hess wrote: That's a restaurant and office district, Iggy. Probably the HQ for the oil company, not an outlet.

I'd give them a call. They say they sell kerosene.

For a vented heater, winter blend diesel will do the job just fine.

I saw that they said they sold it, Iggy, but I don't need 500 gallons. I'll keep my eyes open at some of the gas stations. There was one chain listed that teh googles said carried it. White Oak Stations. I'll swing by one and see. I bought a gallon at an oil company maybe 10 years ago, but they either moved or went out of business.

I'm kinda leaning towards #2 Diesel. Yeah, it's vented outside. I put the vent in 2 days ago and I bought another 4 ft of chimney vent this evening to finish it off. I still have more problems to solve: Fuel tanks (one waste oil, one kerosene), petcocks, filter/water trap, drip sight. Don't think I'm gonna have it done by the cold snap Sunday. Oh well.

I'm pretty sure the only real difference between K-1 and winter blend ULSD is dye and injector pump lubrication additives, neither of which really concern you.

Dr. Hess wrote: I saw that they said they sold it, Iggy, but I don't need 500 gallons. I'll keep my eyes open at some of the gas stations.

You might not be looking to buy 500 gallons from them, but they might know of any retailers in your area who have.