"Huge" wrote in message
...
My Dad remembers (not sure if it's fondly) building fires underneath the
fuel tanks on (not UK) army diesels in the late 40s.

I've read of this trick being used to start diesels in the Arctic.

On the face of it, building a fire under a tank of diesel appears to be
about a stupid as the Gunpowder Plotters trying to dry damp gunpowder in
front of an open fire when they were cornered after 5 November (the
gunpowder exploded, killing and injuring several of them).

But diesel is a lot less flammable than petrol because it gives off much
less vapour that petrol, and it is the vapour, at the right petrol-air
mixture, which is most flammable. I've seen a flaming torch put into a tray
of petrol and then of diesel; the petrol ignites whereas the diesel does not
and may even douse the flame.

All the same, I'm not sure I'd want to take the risk...

At least modern diesels have tank, pipe and fuel pump heaters that allow a
bit more control over the heating. And there is now "winter diesel" which
contains a smaller proportion of the lighter fractions which turn waxy at
low temperatures.