Selling kerosene? Kerosene heater?

November 9, 2020 10:31 AM

Due to strange circumstances, I'm the owner of 10 gallons of just-opened kerosene and a kerosene heater, and I want to get rid of all of it. Ideas on how to sell these?

I can try selling it on Craigslist or Facebook and that's what I'll do if there are no better ideas. But maybe there's some places that are always eager for kerosene and I can get in touch with them directly.

I do want to get rid of the kerosene soon, because I think once opened it will start to absorb water from the air and start to go bad.

If I can't sell it, I'm OK with giving it away. If I can't give it away I'll dump it. If you have reason to suspect that I'm going to end up dumping it, I'll take advice on where I can go to do that (legally, safely, etc).

posted by mattu to Home & Garden (8 answers total)

Where are you located? If you are in the U.S. your city should have a drop off spot for hazardous materials where they’ll accept the kerosene.
posted by corey flood at 10:33 AM on November 9, 2020

With the fall coming, it may be that a local restaurant with an outdoor patio would be interested.
posted by mhoye at 10:51 AM on November 9, 2020

I kind of hope these places don't use kerosene heaters, but you could call local shelters/services for unhoused people or domestic violence intervention and see if they use it for emergency heating shelters or similar.
posted by Lyn Never at 10:56 AM on November 9, 2020

Drop by your local fire station / firehouse. I bet they have some ideas regarding "I wish people would ___ with these things, instead of ___ ". They might also be aware of where it might do some real good as a functioning donation.
posted by bartleby at 11:59 AM on November 9, 2020

Fb marketplace and craigslist are the sites people sell on locally. Post several pictures and a good description.
posted by theora55 at 12:41 PM on November 9, 2020

Point of order, the kerosene will not "go bad" once opened. I assume that by "opened" you just mean that the container seal has been broken, not that you are storing it in an open container exposed to the elements, which is not good for a multitude of obvious reasons. Kerosene is not hygroscopic and is a stable compound.

If you don't care about money, just put it up on FB or CL for free and leave it on the curb. Someone will come get it, they always do.
posted by dudemanlives at 6:20 PM on November 9, 2020

I'd just put it up on CL Free Stuff and be done with it. IMO the amount of money you'll get is not worth the frustration of dealing with flaky CL buyers.

My experience is that when I've given something away, people are gracious and show up and take stuff away. When I have tried to sell things, it inevitably turns into a multitude of no-shows, haggling, lowballers, people who want to trade stuff, people who want stuff shipped, etc.

If you don't care about the money, just give it away and save yourself the trouble.
posted by Kadin2048 at 9:56 AM on November 10, 2020

To dispose of kerosene, many car repair shops and big time car parts stores will take it for recycling free of charge. Kadin2048's suggestion is good too. For giving away stuff for free, there's freecycle too.
posted by dlwr300 at 1:31 PM on November 10, 2020