Just for a laugh...

[Gubbins]

Went to a petrol station today to buy some paraffin to clean the chain and sprockets ...... None to be seen so I asked at the counter.... With a frown and a thoughtful delay, my question "do you sell paraffin" was answered with.. What's paraffin?

 

[Cyclezee]

Went to a petrol station today to buy some paraffin to clean the chain and sprockets ...... None to be seen so I asked at the counter.... With a frown and a thoughtful delay, my question "do you sell paraffin" was answered with.. What's paraffin?

So Phill, what is paraffin, is it related to Esso Blue or that pink stuff they used to sell in the last millenium?

 

[Gubbins]

So Phill, what is paraffin, is it related to Esso Blue or that pink stuff they used to sell in the last millenium?

Yes that's the stuff! All garages used to sell it from a pump, but lately it's in 5 litre containers. Still widely used for heating, especially in greenhouses ... Next garage down the road had them stacked up outside.... £8.80! I was just amused by the answer.... But not by the price!

 

[john h]

The same stuff that planes use to fly with but called aviation fuel

 

[EddiePJ]

The same stuff that planes use to fly with but called aviation fuel

That reminds me of my old GP250 racing days. My bikes ran on Avgas 100ll and of course where do you go to buy it, airfields. It was always a big drama to buy it, and I'd have to look online first, write down an aircraft reg number on the bck of my hand, and hope that they never checked to deeply. I'm glad that my days of having to lie just to buy fuel are long gone. The poxy stuff also stank when burnt, and would make me want to throw up when sitting in either the holding area or the start line. Happy days!

These days my only joy of playing with other fuels, is when putting either diesel, petrol, meths or paraffin into my little collection of MOD spirit burners.

 

[john h]

I to have a little collection of spirit burners, penny stoves like the jap ones hard to built but great when done, all run on meths.

 

[VictoryV]

The same stuff that planes use to fly with but called aviation fuel

Only if they were gas turbines (jet engines) which would use something similar to paraffin called AVTUR. The Navy use stuff called AVCAT on aircraft carriers becuase it has a higher flashpoint than normal AVTUR and is safer in case of fire or battle damage. Otherwise it is high octane petrol for the piston engined aircraft AVGAS. We sadly lost a Group Captain Pilot many years ago becuase he landed away at a RAF station in a privately owned piston engined aircraft with a supercharged engine hence it had "Turbo" written on the side. The Visiting Aircraft Flight that each station has to service visiting aircraft, saw the "Turbo" and assumed it was a Turbo-Prop engine that uses a gas-turbine (jet) engine to drive a propellor, and refuelled with AVTUR. On take off there was enough gasoline in the fuel lines to enable the aircraft to get airborne, but the AVTUR being heavier than petrol was at the bottom of the fuel tanks and then hit the engine which stopped dead immediately without warning. He was at a height where he had no time to recover from the dead engine, no ejection seat in a private aircraft, and was killed. There is an adage in engineering "Don't assume - check". A quick read of the aircraft handling notes would have clearly revealed it was a piston engined aircraft, and a tragedy would have been avoided.

 

[Wander]

Yes that's the stuff! All garages used to sell it from a pump, but lately it's in 5 litre containers.

Surely at age 65 you can also remember that you could buy it from a machine in the street. Put your shillings in, put a container underneath, pull a lever & it would dispense! Used to be one outside the local sweet shop when I was growing up.

Could also buy fags & chocolate from machines in the street. Can't really see any problems with that???

 

[Gubbins]

Surely at age 65 you can also remember that you could buy it from a machine in the street. Put your shillings in, put a container underneath, pull a lever & it would dispense! Used to be one outside the local sweet shop when I was growing up.

Could also buy fags & chocolate from machines in the street. Can't really see any problems with that???

Actually, no I dont remember that! But I do remember my dad getting a paraffin heater for the landing to keep the chill off when a cold winters night was damn cold! Not like the namby pamby winters we have now.... Fags and chocolate? I like chocolate but not strange men that hang about on street corners.....

 

[Gubbins]

Bearing in mind this is an E-Bike forum..
I put my E-Bike chain in the ultrasonic jewellery cleaner with some paraffin!! WOW!!! the muck and ** just blew out of it in less than 3 minutes...

