Is It Nitro??

[Dan McEntee]

    I got a bunch of fuel from a local club member, and he mentioned that there was a gallon jug of nitro in the box of other jugs , and it wasn't marked, so watch out for it and don't try to run it in an engine by mistake. I went through the fuel and all the other jugs were as labeled, except for one. It was a Powermaster plastic jug, and had a GMA 5/22 label on it. The contents is clear, sorta looks like all castor fuel. It smells like fuel only stronger. GMA 5/22 as a 50/50 castor-synthetic mix, but I don't know what synthetic they used to know what color it would be. Can someone tell me what color Powermaster GMA 5/22 fuel was? Is there a back yard, barn yard method of telling if this is pure nitro? I'm thinking if I poured out a measure ounce or two and let it evaporate, and if it was fuel there would be oil left in the glass. If it is nitro, the glass would be empty and dry???  Watcha think??  Thanks a lot in advance!
   Type at you later,
    Dan McEntee

[Bob Matiska]

I bought a gallon of nitro a few years ago and noticed how heavy it was. Nitro has a specific gravity of about 1.14, so it's heavier than water. Castor is just under 1.0, while alcohol is about .8. So a gallon of nitro should be noticeably heavier than a gallon of most fuels. Wish I could help more; hopefully others can.

Bob in NEPA

[BillLee]

I bought a gallon of nitro a few years ago and noticed how heavy it was. Nitro has a specific gravity of about 1.14, so it's heavier than water. Castor is just under 1.0, while alcohol is about .8. So a gallon of nitro should be noticeably heavier than a gallon of most fuels. Wish I could help more; hopefully others can.

Bob in NEPA

To follow on ....

1. Get a 1000cc graduated cylinder.

2. Weigh it (accurately).

3. Fill it (accurately) with the fluid in question.

4. Weigh it again(accurately).

5. Subtract the weight of the empty cylinder.

6. Calculate the specific gravity.

That will tell you if it's nitro or some combination of alcohol/oil/methanol.

[Massimo Rimoldi]

Hi,
the method of calculating the specific weight is excellent, but you must have a very precise balance available.
Other checks you can do is:
1 Nitromethane is not much soluble in water, so you put a small amount of N in a glass and add a little water.
  The behavior is similar to a Water - oil mixture.
2 Nitromethane does not burn easily like alcohol, so you can put nitromethane in a teaspoon (a small amount) and bring the flame to a match.
   If it is nitro it will have difficulty in igniting and you will probably have to heat the spoon before the N ignites.
   If it is fuel it will obviously ignite as the flame approaches.

   It smells like fuel only stronger.

The smell of nitromethane is very characteristic, slightly bitter

Regards, Massimo

[Dave Hull]

I agree with Massimo on the smell test. Pure nitro--if that is what you have--has a pungent, bitter smell. For some reason, it kind of reminded me of well used gym shoes. Strong enough to make your eyes think about watering. Here in the states, you may be getting a nitro mix if you are buying today, but maybe not true everywhere?  And probably not if the stuff you got is old. I think there may be state laws or local laws that require stabilizing it to reduce the long term storage explosion hazard. I have heard that they add 20% alcohol to it. Bill probably could tell us more details. The last gallon I bought was Klotz, it was pure, and it is clear. And it smells really strong--nothing like mixed fuel!

Also, you said "a gallon jug" of nitro which left me with the question: what kind of jug?  I had heard that nitro should be stored in a light-proof container. If I recall correctly, exposure to light is one of the ways to sensitize it. But I could not confirm that by looking thru Dow's literature, so maybe this is a red herring floating around the hobby world.

References:

http://msdssearch.dow.com/PublishedLiteratureDOWCOM/dh_096d/0901b8038096dab3.pdf?filepath=productsafety/pdfs/noreg/233-00287.pd...&fromPage=GetDoc

[Tim Wescott]

Dunno what the old Powermaster fuel was like.  The new GMA 5/22 comes in a blue & white metal can, and it's clear.  Before that it was purple so dark it left stains on planes.  Before that, it was a pale pink (still the new stuff).

There's a story there; I don't know all of it, but I assume some zit-faced kid put in way too much coloring in one batch of fuel.  Members of the stunt community contacted Powermaster, and rather than just fixing their process & selling us light pink fuel they decided to leave the dye out altogether (which is fine with ME).  It's nice to have a company that's responsive to customer need.

[Brett Buck]

Dunno what the old Powermaster fuel was like.  The new GMA 5/22 comes in a blue & white metal can, and it's clear.  Before that it was purple so dark it left stains on planes.  Before that, it was a pale pink (still the new stuff).

There's a story there; I don't know all of it, but I assume some zit-faced kid put in way too much coloring in one batch of fuel.  Members of the stunt community contacted Powermaster, and rather than just fixing their process & selling us light pink fuel they decided to leave the dye out altogether (which is fine with ME).  It's nice to have a company that's responsive to customer need.

    That was me and several other contacting Tommy P.  at Powermaster. They ran out of red and tried the purple, but only tried it for staining on Monokote, not paint.  I got the first ever batch of clear, delivered immediately before the 2013 NATs, as I recall. All three versions from VP seem to run the same, and I freely interchange them. The Texas Allied Chemicals version has substantially less nitro, maybe 8% isntead of 10%. Full 10% put me right at the edge of making it through with my existing tank, but gives substantially more power, to the point I ended up on 10% even in Muncie for one of the more chilly NATs.

      Brett

[Chris Fretz]

Yes, on the water test. If it's pure nitro it will divide half and half. If it has alky the water will mix with the alky and the nitro/oil will separate telling you approximately what percentages you have.

Also, mixed fuel has more viscosity so if it smells like oil, leaves a residue and it's thicker probably not nitro.

You could try running it in an engine you don't care about. If it's pure nitro you'll probably know it even before the engine starts.

Congrats on scoring a ($65) gallon of nitro.

MM

Where do you get it for $65?

Chris

[Dan McEntee]

  Well thanks to all for the information. Don't know why I didn't think of a water test.  I was handed a local kart racing championship one season years ago when the guy ahead of me wasn't careful about where he bought his pump gas. This was late 70's and was the first go around of "gasahol."  Water and gas/oil mixture will separate right away but if there is alcohol in the mix it turns white and stays that way. My fuel passed, and his didn't!
  I put 2 ounces in a glass jar and then added 2 ounces of water. It immediately turned milky white. I shook it up and let it set. So far, it looks like something clear is settling on the bottom and the rest is still milky white. I'm thinking the stuff n the bottom is nitro, the rest alcohol and oil. The amount of clear stuff (nitro?) would be close to the labeled 5% on the label, so it I  think it must be what it's labeled, 5/22 GMA fuel. I'll try some in a beater model and see if it runs. With fuel the way it is getting price wise, if this stuff all runs I can use it up in my sport and foo-foo models and save the good stuff for contest airplanes and contests. I dod a lot of knocking around fun flying so it will get used up by myself and some friends.
   Thanks again!
   Dan McEntee

[mike londke]

65 plus shipping is about 78 which is what torco sells it for with "free" shipping.

  My local speed shop still sells Torco for $50 a gallon.