Has anyone ever run or thought about running jetA in their first gen or just any diesel in general? It's basically highly refined kerosene from what I understand. I thought maybe running that and some lubricity additive might make some dang good power. Any thoughts?

 

yeah just make sure it's plenty lubed like 4 qt of oil per tank or something you'll have to look it up but more is better, wouldn't want to damge the pump. True multifuel pumps like the p7100 inline don't really need lube added they can run straight Jet A because that pump is not fuel lubed.

 

Interesting question but im not sure its practical. JP type fuel which means jet propelant. These fuels cover a very wide range from JP1--JP12, even though they are technicly kerosine, its a lot closer to gas than diesel. The primary differance between fuels is the flash point, a lot of fuel such as diesel still contains a lot of oil, but the sulpher and hydrogen were removed by water washing. In gasoline the oil is cracked out thru high heat and pressure, leaving a very volitle fuel compared to diesel.

I know your prolly not interested but, crude oil is place in a tall tower and heated, as it heats up the base oil seperates, into layers, lp being the lightest is on top motor oil being the heaviest is on the bottom, diesel and kerosine are inbetween. These varies oils are then piped to differant ares to be refined further.

Now contrary to popular belief, diesel and kerosine are a lot smaller percentage than gasoline, most ppl believe gasoline is a refined version of diesel,,however its not. The point im making however rambling is that kerosine is a lot less dense than diesel, even adding oil wont equal it out, and the less dense a fuel is the less BTU's it produces.

 

Ran it for years during late 70's with no additives. With today's high tech diesels I would prob. add a quart of 2 cycle oil or MMO. Only caution is to be careful of water as most inground Jet A farms use water to pump fuel out of the tanks. Also Fuel trucks are famous for accumulating condensation in bottom of tank.

 

well our trucks will burn almost anything and if you work at the airport at a repair station where you have to sump 100's of gallons of jet fuel every month it would be worth it imo. That's what I used to do but now I work GA, those planes burn 100 octane avgas.

 

Excellent replies guys! I was just pondering this because a buddy of mine can get me some cheaper then retail.

Hey mizzu, how is the performance using it? Thats what I'm after I was trying to think of ways to "cheat" and make more power.

 

You will lose power. Like loch said, there are fewer BTU's by volume in Jet A/K1 kero, etc., than #2 fuel oil. That means less power and lower mileage. That's no reason not to run it if the price is right, though. Like everybody else said, do something to add lubricity. I'd suggest Stanadyne Lubricity formula or 2 stroke oil at 128:1 (basically a quart per tank).

 

Thanks Wanna. Heres a dumb question then.... why dont jets use regular diesel then? costs less and has more power.

 

Because it's -40 degrees F where jets fly and diesel would be a block in an aircraft's fuel tank at that temperature.

On the other hand, Jet-A works just great in a diesel engine as long as the injector pump is lubricated. As little as 2% biodiesel will make kerosene more lubricitive (is that a word? let's just say slippery) than #2 diesel.

Tad

 

Another reason jets use Kerosene is it is cleaner for them.
When you burn fuel in a turbine, any impurities end up going through the turbine and coating the turbine blades. If you burn Diesel in a turbine, things like sulphur
can coat the turbine and cause metalurgical damage. Sulphur particles stick to the turbine blades and glow from the heat which pits the blades which means very expensive damage. Usually the turbines run at about 1500 deg
Kerosene doesn,t coat the turbine very much.
Diesel can be used as an emergency fuel in some turbine engines. but they limit
the # of hours it can be used during the engine's life, something like 5 hours total. If you go over that amount of hours then you are supposed to send that engine back for overhaul.

 

I use to fuel aircraft, and all of our trucks had a low point under the tank to trap the water and then a filter with a water trap after that.... We were required to purge both daily, and there's NO way i ever let water get through there that went into the fuel.

One time i fueled an aircraft and about an hour later it took off and crashed a few miles away from the airport! It didn't take long for someone to show up and purge the water trap into a container and take it away to be checked.... There was no water in the fuel..

Robert

 

You can actaully use gasonline or AVGAS in turbines for a short period of time spec'd by the manufacturer. Turbine engines are like diesels in that they only use compression and fuel, no spark, other than @ light off.

 

When I was getting the Jet-A sump fuel for free I was using it in my rabbit. Basically is really clean Kero. Might even be the same as kero. If I still could get it today I would be running it in my first gen. mix some diesel, 2 stroke, MMO, WVO, Bio, ETC of your choice and you should be fine. Your MPG will go down with Jet-A or Kero. As for power difference I could not tell in the rabbit. For a while when Kero was a full dollar under #2 I ran it straight for some time. At current prices with the MPG drop anything over a 20 cent spread its cheaper to run Kero.

 

I worked in Aviation for over 30 years and we ran Cummins 160s, 180s Detroit 6V 54s, 8V92s (twin turbos and twin superchargers) Navistar DT464s (not sure of the numbers) all on Jet A. The Cummins was torn down by Cummins and they estimated over 800,000 miles - we used hr meters they converted to miles. Jet A has the same burn properties as #1Diesel and is much drier - I would just use a good diesel fuel additive. One thing is for certain you wont have any fuel gel problems with a -40 gel point.

Bob

 

My experience was not related to fuel being pumped legally through the nozzle, it involved the "liberation" of fuel into a bowser or more frequently "fivers" through the fuel "condensate" drain located on the bottom of the tanker or from aircraft fuel drain valves in order to lower our monthly fuel bills. ha