Can I burn Kerosene in 720D

chas036

Member
I have a 720 D that hasn't been started in 20 years and I drained all the old fuel oil out. I know these were designed for #2 fuel oil, but I was wondering if I can burn kerosene? I have an oil furnace in my house and if I can use the same kerosene in my tractor that I use in my furnace , I could save some money. If not kerosene, will the new diesel fuel you buy in gas stations work well in these older motors?
 
Todays diesel fuel burns cleaner than that back in the day. A mix of kero and diesel will work, but I would not run full kero. 20% kero mix in summer and 50% for winter.
 
chas036,

thats interesting, its been a year or two since i priced bulk kerosene but it was more expensive than off road diesel. whats your price on kerosene?
 
I would run straight #2 in the summer and blend up to 50% in the winter depending on how cold it is.
 
Kerosene won't hurt it at all, if anything the higher Sulphur content will lubricate the pump and injectors better. I ran straight kero in my '07 Volvo d12d in the winter and gained mpg, the egt's were lower too...
 
I wouldn't think of using kerosene in any diesel of mine,there's no lubrication value unless you want too seize up your engine and or pump and injectors.Ron
 
"unless you want too seize up your engine "

OMG!

I'm pretty sure the German BOSCH injection system of that slow turning diesel ain't gonna lay down and play dead over a little kero.

And the engine sure as hell ain't gonna "seize up".

WHO starts crazy rumors like that?
 
Try some mixed with rape seed oil or upper cylinder lubricant, or 2 stroke oil - that way you can be sure there will not be a lubrication issue. The other unknown to me is the cetane rating of kero as compared to diesel and how it will go in your engine. Listen to the noise of ignition - that is the ping when the diesel/kero ignites. If it sounds noticeably louder when on kero as apposed to diesel there could be problem. I have known straight 8 Gardners runs on diesel/kero 50/50 for amy years with no problem, They are direct injection 1000rpm like your engine.
 
You can do as you like but if it were mine I would save the kerosene to burn in cold weather and even then I would not use it straight but dilute it with heavier No. 1 or No. 2 diesel fuel. And unlike some think, the sulfur in the fuel is not a lubricant. The process of removing sulfur from ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel takes some lubricity with it. The sulfur wasn't the lubricant and is actually harmful to the engine. Getting it out of the fuel is a good thing as lubricity is easier to put back in the fuel afterwards. Mike
 
Do the smart thing and use the fuel it was made to operate on. Experimenting with something other than diesel could be costly.
 
(quoted from post at 18:07:02 05/27/15) I have a 720 D that hasn't been started in 20 years and I drained all the old fuel oil out. I know these were designed for #2 fuel oil, but I was wondering if I can burn kerosene? I have an oil furnace in my house and if I can use the same kerosene in my tractor that I use in my furnace , I could save some money. If not kerosene, will the new diesel fuel you buy in gas stations work well in these older motors?

Will it work? Most certainly. Will it save money? Depends. I'm sure that you have done all of the math and analysis about the cost of HHO, off-road diesel, non-taxed kero, the amount of fuel that you expect to burn in the tractor and so on so no point to go there.

At a very high level (like from a 9th grade chemistry class), the "base" (if you will) difference between various fractions of oil is that what we often call kerosene is around C10 to C18 (carbon chain length fractions, more-or-less) and what we often call Diesel is around C16 to C24. The term gasoline is usually around C7 to C12.

None of the common oils are strictly one compound. Consider water (familiar H2O). It is one "thing" (boils here and freezes there, as this or that density). Oils are generally many things of different characteristics. Plain old "gasoline" is composed of many fractions of different characteristics (for example the light ends "boil" at a much lower temperature than the more heavy ends).

Now consider some of the descriptions from (for example) http://donsnotes.com/science/chemistry/hydrocarbon_fuels.html

"#1 Diesel (Diesel 1-D, Kerosene-like, kerosene) - So similar to kerosene that many manufactures make a dual purpose product that is sold as both kerosene and diesel #1."

"#2 Diesel (Diesel 2-D, Home heating oil, No. 2 Gas/Burner oil) - The most common grade, which specifies a fuel that is suitable for most cars and trucks. It is preferred because it has a higher energy content than grade 1-D. However, it does not burn as cleanly or smoothly as a grade 1-D fuel, which is now used in many city busses to reduce smoke in the exhaust and to reduce the odor of diesel exhaust. Winter diesel fuel is #2 mixed with #1 for lower temperature gel point."

In fact number 1 diesel (aka kerosene) is often mixed with number 2 diesel to make it work better in colder temperatures.

some great additional reading here : http://www.chevron.com/documents/pdf/DieselFuelTechReview.pdf
 
From everyone's comments, it seems that #2 diesel is the best to use rather then kerosene. The diesel fuel they sell in gas stations for cars, is the same as #2 diesel and will it work without problems?
 
(quoted from post at 19:17:56 05/29/15) From everyone's comments, it seems that #2 diesel is the best to use rather then kerosene. The diesel fuel they sell in gas stations for cars, is the same as #2 diesel and will it work without problems?

that's the stuff.
 

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