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Paraffin


Dartagnan

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I want to clean the metal mesh in filters from the Cretaceous period on my Gardner engine.  When I had a motorbike as a teenager I would have used paraffin to clean all sorts of parts on the engine.  From memory we used paraffin coz it was cheap!  I’ve just looked at buying some and it’s more expensive than premium grade petrol.  So, in the opinion of those that know, is paraffin the product of choice when it comes to cleaning oil/diesel filter gauzes or is petrol better?  I can then clean other mechanical bits and pieces in a bath of paraffin/petrol.

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7 minutes ago, Dartagnan said:

I want to clean the metal mesh in filters from the Cretaceous period on my Gardner engine.  When I had a motorbike as a teenager I would have used paraffin to clean all sorts of parts on the engine.  From memory we used paraffin coz it was cheap!  I’ve just looked at buying some and it’s more expensive than premium grade petrol.  So, in the opinion of those that know, is paraffin the product of choice when it comes to cleaning oil/diesel filter gauzes or is petrol better?  I can then clean other mechanical bits and pieces in a bath of paraffin/petrol.

Petrol is a good cleaner,however as you know it is dangerous stuff.Use outdoors if cleaning stuff in a tub and put your fag out before starting!

I think for the extra cost paraffin is safer.

 

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FWIW - paraffin was cheap / inexpensive and still is if you can buy it as 'heating  oil' or kerosene. However from a retailer the product is produced further up the distillation stack (dunno what the correct term is) and thus more expensive.

I've no idea where you can get 'heating oil' in small quantities and petrol is a no-no.

(I just dip my central heating tank when I need to clean anything metal... 

 

 

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21 minutes ago, Dartagnan said:

I want to clean the metal mesh in filters from the Cretaceous period on my Gardner engine.  When I had a motorbike as a teenager I would have used paraffin to clean all sorts of parts on the engine.  From memory we used paraffin coz it was cheap!  I’ve just looked at buying some and it’s more expensive than premium grade petrol.  So, in the opinion of those that know, is paraffin the product of choice when it comes to cleaning oil/diesel filter gauzes or is petrol better?  I can then clean other mechanical bits and pieces in a bath of paraffin/petrol.

 

Having a good number of old oil lamps, I still use paraffin but is has become less easy to find, and a great deal more expensive. The problem with paraffin supplies can be layed at the foot of metrification. Sales from Garage forecourts and Garden Centres were never high, but sufficient to warrant an ancient pump secured in on otherwise unoccupied location.  These pumps would record the sale in pints, which became illegal with metrification of fuel supplies, and modifyiny the old pump or installing a new one was prohibitive. Consequently, the supply in most places was discontinued, and availability reduced to being sold in plastic containers at what often seems to be outrageous prices. I currently have a good supply in stock, but have found that the best places to find supplies is in Agrucultural Merchants usually around £8 for 4 litres.

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3 minutes ago, OldGoat said:

FWIW - paraffin was cheap / inexpensive and still is if you can buy it as 'heating  oil' or kerosene. However from a retailer the product is produced further up the distillation stack (dunno what the correct term is) and thus more expensive.

I've no idea where you can get 'heating oil' in small quantities and petrol is a no-no.

(I just dip my central heating tank when I need to clean anything metal... 

 

 

Thank you.  Until a few years ago most central heating systems in Northern Ireland were of the the heating oil style and thus was easily obtainable at petrol stations and coal merchants premises.  At the time it was quite an expensive fuel so when natural gas was being installed I jumped at the opportunity to switch.  Naturally as soon as I switched natural gas prices rocketed and heating oil became cheaper.  Naturally, at a time I could do with a few litres I’m in London and not in NI😂😂

2 minutes ago, David Schweizer said:

 

Having a good number of old oil lamps, I still use paraffin but is has become less easy to find, and a great deal more expensive. The problem with paraffin supplies can be layed at the foot of metrification. Sales from Garage forecourts and Garden Centres were never high, but sufficient to warrant an ancient pump secured in on otherwise unoccupied location.  These pumps would record the sale in pints, which became illegal with metrification of fuel supplies, and modifyiny the old pump or installing a new one was prohibitive. Consequently, the supply in most places was discontinued, and availability reduced to being sold in plastic containers at what often seems to be outrageous prices. I currently have a good supply in stock, but have found that the best places to find supplies is in Agrucultural Merchants usually around £8 for 4 litres.

