I have a MSR Dragonfly stove and a friend recently bought one too. He told me he was practicing lighting it with kerosene because he thought it would be safer because it wouldn't flash so easily and the burn time is actually longer with it.

Price checking at mills fleet farm, you can buy white gas for $8.49/gallon and kerosene for $3.29/gallon.

Other than the pre-heat ritual, is there a downside to using kerosene?
H

Humdinger,

I have the same stove as you so I can comment. Kerosene will burn a lot dirtier than white fuel, since white fuel is pretty much ultra purified gasoline. You may experience more clogs and more soot. Also kerosene has less heat output than white fuel so you'll be cooking longer with it (that might outweigh the benefit of a longer burn time). I guess I've never had an issue lighting my stove where the fuel blew up in my face. In fact, usually the flame isn't much higher than 2-3 inches out of the burner initially. Just limit the amount of fuel you use to preheat and open the valve a little to add more if you need to warm up the jet more.

Also, remember with the Dragonfly you need to swap jets to use Kerosene if you choose to do so.

Ditto with Walleye6. I use the same stove and always run whitegas through it. It just is a more cleaner filtered fuel.

I always use white gas. It is more expensive, but how much do you actually burn in a year. To me, the performance is worth the price difference.

White gas is much cleaner to burn than Kerosene.

White gas user here.

well the guys across the pond in the UK will disagree with you on this. have a look at Classic Camp Stoves,over there they call Coleman fuel,white gas,the devils fuel.kero, as they loving call it, will not burst into a ball of flame if a no return valve in a pump fails or a spill catches a spark.as far as throwing out the heat they will put a kero stove with a roaring burner up against any white gas stove.check out the boil time/tea tests they have.now having said that i use Coleman fuel on canoe trips because kero is greasy and hard to clean up and i don't like the smell of the raw stuff.when it burns there is little or no odors and if your stove is running right no soot will be left on the pots.Primus stoves with silent burners were used in homes all over Europe until Town Gas was installed.they made all sort of accessories for those stoves,like coffee bean roasters!.the old Classics are still used,i take mine on car camps and the newer ones made in Korea have mini blow torch pre heaters and fuel gauges.
here are a few photos of my Classic kero burners.

the flame on the two burner is sort of yellow but i had just finished some work on it and it was still getting up to speed.

MSR International, white gas. Other possible advantage, white gas may eventually evaporate and not stink as long as kero in the case of a spill.

Given the option, I'd just go White Gas and be done with it. For the little amount of gas you'll go through, is $5.00 per gallon spread over an entire camping season (or more) really a big deal? Probably not.

However, the Dragonfly will burn kerosene just fine. In fact, it burns longer than White Gas based on the specs on the MSR website. Maybe kerosene will burn dirtier, but the stove is still designed to burn it.

MSR Dragonfly stoves

And you think kerosene is safer? By how much? White gas has been used in the Dragonfly, Whisperlite and other MSR stoves, not to mention countless other brands, for as long as they all have been made. What's the big deal?

And you think kerosene is safer? By how much? White gas has been used in the Dragonfly, Whisperlite and other MSR stoves, not to mention countless other brands, for as long as they all have been made. What's the big deal? "

I'll add some clarification here. We both help out with boy scouts or inexperienced adults and sometimes it is better to be cautious and safe. I know I had to stop one adult from lighting my dragonfly when he had the bowl flooded with white gas that would have lit up like an Olympic torch.

Having said that, I bought my dragonfly because it was wide and supported big group kettles well. Never even thought about using kerosene because my second stove is white gas only.

quote Humdinger: "We both help out with boy scouts or inexperienced adults and sometimes it is better to be cautious and safe."

I'm a Boy Scout leader as well and know where you're coming from. Just like in anything, though, educating and operating under observation is the key. Thankfully, you caught the adult doing something wrong before the thing became a head-high fire, but a little instruction goes a long way. You work with Scouts so I know you know that already.

Properly used, it's hard to go wrong with a white gas stove.

White gas for me.
I save the kero for use in irish car bombs and molotov cocktails. Remember to soak the rags.