A few weeks ago, I replaced my oldest kerosene heater with a brand new one. This was a good thing. But…that meant that I had two kerosene heaters that were not, for logistics sake, identical. This was a bad thing. So, in the name of logistics, I picked up another identical heater to the new one. So, I have two new identical heaters and an older one which is now being relegated to tertiary or loaner status.
But, the amusing thing at Lowe’s was this obscenity:
Do the math…thats $14 a gallon for kerosene. Inconceivable!
Now, if you’re a savvy survivalist, you wouuldn’t be buying the stuff in 2.5-gallon quantity anyway, right? No, you’d be heading over to Cenex and pumping it yourself into your 5- or 55-gallon drums for a heck of a lot less than $14 a gallon.
Heck, I bought some off Craigslist a few years back and I was annoyed it was $2.86/gallon. But, thats because my great $1/gallon purchase twenty years ago spoiled me.
But it was interesting to see that someone, somewhere, thinks this stuff is worth $14/gallon.
Fortunately, I’ve got about a hundred gallons sitting back so….I’ll pass on $14, TYVM.
What is the shelf life of kerosene.
Google says 2 – 5 years but a lot of people have used it fine after 15+ years.
Kerosene kept cool and sealed is good for 15 years easily.
Kept in non sealed containers in a sun hot shed maybe 2 years has been my experience.
Volatiles off gas. I suspect like Diesel that moisture and Alge growth can contaminate it but it’s not running a truck but burning a wick.
I’ve gotten several years’ storage out of a 5-gallon can of kero. The secret is NO TO OPEN THE CONTAINER until you’re READY TO USE IT! I was buying 2.5 gallon containers of the stuff but those containers spill too much when being poured. I started dumping it into 5-gallon kero cans that I’d emptied previously. This wasn’t a good thing.The lids on the cans didn’t seal well, and the kero started going bad, and contrary to Michael’s comment about it not having to run a truck, bad kero will foul a wick QUICKLY, rendering it USELESS! I found this out the hard way. Keep your kero sealed in its original container until you’re going to use it, and you’ll be good to go.
Oh; and I only WISH I had a place nearby where I could pump my own…
I noticed that fuel prices ant Lowes are on the high side when I was looking for non ethanol gas.
$6.99 a gallon here at Speedway and that’s still outrageous.
On the plus side, I was complaining to one of my coworkers about the price of Fuel Oil and they suggested a call to their Fuel Oil provider. I did so and found that they were $1.10 per gallon cheaper than the guy I had been using for the past 10 years.
But, but, but it says right there on the label that it’s “Economical HEATER FUEL” !!!
Yes, that price is ridiculous, even by the current regime’s standards. Lowe’s must have been trapped up in supplier contracts or sole sourcing of products, and has to just pass the inflation / scalping costs on to the consumer. Thanks for the example to readers, now I should research and source out multiple alternative vendors or suppliers as a j.i.c. back up strategy. Going pro with 35/55 gallon drums and a bulk dealer may be the way of the kerosene samurai. J8 fuel at the airport pump is cheaper and should burn as cleanly, need to research that alternative. My garage fan forced torpedo type heater is rated for it so a fall back thought. Check into “miles stairs wicks shoppe” for those back up wicks, obtain multiples.
Stay fueled up and frosty.
Stuff is worth $14 a gallon if you have zero of it…….
But definitely that should not be your primary source/supplier
Being one of your semi-old fart readers. I remember Kerosere at 10 cents a gallon.
I’m really glad I live where you won’t freeze to death in the winter without heat. It’s 88 degrees outside right now.
Hypothermic death occurs in temperatures as high as the 50s, faster if you’re wet. You can freeze to death anywhere outside the tropics, and even within them at a high enough altitude.
Re-think.
Do you have to add anything to it for storage?
BTW, what heaters did you get?
What about jet fuel. I have access to some but not sure about the additives
Convenience and stupidity always have a penalty premium attached.
Aesop is correct. Lowes will sell at least a little of that fuel because in the U.S. kero hasn’t been used for heat or light, even in rural areas, for at least a couple of generations. People aren’t used to it, they’re mostly scared of it. They don’t even know that you can buy kero at gas stations. Plenty of environmentalists and libtards telling them that kerosene is instant death. So, they see it at a high price in Lowes and the word safe is somewhere on the label, so some are willing — just barely — to give it a try in a lamp or two. Too many people are soft these days, scared of their own shadows, and simply ignorant.
Out here in the Wild, Wild West, Kerosene is almost UNOBTAINIUM. I’m paying $61.00 out the door for a 5-gallon can, and I have to SPECIAL ORDER IT! It’s still more economical than running the natgas furnace just to heat the small area I’m using.
$6 a gallon at the pump here in NE Ohio