 

[bigclick]

Only if they were gas turbines (jet engines) which would use something similar to paraffin called AVTUR. The Navy use stuff called AVCAT on aircraft carriers becuase it has a higher flashpoint than normal AVTUR and is safer in case of fire or battle damage. Otherwise it is high octane petrol for the piston engined aircraft AVGAS. We sadly lost a Group Captain Pilot many years ago becuase he landed away at a RAF station in a privately owned piston engined aircraft with a supercharged engine hence it had "Turbo" written on the side. The Visiting Aircraft Flight that each station has to service visiting aircraft, saw the "Turbo" and assumed it was a Turbo-Prop engine that uses a gas-turbine (jet) engine to drive a propellor, and refuelled with AVTUR. On take off there was enough gasoline in the fuel lines to enable the aircraft to get airborne, but the AVTUR being heavier than petrol was at the bottom of the fuel tanks and then hit the engine which stopped dead immediately without warning. He was at a height where he had no time to recover from the dead engine, no ejection seat in a private aircraft, and was killed. There is an adage in engineering "Don't assume - check". A quick read of the aircraft handling notes would have clearly revealed it was a piston engined aircraft, and a tragedy would have been avoided.

So sorry for your loss, the chain of events on a considerable number of aircraft incidents beggars belief. The AAIB archives are a compelling albeit morbid read.

 

[neptune]

I needed some paraffin for my tilley lamp,which i use for camping, and for power cuts.Tthe only place I could find it was at a garden center. I(t is often called Lamp Oil now.

 

[EddiePJ]

Phil, careful how you use the paraffin. You can easily wreck rubber seals etc. So careful what you clean with it.

I to have a little collection of spirit burners, penny stoves like the jap ones hard to built but great when done, all run on meths.

There is something very therapeutic about spirit burners. Less so when they don't have a silent cap fitted, and even less so if it happens to be one of my many No2 cookers. Petrol and cookers is an odd combination!
I probably get most satisfaction out of my many Swedish army Trangia sets.

This is next on my list of wants. I just can't justify spending the money to buy one though.

VictoryV, just out of interest, does the name N Clutton mean anything to you? There is a reason for asking.

 

[Geebee]

For those in other countries:

• Paraffin wax, a white or colourless soft solid that is used as a lubricant and for other applications
• Alkane, a saturated hydrocarbon
• Kerosene, a fuel that is also known as paraffin
• Tractor vaporising oil, a fuel
• Liquid paraffin (medicinal), a very highly refined mineral oil used in cosmetics and for medical purposes
• Mineral oil, any of various colorless, odorless, light mixtures of alkanes in the C15 to C40 range from a non-vegetable (mineral) source, particularly a distillate of petroleum
• Petroleum jelly, also called soft paraffin

In Australia its known as kerosene and used to be available from a bowser at petrol stations as well but has not been for several decades.

 

[Gubbins]

Phil, what how you use the paraffin. You can easily wreck rubber seals etc. So careful what you clean with it.




There is something very therapeutic about spirit burners. Less so when they don't have a silent cap fitted, and even less so if it happens to be one of my many No2 cookers. Petrol and cookers is an odd combination!
I probably get most satisfaction out of my many Swedish army Trangia sets.

This is next on my list of wants. I just can't justify spending the money to buy one though.

VictoryV, just out of interest, does the name N Clutton mean anything to you? There is a reason for asking.

I use it in a park tool chain scrubber.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B007HDNOT2/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1416434402&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SY200_QL40
And more recently in an Aldi ultrasonic bath .. The chain comes out like new. I have been using both for a while now with no adverse effects. on another note. I have a spirit burning vacuum coffee maker...

 

[JohnCade]

Lamp oil used to be available at one time which was more refined than paraffin. I have used paraffin in lamps and it's a little bit smokey compared to that. 28 sec kerosene is what's used for heating oil in this country and is less refined again than paraffin. If you put that in a lamp it smokes and stinks.

I always thought 28 sec kerosene was basically jet fuel. Most modern oil fired central heating boilers are like little jet engines.

 

[EddiePJ]

I use it in a park tool chain scrubber.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B007HDNOT2/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1416434402&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SY200_QL40
And more recently in an Aldi ultrasonic bath .. The chain comes out like new. I have been using both for a while now with no adverse effects. on another note. I have a spirit burning vacuum coffee maker...

Why do I write something, post it up, only to discover that something has predicted my wording, then changed it. Sorry if my reply made little sense.

Ref the chain bath, they are brilliant bits of kit. Everyone should own one.

 

[Gubbins]

Why do I write something, post it up, only to discover that something has predicted my wording, then changed it. Sorry if my reply made little sense.

Ref the chain bath, they are brilliant bits of kit. Everyone should own one.

Lol know what you mean... pays to re read before pisting. ... Have only used hot water and washing up liquid in the jewelry bath before, but with paraffin. ... its 10 times more effective and fast.

 

[MikeyBikey]

Wonder how the Ultrasonic bath would compare with a standard chain cleaner bath with an electric air pump hose down in the fluid? Probably too many bubbles!

 

[Gubbins]

Wonder how the Ultrasonic bath would compare with a standard chain cleaner bath with an electric air pump hose down in the fluid? Probably too many bubbles!

The ultrasonic has to be the easiest thing ever... put the cleaning fluid in, put your chain in,turn it on and in 3 minutes it's done.