The price of kerosene

[bobusnick104]

Some of us that live in the northern parts need to heat our shops to do a little wrenching on our Model A's in the winter. I keep my toys in a private airplane hangar and use a kerosene fired torpedo heater to get the chill off so the gas furnace can get a head start. With the price of oil being low, I just don't understand why kerosene is $4.79 per gallon. Gas is $2.25 and diesel is $3.19. There shouldn't be any road tax on it. What gives? Is this a local SW PA thing or typical all over this great country?

[31 Model A]

Originally Posted by bobusnick104

I just don't understand why kerosene is $4.79 per gallon. ?

I'd gladly buy my kerosene at that price....................I'm paying $7.40 a gallon.

[CarlG]

Kerosene is essentially the same as Jet-A. While gas prices have come down a bunch, Jet fuels not so much.

[John Duden]

I use diesel fuel in ours, I mix 1 gallon of diesel and one quart gas and burn it, it burns clean and the small amount of gas makes it so the heater does not spit and keeps the spark plug clean

[5window]

Originally Posted by CarlG

Kerosene is essentially the same as Jet-A. While gas prices have come down a bunch, Jet fuels not so much.

I don't know for sure, but the news is full of stories about how much the airlines are making since the price of jet fuel is down.

Here's chart showing jet fuel costs over th last 10 years. Looks way cheaper than kerosene to me;

http://www.indexmundi.com/commoditie...odity=jet-fuel

[C26Pinelake]

Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements)

Kerosene in my part of Canada is $49.00 for 5 gallons or about $9.80 a gallon. I use propane in my torpedo heater. Wayne

[segelhorst]

Just looked at Kerosene at Tractor Supply this week and it was 10 bucks for a one gallon can. I'm not aware of any gas stations selling Kerosene locally.

[31 Model A]

Around here, no gas stations bother with kerosene anymore, strictly, Farm and Home, Lowes or Home Depot.

Cheapest I found once was at Lowes and it was $37.+ for five gallons. Military discount or Old Fart discount, 10% off.

[CarlG]

Originally Posted by 5window

I don't know for sure, but the news is full of stories about how much the airlines are making since the price of jet fuel is down.

Here's chart showing jet fuel costs over th last 10 years. Looks way cheaper than kerosene to me;

http://www.indexmundi.com/commoditie...odity=jet-fuel

If I were buying 5,000,000 gallons of kerosene (Jet-A) at a time (as the airlines do), I could certainly get it a lot cheaper than my measly 5-gallon can at Home Depot.

[mass A man]

The Haffner Gas stations around here sell kero at the pump, I got 20 gallons @ $3.40/gal. It is a rip off in my opinion since the drop in crude is so low now.

[mshmodela]

I can buy kerosene at many gas stations.. I think it was close to $5 a gallon (lots cheaper than the tin cans from home depot or lowes... All supply and demand ...

[Ted Duke]

Check around, it's still available at many gas stations in Virginia and West Virginia. I suspect it is other places as well.

[Purdy Swoft]

I may be wrong but they always told me that kerosene was coal oil, not derived from crude oil. I use to buy kerosene for 25 cents per gallon. Prices went up in the late seventies when a lot of perple started using the fancy new kerosene heaters because kerosene was cheap. When demand for kerosene increased, prices began to skyrocket. Kerosene is a good parts cleaner and not nearly as dangerous as gas. Kerosene doesn't have all that much odor . Diesel stinks so bad, if you get a drop of it on you , you can't wash it off. It mostly has to wear off .

When kerosene went way up , bologna also went up. I called it poor tax . We never cared much for bologna but it caused us to quit using our practacally new at the time kerosene heaters or using kerosene as a cleaning fluid . Go figure !!!

[mrtexas]

Kerosene = jet fuel = comes from crude oil. Don't think there is much "coal" oil around anymore. Diesel has lower ppm sulfur than gasoline. Shouldn't stink.

[CarlG]

Originally Posted by Purdy Swoft

I may be wrong but they always told me that kerosene was coal oil, not derived from crude oil. I use to buy kerosene for 25 cents per gallon...

My Dad always called it "coal-oil", burned it in stoves, lamps, etc. Used it for a parts cleaner as well. In the early 50's it was probably even cheaper than 25¢.

[marc hildebrant]

Not sure where "Coal Oil" phrase came from...

Rockefeller of standard oil got his start making a consistent quality kerosene. His product was safe for burning in the lamps used at the time.

By the way, he didn't use the resulting gasoline from his refinery at the time since gasoline was dangerous when used in a lamp. He threw out the gasoline !!

Marc

[Afordman31]

Just paid $3.91 per gallon in Southwest Michigan , was $4.19
Surprised that it dropped. I will pay that because it breaks the chill and if you dress warm enough you can work in 50 or 55 degree weather. My salamander has a thermostat for it so it doesn't have to run all the time. Afordman31

[ronn]

I am thinking there so little demand locally, that the stations are charging top dollar.
People aren't running kerosene heaters any longer, like they did in the 70's............

[Purdy Swoft]

Originally Posted by CarlG

My Dad always called it "coal-oil", burned it in stoves, lamps, etc. Used it for a parts cleaner as well. In the early 50's it was probably even cheaper than 25¢.

Carl, I agree . I think that it was probably as low as 15 cents a gallon in the early fifties. I remember that the old country stores all had kerosene tanks with a hand pump like the red Texaco tank pictured in a different thread here today. People used it in stoves and lamps. We had kerosene lamps on stand by in case the electricity went off. Deb still has a bunch of the old oil lamps and lanterns in her collection. We now have a standby generator that runs on natural gas and cranks automatically when the power cuts off . Times change for the better in some ways.

[Purdy Swoft]

Originally Posted by mrtexas

Kerosene = jet fuel = comes from crude oil. Don't think there is much "coal" oil around anymore. Diesel has lower ppm sulfur than gasoline. Shouldn't stink.

Diesel may have less sulfur than gasoline. Diesel and ethanol gas both stink really bad to me. Kerosene, on the other hand doesn't have that much odor. The smell of diesel or gasoline won't wash off with soap and water. The scent can be removed by scrubbing with tooth paste and then wash with soap and water. To me Diesel is even more odiferous than gasoline .