DaveS":24f2b5yz said:
Sarge and Tom,
So, are you saying that the Kleen Heat puts out more heat than the diesel? If so, then it would seem to me that the higher BTU's would make the Wallas burn cleaner and therefore be less likely to clog/soot up. (I know it has been reported that Scan Marine recommends diesel instead of Kleen Heat).
How about it Sea Wolf Joe the Science Guy? What is your take on the output difference between the two?
Dave-
1. The theory that a hotter burning fuel will leave less residue is, by itself, reasonable, and generally true.
2. I can't find any figures on the comparative BTU output of the different diesel fuels and Kleen Heat. Does anyone have this info?
However, I think we established somewhere that Kleen Heat is really not synthetic, or synthesized, but really just highly refined fuel for lamps and heaters, probably containing a more homogenous (or narrower variety of) mixture of types of molecules than diesel compounds.
Long chain carbon compounds vary in their BTU output slightly, the longer chains having more bonds to break and therefore energy to provide for their relative to their weight, but the differences are not great between fairly similar compounds as long as they're basically similar, not containing radicals or oxygenates.
The real advantage of Kleen Heat in the past has been it's relative purity, high degree of refinement, and lack of additives that are put into diesel fuels for combustion engines that cause problems of their own.
Diesel has had many more extraneous oddball molecules in it, plus the additives, and up until recently, a high sulfur content allowed.
The new formulation ultra-low sulfur content diesel fuel may have eliminated many of the advantages of using Kleen Heat. It depends on what else remains in the new fuel compared to Kleen Heat, both in terms of initial composition, and how well the new diesel stores over time comparatively.
Theoretically, the highly refined fuel should still have some advantages, unless, of course, the wider mixture of types of molecules available in the newer formulated diesel offers better lubrication of stove (pump) parts, or some of the lighter molecules offer easier vaporization, or there is some other advantages.
I'm not really a Wallas fan, but if I had one, I think I'd at least run it on Kleen Heat at the end of the cold season to have K-H in the system over any long-term storage period. If the stove is used to cook with year round, the point is moot. One could also just add a preservative to the diesel fuel before the storage period shut down.
It would be fun to equip a well-functioning Wallas stove with a Y-valve to two storage tanks, one with Kleen Heat, the other with the new fuel, then run them alternately for 30 minute periods and see if one could measure any heat output differential.
This wouldn't really address the storage issue, or the one concerning other possible advantages and disadvantages between the fuels, but it would answer the heat output differential question.
I suspect that there are a lot of other home and other uses where Kleen Heat will be running into more head to head competition with the new diesel, and more information will be forthcoming amount any heat differential, and also the storage questions.
If there's no clear advantage to Kleen Heat, the price differential will cause it to be dropped from the shelves at Home Depot and the like for lack of sales, as the users vote with their pocketbooks.
Joe. :teeth :thup
