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Disposal Of Old Glow Fuel


Capt Kremen
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A fellow modeller who has not flown for some time due health issues, wishes to responsibly dispose of old, no longer viable, glow fuel.

This is a relatively small quantity, approx 2 plastic containers worth.

 

Local Domestic Refuse Centres vary in their acceptance terms and may levy disproportionate charges if the do accept fuel/oils etc.

 

What do i/c flyers do in this situation?

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it makes great weed killer on the path or driveway. 

 

You could also leave the bottle open and let the methanol evaporate off leaving just the oil which you can take to the tip

 

Or, keep hold of it for cleaning gummed up engines. Pour some out, slosh the engine around in it and go at it with an old toothbrush. far better than petrol or cellulose 

Edited by Jon - Laser Engines
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 Is it really effective as a weed killer ?  It doesn't seem to have any ill effects on the vegetation in areas where models are refuelled, started & tuned despite liberal amounts of fuel often being spilled in the proccess. 

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  • 1 month later...
On 13/07/2022 at 14:00, PatMc said:

 Is it really effective as a weed killer ?  It doesn't seem to have any ill effects on the vegetation in areas where models are refuelled, started & tuned despite liberal amounts of fuel often being spilled in the proccess. 

Not really sure about that comment. Not unusual to see while dead patches along the flight line. Now whether different oils or different nitro content makes a difference. Not model related but I have noticed in the garden that with expensive weed killer the grass on the patio is back in weeks but if you spill a drop of petrol filling the lawn mower that area is dead forever. Sod’s law I guess

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Old fuel seems to work better as weed killer. I've tried it with both old and new high percentage nitro.

 

 Presumably it's something to do with the molecular change due to age and hygroscopic properties of the fuel that enables it to be more easily absorbed by the plant and travel down to the roots as opposed to sitting on the leaves and only burning the surface. 

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43 minutes ago, gangster said:

...Not unusual to see while dead patches along the flight line. Now whether different oils or different nitro content makes a difference. ...

We used to fly on a sports field where the grounds-keeper was always complaining about "burnt" patches of grass, so the rule was we were to use drip trays if we were using nitro which was the main culprit.

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50 minutes ago, Graham Bowers said:

Why "no longer viable"? I didn't fly glow for a good while and am using 5% nitromethane 20% castor fuel that's over 10 years old with no problems.

Sorry Graham, but there will be members on here, now in A and E with hearts attacks since you mentioned castor and Nitro, My suggestion is that you go to church on Sunday or better still go this morning and start asking for forgiveness from them🤣 .In the mean time carry on using your fuel and enjoy the flying.

Edited by Jason Channing
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56 minutes ago, Paul De Tourtoulon said:

It's like wine, 10 years old and it is still a bit early to use, maybe the nitro has evaporated but still good to go.

 

Yep, I'm on my last gallon of some 10+ Southern Model Crafts 0% synthetic (I think it has 2% castor), looks like ribena, but the engines that don't need Nitro run just fine on it, namely some old Lasers and an OS AX55. I do dilute it a bit with some neat methanol just to get the oil content down a bit.

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6 hours ago, Jason Channing said:

Sorry Graham, but there will be members on here, now in A and E with hearts attacks since you mentioned castor and Nitro, My suggestion is that you go to church on Sunday or better still go this morning and start asking for forgiveness from them🤣 .In the mean time carry on using your fuel and enjoy the flying.

Think I may serve my penance at the flying field, if it's all the same to you 😉

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