White Gas?

[thenne1713]

When I was younger there was an Amoco station in the closest town. They had that gas. It said Amoco White right on the pump. I used it several times in my Coleman lantern and stove.

I grew up ONLY using "Unleaded WHITE GAS", pretty sure Coleman was NOT yet labeling/selling canned fuel? Canned fuel has added stabilizers.

 

[Smitty Smithsonite]

You don’t kaboom it works just fine haven’t done it too my actual zippo but have done it to a cheap knock off. Worked well and I still have my eyebrows. Using gasoline in a zippo was quite common at one time.

My dad was just telling me recently how he filled his Zippo in the Navy in the early 60's with 120 octane aviation fuel aboard ship. Said it made a nice, tall flame that got people's attention.

 

[SweetMK]

I'm pretty sure the Amoco "white gas" motor fuel sold at gas stations in the 70s (I used to work at gas stations back in the 70s, though never at an Amoco) was unleaded GASOLINE, whereas Coleman fuel ("camp fuel") was always naphtha...further confusing the whole discussion.

Amoco was also a VERY unique smelling gasoline, as far as the exhaust was concerned.

In the 1960's, you knew which cars were the hottest of hot rods,, simply by the odor of the exhaust,,
because they only ran those cars on AMOCO white gas.
(Some of the hot cars ran SUNOCO 260, but, that fuel was leaded, and did not produce a unique exhaust odor)

Using AMOCO gas in you car was almost as necessary as the last 3 or 4 coats of wax,,
it was simply part of making your car appear the best.

Well, fast forward to the year 2003, I bought my wife a HONDA S2000,,,

The owners manual stated that the car required 91 octane or higher gasoline.
There was an AMOCO station near our home, and I told my wife to only buy the AMOCO 93 octane fuel.

JUST as the cars in the 1960's, the S2000 had an exhaust smell identical to that produced by the cars of the 1960's.

The odor was not as strong, (I would guess the catalytic convertor was killing much of the odor)
but, you could still detect the unique AMOCO white gas odor, as in the years of my youth.

That gas at the AMOCO station was only available for a couple years,
and then the station was sucked up by BP Petroleum.

 

[FamilyTradition]

Great thread and thought provoking. I hadn't thought of kerosene and camp fuels from this perspective before. Thanks for all of the comments. Max.

 

[Tomos770]

Coleman fuel = camp fuel= white fuel? = kerosene =......... Lamp oil???

 

[Screwbolts]

Camp fuel is Naphtha, No, it is not Kerosene and no, it is not lamp oil.

Have any of you Internet experts ever ran an internal combustion engine with spark plug ignition on white gas or " camp Fuel?

 

[farmer steve]

Back in 1963 dad took us on a month long "camping" trip through the US in the Rambler station wagon. We had the Coleman stove and lantern. He made it a point to look for Amoco gas stations for the white gas.

 

[Tomos770]

Camp fuel is Naphtha, No, it is not Kerosene and no, it is not lamp oil.

Naphta (Nafta) is diesel fuel over here....

Diesel fuel is basically Jet fuel (more controlled/refined Diesel) (Kerosene).....

 

[heimannm]

"heavier" and "lighter" fractions are referring to the boiling/distillation point, not necessarily the specific density.

The specific density of liquid nitrogen is around 800 kG/M3 so it would be "heavier" than naphtha or gasoline in terms of specific density but much "lighter" in terms of boiling point.

Mark

 

[blades]

back in the day (40-70's) white gas for camp stoves lanterns and 2 stroke eng ( outboards, chainsaws ect) Leaded gas would foul the plugs on some of my old outboards all though my 57 Merc didn't seem to mind but only did that in a pinch. the 1947 twin 6hp merc would run for a while then start sputtering due to fouled plugs, run white gas no problems.

 

[bwalker]

Amoco was also a VERY unique smelling gasoline, as far as the exhaust was concerned.

In the 1960's, you knew which cars were the hottest of hot rods,, simply by the odor of the exhaust,,
because they only ran those cars on AMOCO white gas.
(Some of the hot cars ran SUNOCO 260, but, that fuel was leaded, and did not produce a unique exhaust odor)

Using AMOCO gas in you car was almost as necessary as the last 3 or 4 coats of wax,,
it was simply part of making your car appear the best.

