Sea-Foam for Lawn Mower

[painterman67]

Yes, Coleman Brand Camp fuel works, but you can find other brands that cost less, or at least my local Wal:)Mart carries Ozark Trail brand camp fuel for about 20% less than Coleman brand, but I dont know the chemical diffrences as I cannot find a MSDS for Ozark Trail brand.

 

For a definition, Camp fuel is the liquid fuel that is mostly Naphtha with some stabilizer added to extend it's shelf life as most people will go thur a gallon in more than a year.......

 

Other brands on the market are MSR (they sell a "Super" fuel at an elevated price) Crown, Ozark Trail, Coleman,

 

Side note: if you are on the road and need some fuel system cleaner, just buy a bottle of lighter fluid, but it costs a lot more per Oz than Camp fuel but is probably chemically the same.

 

As for price, I was going off of memory...... and trying to err on the side of caution. Looking at your prices paid, Camp Fuel is about 1/10 the price of SeaFoam for the same cleaning power.

 

Naphtha is also call "White Gas" in some countries.

 

You can buy VM&P Naphtha at most hardware stores, but it usually costs more than Camp Fuel.

 

HERE is the MSDS for Coleman camp fuel but it is dated 1998....

HERE is a more up to date MSDS for Coleman camp fuel, note the changes in the makeup.

HERE is the MSDS for Zippo lighter fluid

 

 

So what your saying is use naptha. How much do you use at a time. the reason I'm asking is we keep it on th etrucks by the gallon and a little here and there want hurt to hget gone.

 

David

[Guest JGorom]

Were do you find that stuff by the gal?

 

One of the auto parts stores...right now I can't remember which one it was. The price for a 16 oz. can went up in our area last year...buying it by the gallon brought the price back down to what it used to be for a 16 oz. can. I use it so much I just decided to buy it by the gallon.

[V7Goose]

I stopped usesig SeaFoam and have switched over to Camp Fuel.

 

It costs me a lot less.

OK, water would even cost less than that. But it ain't the same stuff.

 

I am not advising against using pure naptha, if that is what you want, but it ain't the same stuff either.

 

Yes, Sea Foam Motor Treatment is 25 - 30% naphtha. But it's main ingredient is called "pale oil", 40 - 60%. And the rest is IPA (alcohol).

 

I am not a petroleum engineer, chemist or any other label that would give me special knowledge about exactly what this particular "pale oil" does in their product, but a little research shows that pale oil seems to be a fairly generic term that covers a lot of different products for very specific uses, ranging from thread cutting lubricant to skin treatment. In fact, even the term "naphtha" is fairly generic referring to any of various volatile often flammable liquid hydrocarbon mixtures used chiefly as solvents and diluents.

 

You may choose to just consider the pale oil a filler with no value for the specific purpose of this product, but I suspect there is little to support your belief. And I kinda doubt that Sea Foam would agree with you either. Have you tried actually asking Sea Foam about it? They'd probably prefer having a chance to answer a real question about their own product than you using them for information about how to use something else you bought cheaper from somebody else.

 

No, I don't own stock in Sea Foam, nor am I even advocating the use of their product. And I don't think that there is necessarily anything wrong with your suggesting that others try "pure" naphtha. I just wanted to point out that you may be doing other members a disservice to imply that pure naphtha is effectively the same as, or maybe better than, the Sea Foam product. In fact, based on my quick research, I doubt that you can believe any two different products that are labeled "naphtha" are actually the identical compound.

 

For all I know, running pure naphtha at the equivalent maximum concentration recommended by Sea Foam for their product may actually be harmful to your engine without the "pale oil". Just like running methyl alcohol without corrosion inhibitors is harmful. The point is, I DON'T know, so I personally will stick with the product labeled for that use until I do. But thanks for the suggestion - made me do some more research on my own!

Goose

[KiteSquid]

So what your saying is use naptha. How much do you use at a time. the reason I'm asking is we keep it on th etrucks by the gallon and a little here and there want hurt to hget gone.

 

David

 

That depends on if you are doing preventative maintenance or corrective maintenance.

 

 

 

So for preventive maintenance I would use one half to one Oz to every gallon of gasoline.

 

If you were to add it to a tank of fuel just to keep the carburetors clean I would add 0.5 to 1.0 Oz per gallon of gasoline.

 

As per my owner's manual, the 2nd Gen RSV has a 5.94 gallon tank, I would add somewhere between three and six ounces of high grade Naphtha (VM&P Naphtha) to an empty tank and then fill the tank.

 

 

I would probally do this to every 5th to 10th tank of fuel, just to clean things out.

 

For corrective maintenance I would use one to two Oz to every gallon of gasoline.

 

If you are having carburetor issues, I would put about three to six ounces of VM&P Naphtha in an empty tank and put in three gallons of gas..... to deep clean the fuel system.

 

It does not sound like a lot of VM&P Naphtha, AKA Camp fuel, but it is quite a concentrated solvent.

[Yammer Dan]

With the price of Sea-Foam going like it is this thread could use more brain work. Leaves me out when you start talking chemicals.

 

Camp Fuel?? A good concentrated cleaner? Small amount for Maint.??

 

 

Marvel Mystery Oil? This is a good old one. Not too pricey yet and good for Maint.

 

 

Berryman's? Supposed to be a fair cleaner. Won't harm seals?

 

 

Yamaha Ring Free? This stuff is Great. Almost or as good as Sea-Foam and almost as costley.

 

 

Sea-Foam? About to price itself out of my garage unless I need a major cleaning for some reason. Maybe once a year.

 

 

How many others??

[KiteSquid]

Camp Fuel is my choice for corrective and preventative maintenance.

 

About $8 a gallon.

 

 

Seafoam went up to $8 per pint near me.

 

 

In my experience, Camp fuel comes in at 128th the cost per use compared to Seafoam....as you use 1/2 the camp fuel as it does not have alcohol in it, like Seafoam does.

Edited September 7, 2009 by KiteSquid

[Yammer Dan]

Sea-Foam at NAPA this evening for $9.95 a can!! At that price it won't be used as much by me as it was.

[seabeetom]

Now if I'm reading this thread right, Seafoam cleans stuff...

If I put in Motorkote, which adheres to the metal parts & pieces, it would seem to me that I would not be wanting to use Seafoam in my crankcase.

Am I off base here??

[Yammer Dan]

Use Sea-Foam to clean it good and then add the Motorkote.

[Condor]

If it has a spark plug and runs on gas I use Sea Foam.....

[Yammer Dan]

If it has a spark plug and runs on gas I use Sea Foam.....

 

 

 

What you paying out there now Jack? $9.95 at NAPA this week.

[Condor]

What you paying out there now Jack? $9.95 at NAPA this week.

 

It's been several months since I've bought any, but the last time I picked up a couple of cans is was around $7 bucks per. I generally buy 2-3 cans at a time....

[Yammer Dan]

Camp Fuel, Marvel Mystery Oil to give it the oil carrier? Make any sense?

About 2/3s Mystery oil 1/3 camp Fuel?

 

I don't know chemicals but that for some reason just sounds like it would work.

 

Wonder why Mom took that chemical set away from me in High School???