I have read that some of the old tractors were designed to burn distillate or low cost fuels. These were spark ignition tractors that started on gasoline, and switched over to distillate after they warmed up. I was wondering if distillate is about the same as kerosene or diesel fuel. It would seem to me that one of these old tractors would be a good y2k item if they could burn not only gas, but other fuels besides. Any info is appreciated.

-- matt (me@me.com), May 12, 1999

Answers

Hello,

Not sure if this will help - I pulled it from the "Juice Page":

http://209.52.183.182/Generator/diesel_v_kerosene.htm

It has info from Chevron on fuels.

Good luck!

-- Kristi (securx@Succeed.Net), May 12, 1999.

If I recall correctly (don't quote me) distillate is grain alcohol. My Grandfather used to take the leavings from the corn harvest and make "distillate". Grandma would mix it with the kerosene they bought in town and would burn it in the oil lamps. I don't remember but I think he used to mix it with the gas in the tractor too... I do know he didn't use it "straight" in anything. The primary purpose of it though was fuel for the truck and the station wagon, mixed with gasoline of course....

boy dropped his pancakes.... mmmmmm....

The Dog

-- Dog (desert dog @-sand.com), May 12, 1999.

ethanol......or biogas From post on generator thread There are several links on the web to biogas. http://www.veggievan.org/ http://gate.gtz.de/isat/default.asp?dis=/biogas/toc.html&tit=AT%20Info rmation%20-%20Biogas%20Digest%3A%20Index&nav=1 I downloaded a really good "how to" archive from Point Mudge BBS, but John has moved and I don't have a working new link.

-- marsh (armstrng@sisqtel.net), May 12, 1999.

Many old tractors ran on power kerosene (not quite the same thing as domestic kerosene). Dual fuel tanks. They started, as you say, with petrol until the engine had heated up, then you swapped them over.

During World War II, to travel between farms my mother's family used an old Dodge utility (pickup truck in American English) fitted with a small extra tank with petrol and a turn-cock to warm up, then switched to the main tank with power kerosene which was unrationed for farmers. They ran the fuel pipe past the manifold to pre-heat the kero before it went into the carburetor, but were always ready for an engine fire - not as bad with kero as with petrol. It was hard on the engine, though - ran rough - not designed for it as tractors were. When pushed, you do what you can; but they ended up having to replace the engine. Compression ratio much lower than current cars - you couldn't do that with a current model.

A friend's father had an old luxury Marmon car which he did the same thing with, but it worked better. Car still running today - about seventy years old. Enormous oversquare cylinders, and a compression ratio of only about four and a half to one. The low compression and pre-heating is key to using kerosene.

I cite these as illustrations only - they are NOT safe practices, unlike tractors built to do it.

In Australia, distillate is an exact synonym for diesel fuel. All fuel terms I used are Australian.

Regards, Don Armstrong

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), May 12, 1999.