Thank you.  As you say £10 for 4 litres appears to be the going rate at the moment though Amazon has some for about £8.50.  I haven’t checked the Chinese prices so as I’m in London and there is a dearth of agricultural suppliers I suppose Amazon it is😁

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5 minutes ago, OldGoat said:

FWIW - paraffin was cheap / inexpensive and still is if you can buy it as 'heating  oil' or kerosene. However from a retailer the product is produced further up the distillation stack (dunno what the correct term is) and thus more expensive.

I've no idea where you can get 'heating oil' in small quantities and petrol is a no-no.

(I just dip my central heating tank when I need to clean anything metal... 

 

 

For the OP's purpose Kerosene is fine, but a word of warning - Kerosene is not neccesarily the same as Paraffin. Theoretically Kerosene is the same fuel, but can be less refined and contain more impurities than paraffin, which can lead to noxious fumes. The other significant difference is that Paraffin is treated with a dyed perfume, giving it the smell we all associate with Paraffin. Kerosene may not have this perfume added, and, believe me, the natural smell is not very nice. Un-treated, less refined, oil is fine in a sealed heating burner with an external flue, but not very pleasant in an indoor room. It can also led to more smoke staining on glass chimneys, and I would not use it in any of my oil lamps.

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2 minutes ago, Dartagnan said:

Thank you.  As you say £10 for 4 litres appears to be the going rate at the moment though Amazon has some for about £8.50.  I haven’t checked the Chinese prices so as I’m in London and there is a dearth of agricultural suppliers I suppose Amazon it is😁

 

I supose living in the sticks has to have some advantages, Our local Agricultural Merchant is selling Paraffin at £7.99 for a 4 litre container. Some Camping shops also sell it and I have seen it advertised at £6.99 for 4 litres, but no where near London!

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1 minute ago, David Schweizer said:

 

I supose living in the sticks has to have some advantages, Our local Agricultural Merchant is selling Paraffin at £7.99 for a 4 litre container. Some Camping shops also sell it and I have seen it advertised at £6.99 for 4 litres, but no where near London!

Many thanks.  Unfortunately there aren’t many advantages of being in London that I can think of and I would most definitely prefer to be ‘living in the stocks’ at present and not just for the paraffin😁

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I use Paraffin for heating (A sort of home made Taylors stove) and its good for cleaning paintbrushes too. Careful with air filters and oilbath ones. A friend had an Armstrong diesel try to run away on the  petrol from cleaning the filter - no harm done but something to bear in mind.

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16 hours ago, Dartagnan said:

Many thanks.  Unfortunately there aren’t many advantages of being in London that I can think of and I would most definitely prefer to be ‘living in the stocks’ at present and not just for the paraffin😁

 

Coal merchants usually sell it. Are there any left inn London? I would guess there are one or two. 

 

You might even find the local fuel boat sells it! 

 

 

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I've always used Jizer, Hypaclean (spelling?) or something similar, even when I had access to unlimited, free paraffin. Can be washed off with water and contains some kind of rust inhibitor.

Interested to see the cost of paraffin. When I was 20 I had a part time job selling it door to door at 1/10 a gallon. Translation-that's just over 9 p per 4.55 litres. The reaction when it went up to 2/- (10p) had to be seen to be believed

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3 hours ago, Slim said:

I've always used Jizer, Hypaclean (spelling?) or something similar, even when I had access to unlimited, free paraffin. Can be washed off with water and contains some kind of rust inhibitor.

Interested to see the cost of paraffin. When I was 20 I had a part time job selling it door to door at 1/10 a gallon. Translation-that's just over 9 p per 4.55 litres. The reaction when it went up to 2/- (10p) had to be seen to be believed

 

So that would have been in 1967, a few years after I remember Esso Golden petrol going up from 4/9d to 5/- a gallon.

 

 

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2 hours ago, Slim said:

1/10 a gallon. Translation-that's just over 9 p per 4.55 litres.

 

Or as a really simple approximation, 2p a litre!

 

My earliest recollection of buying petrol was at 5 shillings a gallon (say 5p a litre) but the currency went decimal within a couple of weeks of my getting my little Suzuki on the road.

 

 

 

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3 hours ago, David Schweizer said:

 

So that would have been in 1967, a few years after I remember Esso Golden petrol going up from 4/9d to 5/- a gallon.

 

 

Spot on.

A new Triumph Spitfire cost under £700 so guess where my ill gotten gains went.

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One of the petrol stations we operated had a coin operated vending machine for Pink Paraffin. I don't recall but it must have been altered to dispense 5 litres rather than a gallon at the same time as the other pumps. 

Was also altered from 2/0 coin to token at some point which stopped it being broken into but meant sales were restricted to the opening hours.

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