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Fuel for Tiki or Garden Torches

Tiki and garden torches are a fun and easy way to light up your backyard. The most critical component of any torch is its fuel. Picking the wrong fuel could very easily ruin your whole party! Probably the worst type of fuel you could use is petrol, or gasoline. Do not under any circumstances use gasoline in your torches.

The most common fuels for torches are kerosene, liquid paraffin, or Coleman fuel. Don’t be confused – kerosene is called paraffin in England, but in the US, paraffin means candle wax. Kerosene burns fairly bright with a smoky flame, and is generally quite safe.

Liquid candle wax (liquid paraffin or mineral oil) is one of the most recently developed torch fuels. It burns clean and bright – with little to no smoke – and is one of the safest torch fuels on the market right now.

Coleman fuel is the fuel used by the Coleman company for their portable stoves. It can be bought at any camping shop, or any department store with a sporting goods section. Coleman fuel burns readily with almost no smoke, and is well suited for daylight use if you prefer not to have a lot of smoke coming from your torches. Visible smoke is often not as much of a concern after sunset, as smoke is harder to see in the dark.

Alcohol is also sometimes used as torch fuel. The alcohol found in spirits (ethanol) burns with either a faint blue or colorless flame, making it fairly useless if you want the torches to provide light. Manufacturers add methanol to pure ethanol to make meths (methylated spirit, industrial methylated alcohol), which burn better than pure alcohol. The methanol is poisonous, and renders the alcohol undrinkable. Pure methanol should be avoided as a torch fuel. Rubbing alcohol should also not be used, simply because the flame it produces is so weak.

Charcoal lighter fluid or barbecue starter fluid is composed of many different forms of fuel depending on the brand. However, they can be used as torch fuel if nothing else is available. They produce a fairly smoky flame, but not as smoky as a kerosene torch.

Storing your fuel properly is just as important as choosing the right one. Fuel is best stored in a fuel canister with a secure lid, ideally a screw top. Petrol canisters or larger jerry cans are the best containers to use. Jerry cans are used for storing larger amounts of fuel than petrol canisters. Be sure to let the wick soak in the fuel before lighting, and take care not to get other parts of the torch wet. If you do, wipe the wet spots with a dry cloth before lighting. Make sure to always take care when setting up, fueling, and lighting your torches. If used properly and safely, torches make a wonderful addition to your garden.

Research taken from:

"What fuel should I use?" http://www.juggling.org/help/torches/fuel.html Accessed 5/16/2006