Diesel/Kerosene Wick Stoves

[GreenTwin]

After the hurricane devastated North Carolina recently, I have been trying to upgrade some of my survival equipment, and since I use diesel for my foundry burner, I decided to look at various burner styles that could potentially burn diesel.

We have had two major prolonged power outages in this city within the last 30 years, due to ice or windstorms knocking the trees down onto power lines all over the city. We were out of power 12 days during the first event, during freezing weather, and 1 week during the second event.
I have a portable generator, but it was difficult to find gasoline, since many gas stations were without power, and driving long distances on icy roads is no fun at all.

I have a couple of backpacking propane stoves, and I like those a lot, but they are designed for a very small cookpot, and they won't support much weight.

I have a standard 2-burner Coleman propane stove that works well, although I have misplaced it somewhere.

For deep-woods, off grid living, I am looking at something that would not require propane, and something that did not have any significant parts that could break or malfunction.

The white gas stoves work well, but have moving parts that can wear out, and also some of the parts can clog with coke residue.

I like to play around with burners and burner types anyway, so I purchased a wick stove make by "Butterfly" (an Asian company).
I decided to go with an aluminum unit to avoid long-term rust issues, and use the maximum number of wicks, which is 21.

I have not tried it out yet, but it looks good enough for the reasonable cost.
It is about 12" cubed in size.
The wicks are cotton, round, and I think are actually from a mop.
.

 

[GreenTwin]

They offered a package deal, with an oven that sits on top of the wick stove, and so I got the package deal with the oven.
.

 

[GreenTwin]

And for a full off-grid effect, I also purchased a Dietz lantern.
I like the propane Coleman mantle lanterns, and they put out a ton of light (too much in some cases), but I wanted to go more old-school, with something that was more simple and very reliable.

Dietz makes a 12" tall lantern, which is a Dietz #1, 8 candlepower, 12" tall, 45 hour burn time, 36 oz tank, but I wanted the maximum amount of candlepower I could get from a wick-type lantern.

I ended up getting the larger Dietz #2500, 15" tall, 12 candlepower, 75 hour burn time, 84 oz tank.
This unit is suppose to work well indoors and outside in harsh conditions.
It uses a 7/8" wick, and I think I have a roll of that in the shop, left over from my dad's shop.
.

 

[GreenTwin]

I have visions of an off-grid log-cabin type thing, where I could use off-road diesel for pretty much every purpose.
At the very least, I would like to be prepared for an extended power outage, where I could use either diesel or kerosene.

I researched using diesel in a cook stove and lantern, and for indoor use, automotive diesel is not recommended due to the additives in it.
From a functional standpoint, it is reported that diesel will work well in a wick stove or wick lantern.

I did some additional research on fuel types, and found a lot of information on this page.
https://lanternnet.com/lantern-lamp-fuel/

They recommend using a fuel with a flash point between 125F and 150F.

And I did not realize there were different types of kerosene.
I found a 2 gallon jug of "kerosene-alternate" at Home Depot, and purchased it to try it for indoor use.

A clean burn is desired to minimize or eliminate carbon monoxide, soot, etc.

There is a discussion of some wick-type devices that get into a runaway situation where they overheat the fuel tank.
Definitely don't want that situation.

I won't be using diesel for indoor use, but I would consider it for outdoor use, perhaps with a copper-coil heat exchanger, and a radiator inside.

.

 

[GreenTwin]

In my typical autistic fashion, I decided to look at various stove types, summarized as follows:

1.Wood Stove: I like wood stoves a lot, but they can be large and heavy, depending on what unit you get.
The biggest thing I dislike about wood stoves is having to cut and store wood.
We have bad termite problems in these parts, but going outside on a 28F day and chopping wood is just not my cup of tea.

.
Some wood stoves I found online (not my photos).
Some of these may be wood/gas combination units.
I really like that stove with the firebox up top, but those are expensive.
.

 

[GreenTwin]

An old wick stove on ebay (no my photos).
This one uses flat wicks.

.

 

[GreenTwin]

"Boss" liquid fuel oven/stove.
.

 

[GreenTwin]

Unkown manufacturer, liquid fuel oven/stove.

Three burners and an oven.

.

 

[GreenTwin]

This may be a gas stove/oven.
I like the old porcelain colors.
.

 

[GreenTwin]

Another 3-burner stove with oven.
Fuel tank holder on the left side.

.

 

[GreenTwin]

"Plymouth Dual".
Some of these stoves were dual wood and liquid fuel.
Not sure if this is wood, or a combination unit.

.

 

[GreenTwin]

An antique "Quick Meal" liquid fuel oven/stove.
It is interesting to try and figure out the plumbing on these old stoves.
Lots of old grace and style in this one.

.

 

[GreenTwin]

Some of the old fuel containers that generally hung on the side of the stove.
You would not want to accidentally break one of these in the house, especially if using one of the more volatile fuel types.
The cap had a valve in it to allow the tank to be inverted without spilling fuel.
.

 

[GreenTwin]

An example of a side-mounted fuel tank.

.

 

[GreenTwin]

Some of the fuel tanks had simple mechanical fuel gauges on them, such as this unit.

.

 

[GreenTwin]

I think the "Metters" was a wood stove, and one of the models had the firebox up top, which I like.
.

 

[GreenTwin]

Here is a Metters with the top firebox.
I would like to have one of these, but they are not cheap assuming you can find one on ebay.
.

 

[GreenTwin]

A very ornate cookstove.
I can't tell if it is liquid fueled, or what exactly.
.

 

[GreenTwin]

A "Roper".

.

 

[GreenTwin]

Wick-style with kettle.
.