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Automotive smoke tester machine fluild for lionel smoke units

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Automotive smoke tester machine fluild for lionel smoke units
Posted by danielslionel on Monday, April 19, 2021 3:54 PM

Ok please forgive me if Im asking a bad ? 

BUT I also own a automotive repair shop  Napa Auto Parts sales  smoke fluild for what is know as a smoke machine evap tester  .. ( it heats up the minieral oil and makes smoke using a motor fan  like our postwar and newer fan driven  train units)

 

Anyways has any one else tried this it works GREAT! no differance in the way they both look the same... (lionel smoke fluild and this) nor the way it smells..

it cost @ 15.00 for 2 oz so it s not becuase of the price I bring this up..

 

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Posted by Flintlock76 on Monday, April 19, 2021 4:06 PM

I've heard of and seen videos of people using mineral oil as a smoke fluid.  If it works for you and causes no problems, great.  Personally though I'm a bit leery of using anything as a smoke fluid in toy trains not specifically made for the purpose. 

If others disagree with me, that's fine. 

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Posted by danielslionel on Monday, April 19, 2021 6:28 PM

HI! I know Lionel would keep the ingreadients top secrect!

(unless your kid accidently  drank it and the hospital would have to know.. terrible thought to get the formula  dont do it!)

anyways when you google lionel smoke fluild lots of topics claim that it is mineral oil...

 

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Posted by Flintlock76 on Monday, April 19, 2021 7:02 PM

danielslionel
anyways when you google lionel smoke fluild lots of topics claim that it is mineral oil...

Yeah, as you say the Lionel formula's a secret so I have no idea what's in it.  I CAN say that JT's Mega-Steam has water in it.  How do I know?  It freezes!  Doesn't bother me, I'm a happy user of JT's.  I like coffee flavor the best, it really smells like coffee! 

And as far as I know mineral oil's non-toxic, not that you'd want to drink a gallon of it or use it as part of a salad dressing.

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Posted by dlagrua on Thursday, April 22, 2021 3:54 AM

There are smoke machines and smoke testers that all generate smoke. I believe that some work on a glycerin based liquid while others work on a light mineral oil similar to baby oil. For the small amount of smoke fluid I use the commercail mega steam seems OK.

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Posted by Boyd on Tuesday, May 4, 2021 12:42 AM

On another forum someone posted a picture of his house that burned to the ground after he tried something else as smoke fluid, the engine caught on fire, the fire spread to the layout and the house. His insurance company denied the claim. 

Modeling the "Fargo Area Rapid Transit" in O scale 3 rail.

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Posted by danielslionel on Tuesday, May 4, 2021 1:54 PM

Your reply reminded me a  a story of a litle boy did , he made  a small steam engine to a wooden locomotive he had carved. The engine exploded, damaging his parents' kitchen !!!

 

HIs name was   Joshua Lionel Cowen 

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Posted by ADCX Rob on Tuesday, May 4, 2021 1:58 PM

Flintlock76
I CAN say that JT's Mega-Steam has water in it.  How do I know?  It freezes!




There is no water in JT's.  Freezing ability is not a test for water.

Rob

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Posted by marxalot on Tuesday, May 4, 2021 7:53 PM

Does anyone remember the smell of the original Marx smoke fluid? Man, I loved it. 8-) The fluid had to be some type on mineral oil I know but they added something to it to make the most pleasant aroma. Many years back I purchased an original green bottle of Marx smoke fluid that had some in it ............. but of course it did not have that aroma. 8-(    Sorry to digress....... a little.

Train ON!

Jim K

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Posted by rrlineman on Saturday, May 8, 2021 7:21 AM

To me, the old Life-Like smoke fluid smells like the Marx stuff. Only purple smoke fluid made !

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Posted by Flintlock76 on Saturday, May 8, 2021 7:46 AM

ADCX Rob

 

 
Flintlock76
I CAN say that JT's Mega-Steam has water in it.  How do I know?  It freezes!

 




There is no water in JT's.  Freezing ability is not a test for water.

 

 

OK, but something  in the stuff froze!  Any ideas what it is?

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Posted by ADCX Rob on Sunday, May 9, 2021 5:59 PM

Flintlock76
OK, but something  in the stuff froze!  Any ideas what it is?



Kerosene, jet A & A-1, jet B, mineral oil, #1 - #6 fuel oils, bunker oil, they all freeze.

Rob

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Posted by Flintlock76 on Sunday, May 9, 2021 8:29 PM

ADCX Rob

 

 
Flintlock76
OK, but something  in the stuff froze!  Any ideas what it is?

 



Kerosene, jet A & A-1, jet B, mineral oil, #1 - #6 fuel oils, bunker oil, they all freeze.

 

 

When temps are in the 20's?  Not trying to get into a whizzin' contest here but with the exception of mineral oil, which I've never had any experience with, I've never seen any of the others freeze, and produce ice crystals as well. J-T's comes in a clear plastic bottle and I can see the ice when it's frozen. 

In that vein, maybe I should just "Let It Go?" 

Sing it girls!   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3p0-xusH7Hg  

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Posted by Snip on Sunday, May 9, 2021 8:35 PM
Diesel fuel #2, olive oil, lamp oil; "gel" at cold temperatures. I wouldn't call that the same as freezing. (Am I splitting hairs?)
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Posted by Flintlock76 on Sunday, May 9, 2021 8:38 PM

Snip
Diesel fuel #2, olive oil, lamp oil; "gel" at cold temperatures. I wouldn't call that the same as freezing. (Am I splitting hairs?)
 

No you're not, in my opinion anyway.  Gelling and/ or getting sluggish and flowing poorly isn't quite the same as freezing.

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Posted by marxalot on Saturday, May 15, 2021 5:32 PM

Thanks for the info. Might have to try and locate some.

 

Jim K

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