Forums > Social Chat > fire poi fuel

Posted: 7th Aug 2001
Once you have soaked your poi in lamp oil and then spun out, give them a little squirt of white gas and they will light right up. This trick also works great when using kerosene during the winter.-p.

Posted: 16th Dec 2013
how long do you soak your poi in lamp fuel,so you can take a couple of photo shots?

Posted: 16th Dec 2013
How long do you soak your poi in lamp oil fluel, so you can have a couple of still photo shoots
Joe t.

Posted: 16th Dec 2013
It's not really about how long you soak the poi. Once you stick them in the dipping can and the air bubbles stop coming out, that's practically all the fuel the wick is gonna take anyway. Depends more on the volume and surface area of the wick, how dense it is, what fuel you're using, how fast you're spinning, wind, ambient temperature and probably quite a few other things.
EDITED_BY: beaniebob (1387240310)

"If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error."

Posted: 13th Jan 2014
I personally prefer a fuel with a lower flash point. It's a little more dangerous, but it works much better for me.

I usually spin with a 50/50 mix of colman camp fuel and kerosene. The colman fuel has a lower flash point, burns brightly, and lets the poi light up really fast. The Kero in the mix makes it a little safer and increases your burn time, (I usually get between 5-8 minutes with my mix)

Recently, I fount that when the temperature is below zero and you are out spinning fire (which might not be the smartest idea, but lets save that for another thread), even colman fuel's flash point might be too high (~0F) At sub-zero temperatures, the colman fuel will stop emitting flammable vapors, and this makes it very hard to light (similar to straight kero or lamp oil)

To correct this, I add gasoline (flash point -45F) to make a 40/50/10 mix (kero/camp fuel/gasoline) I find this to work beautifully.

I'd rather die on paws, than live on feet.

Posted: 14th Jan 2014
Wolf, I'm not sure what sort of kerosene you're using, but the kero in Australia that one buys at a servo/at the shops (blue color added, I think the brand is Diggers) has a flashpoint of 38C, which would be higher than 0F for coleman's fuel, wouldn't it? Sorry if I'm getting something wrong here.

Forgot to respond to OP in my first post, welp. I mostly use Shellsol D60, which Shell lists as being an isoparaffin solvent (MSDS gives some ratio of light and heavy hydrotreated naptha, but I'm not a chemist). D60 stands for dearomatised, 60C flashpoint. Takes a little bit of time to light up with cold wicks, because you have to get enough of the vapours past 60C to get a self sustaining flame, but warm wicks will light up pretty easily too - note that it's still slower than the fwoosh I see on US videos where they're using Colemans. Shellsol also has variants with different flashpoints and compositions I think there's D40, D60, D70 and D100 that I've seen on the Shell website.

The other fuel I've used besides kero is Isopar G, again sold by Shell, listed as an isoparaffin solvent. Flashpoint is listed as 14C if I remember right, and it makes for much quicker lighting up. Burns a bit hotter and brighter too, compared to Shellsol D60, which itself also burns a little brighter and much less smoky than the blue Diggers kerosene we have in Aus. I realise that there's a huge variation in the stuff that gets sold as kero, but based on the few times I've burned with it, I don't really like the musky smoke, and the soot felt much more difficult to get off than what you get from shellsol/isopar.

"If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error."

Posted: 14th Jan 2014
@beaniebob: Thanks so much man, i meant to put that the colman fuel has a LOWER flash point. (like 100F lower than kero) I'll fix that.

Thats interesting about the blue kerosene. Here in the states, at least in Michigan where I live, it has a red dye in it.

I can't stand spinning straight kero either. it is far to hard to light and is way, way too smokey. When I add the Colman fuel to it, it makes it a bit less smokey.

Thanks again.

I'd rather die on paws, than live on feet.

Posted: 15th Jan 2014
i'm cheap and lazy. so plain kerosene it is!

perhaps if i spun for an audience or something i'd look further, but as is, it's worked great for me. never bothered trying anything else.

Fluidity.