# Brake cleaner as a fuel



## Chaffe (May 16, 2011)

In full size practice you can start and run a diesel engine by spaying brake cleaner into the inlet manifold. The speed of the engine very much depends on the amount sprayed in. I wonder if such a fuel could be used in model practice through a carburator or similar, using compression ignition? Has anyone tried this?


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## Stan (May 16, 2011)

I expect that brake cleaner includes some petroleum based solvents since it removes oily residue so well but the main ingredient that affects the diesel engine is the propane gas used as a propellant.


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## Philjoe5 (May 16, 2011)

Some brake cleaners contain chlorinated petroleum products. Burning them under IC combustion conditions can produce truly nasty chemicals. I would stay away from them unless you know what's in the product. See:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polychlorinated_dibenzodioxins

Cheers,
Phil


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## rkepler (May 16, 2011)

Brake cleaners *used* to be non-flammable so I looked one (Gunk brand) up and found that they've been reformulated with "2-Propanone", AKA acetone. Acetone is quite flammable so I guess they've given up on those that might be inclined to use it in this formulation (it also means that you can get all the benefit of the spray brake cleaner using a small HVLP gun and cheap-ass acetone from the paint supply store).

That being said I suspect that you might get more consistent results from a lighter fraction - light naptha or the like. I'd be tempted to play with propane since it's concentration would be easy to adjust.


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## kustomkb (May 16, 2011)

Like Phil said, do not burn that stuff;

http://www.brewracingframes.com/id75.htm


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## Deanofid (May 16, 2011)

You can start a diesel engine by spraying any number of somewhat flammable liquids/vapors into the intake. Lots of stuff burns at a compression ratio of 18:1. It's different when you get into the normal realm of model engines. At a comp ratio of 6:1 or less, fewer things will want to burn. 

All that is kind of meaningless though, when you consider brake cleaner at $3 per 12 oz can is about 10X more expensive than plain old gasoline or naphtha in the form of Coleman lantern fuel. What would be the benefit of using brake cleaner? It won't work as well as a proper fuel, if it works at all, and it's more expensive by a factor of 10.

Just as a matter of info, I bought some CRC brake cleaner a few day ago. It says non-flammable on the can.


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## Chaffe (May 17, 2011)

Deanofid  said:
			
		

> You can start a diesel engine by spraying any number of somewhat flammable liquids/vapors into the intake. Lots of stuff burns at a compression ratio of 18:1. It's different when you get into the normal realm of model engines. At a comp ratio of 6:1 or less, fewer things will want to burn.
> 
> All that is kind of meaningless though, when you consider brake cleaner at $3 per 12 oz can is about 10X more expensive than plain old gasoline or naphtha in the form of Coleman lantern fuel. What would be the benefit of using brake cleaner? It won't work as well as a proper fuel, if it works at all, and it's more expensive by a factor of 10.
> 
> Just as a matter of info, I bought some CRC brake cleaner a few day ago. It says non-flammable on the can.


I dont think price comes into it when you are burning it in a model, its not going to use much. My thoughts were that you could make a model with 18:1 compression ratio and use compression ignition instead of spark, obviously there are other fuels out there but i have brake cleaner in plentiful supply, i understand its probably not good for you to braethe the fumes, but then what exhaust fumes are good for you?


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## Chaffe (May 17, 2011)

Stan  said:
			
		

> I expect that brake cleaner includes some petroleum based solvents since it removes oily residue so well but the main ingredient that affects the diesel engine is the propane gas used as a propellant.


The "propane" aspect cant be the case here as the stuff i use is liquid form and used in a "pump up" type spray can. Very eager to evapourate, i suspect as mentioned some sort of ethlyketone or similar, as for being "non flamable" Deanofid, The stuff im using is probably amongst the most flamable in the garage! Soo much so i dont even light the fire with it!
  My thoughts on this subject were that of chucks compression engine (hot tube) and similar, who says that it has to run on diesel or parrafin? when this stuff may work well? food for thought


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## rkepler (May 17, 2011)

Deanofid  said:
			
		

> Just as a matter of info, I bought some CRC brake cleaner a few day ago. It says non-flammable on the can.



For chuckles (and in a desperate effort at avoiding real work) I checked - looks like the CRC folks have a couple of different formulations for brake cleaner. The one you got was likely the one with perchloroethylene (AKA tetrachloroethylene, PERC, etc.) at 70-80%. They also have one (formulated for California?) that's mostly acetone and tolulene.

Getting flammable brake cleaner anywhere away from California may be the luck of the draw, and you gotta check the label. Even with that it's going to be some mix of stuff. I think you're going to be better off using a can of the "right" stuff, if you want to spray it just use one of those sprayers you pressurize with shop air.


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## mu38&Bg# (May 17, 2011)

While I've tried a bunch of things for fuels in model airplane engines I stay well away from anything that isn't really intended to be burned. Acetone is horrid stuff.

Camp fuel, alcohol, E85, gasoline, or kerosene, charcoal lighter fluid, lamp oil, and ether in the case of model diesel.

For diesel, kerosene alone does just fine once up to temperature.


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## Chaffe (May 19, 2011)

ok i see, what are the active ingredients in bradex easy start then? (airosol easy start?)


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## Philjoe5 (May 19, 2011)

Chaffe,
Try this link:

http://www.toolbank.com/cossh/0155.PDF

Contains 2 types of ethers, 3 hydrocarbons - shouldn't produce anything that gasoline does when burned in an engine. But, some of the ingredients may do bad things to any plastic tubing or seals you have in the engine.

Phil


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