RE: Smelly Rabbit - Help!!!
Silversurfer,
Wow, I never considered Coleman fuel especially dangerous. So, I checked the MSDS sheets .......and here is the results. Coleman fuel is just Naptha, a very common solvent. It was also used for years (still is I guess) as lighter fluid. It has a flash point of 122F / 171C, and auto ignites at 465F / 240C. Fairly high temperatures. I thought I would look up Methanol, that is the main combustible in glo fuel and here is its specs ...... flash point 54F / 12C and it auto ignites at 851F / 455C. Hmmmmm ...... methanol flashes at a much lower temperature than Naptha! So how about gasoline ...... here things get interesting. Where Naptha and Methanol are pure solvents, gasoline is a compound of 12 or many more solvents and it varies considerably between geographic area and time of year (temperature) where it is being consumed. As such the specs vary quite a bit but these are fairly common ...... flash point -45 to -49F / -43 to -45C and it auto ignites at 530F / 280C. Racing gasoline has similar specs.
What can be concluded from all of this? Well, it looks like gasoline is much more dangerous than Naptha when an ignition source is considered. Gasoline ignites at almost 170 degrees F lower temperature than Naptha. Even Methanol considered to be quite safe by most has a lower flashpoint than Naptha. No, I'm not taking into account fuel / air mixtures and their effect on combustion in open spaces, etc.
OK, how are these things as fuels. Well, Naptha has a low octane and has never been considered a good fuel for our model engines. But, it has been used by many and has a low odor .... if a particular motor will run ok on the stuff it can be a practical alternative fuel. Bought as a solvent, it is readily available and fairly cheap.
Methanol is a great fuel and can be used in our gassers. But ..... it takes a much richer mixture (more fuel / larger fuel tank). Some of our caruretors won't adjust enough to work with the stuff and worst of all, it is corrosive for our aluminum and zinc alloy carburetor bodies. It does have a very low odor so is an alternative fuel.
Racing and Avgas both contain lead and have high octane. The lead can cause carbon buildup in our motors. The higher octane can also cause loss of performance in our small bore, low compression motors (depends on the particular motor). But once again, these have considerable less odor than regular car gas and are alternative fuels. I always had racing gas on hand and have used quite a bit of this in model motors with no ill effects. Petroleum based oils can cause more carbon buildup than this fuel. Racing gas in combination with synthetic oils produces acceptable carbon buildup..... at least for me. You will see shorter sparkplug life
Today, I just use regular pump gas and put up with the odor. Works great and is available anywhere. Like I said in the first post, I just store the planes where I can't smell them.
Roger S.