Well, fast forward to the year 2003, I bought my wife a HONDA S2000,,,

The owners manual stated that the car required 91 octane or higher gasoline.
There was an AMOCO station near our home, and I told my wife to only buy the AMOCO 93 octane fuel.

JUST as the cars in the 1960's, the S2000 had an exhaust smell identical to that produced by the cars of the 1960's.

The odor was not as strong, (I would guess the catalytic convertor was killing much of the odor)
but, you could still detect the unique AMOCO white gas odor, as in the years of my youth.

That gas at the AMOCO station was only available for a couple years,
and then the station was sucked up by BP Petroleum.

If Amoco white gas had a strong oder and was lead free I would bet money it was full of Benzine, Toluene and Xylene.

 

[Smitty Smithsonite]

All the good stuff!

 

[Pioneer]

Many years ago I set up a junk lawn mower with an evaporative system to run Coleman fuel in it. This was the only kind of fuel that would evaporate completely and cleanly, gas wouldn't work because as the volatiles evaporated off it thickened, and would not evaporate properly.
The Coleman fuel worked fine until you got into heavy grass and then the low octane reared its head and you could hear the engine detonate. Used it for a whole summer and got quite a few strange looks from passers by at the hoses snaking over the mower.
The biggest advantage was that it used half the fuel it normally did and it burned very clean.
Said something about the inefficiency of the carburetor on a small engine.
Now the only time I use Coleman fuel in an engine is for storage. Pretty much guarantees a clean carburetor as it leaves no sludge behind when it evaporates. Come time to run the engine the tank is filled with premium gas and dilutes whatever Coleman fuel is left.

 

[Bbqman]

,

Many years ago I set up a junk lawn mower with an evaporative system to run Coleman fuel in it. This was the only kind of fuel that would evaporate completely and cleanly, gas wouldn't work because as the volatiles evaporated off it thickened, and would not evaporate properly.
The Coleman fuel worked fine until you got into heavy grass and then the low octane reared its head and you could hear the engine detonate. Used it for a whole summer and got quite a few strange looks from passers by at the hoses snaking over the mower.
The biggest advantage was that it used half the fuel it normally did and it burned very clean.
Said something about the inefficiency of the carburetor on a small engine.
Now the only time I use Coleman fuel in an engine is for storage. Pretty much guarantees a clean carburetor as it leaves no sludge behind when it evaporates. Come time to run the engine the tank is filled with premium gas and dilutes whatever Coleman fuel is left.

Thanks

 

[KASH]

Blades it would seem you and I are in agreement back in the day unleaded gas was marine gas or simply unleaded gasoline .It worked fine in Coleman products outboard motors etc. Coleman also sold their fuel which probably 99.9 percent of Coleman users used in their lanterns.
At the bulk dealer they also sold naptha which is what most commercial businesses bought for use in their Coleman equipment.
Kash

 

[Kanscruzer]

Camp fuel is Naphtha, No, it is not Kerosene and no, it is not lamp oil.

Have any of you Internet experts ever ran an internal combustion engine with spark plug ignition on white gas or " camp Fuel?

The old Maytag washing machine two cycle motors of ancient times stopped making them in about 1953. Are recommended to use Coleman fuel and 30W non detergent motor oil on restored motors. They have spark ignition

 

[OM617YOTA]

Maytag engines are are ~5:1 compression ratio.

Again, don't run white gas or Coleman fuel in any modern engine.

 

[bwalker]

Maytag engines are are ~5:1 compression ratio.

Again, don't run white gas or Coleman fuel in any modern engine.

And why would one want to?

 

[OM617YOTA]

And why would one want to?

Lasts forever?

Better off running TruFuel, if that's the goal. Cost about the same as Coleman fuel, too.

I'm on a camp stove forum, and a lot of people in places where camp stove fuels are ridiculously expensive run 4 stroke alkylate small engine fuel in their camp stoves.

 

[bwalker]

So does Alkylate, which canned fuels and Avgas are made from.