diesel fuel in a home fuel oil furnace? FAQ

Correct. That was my point too.

Back when I did service work, if you were our cutomer and you ran out during the middle of the night, *I* would show up with two 5 gallon cans of either deisel or K1 (kerosene).......

Not quite. Now the other way around (using #2 heating oil in a diesel car) might be too dirty.

The same applies to heating oil sold in the same climate since some folks have outdoor above ground oil tanks just as vulnerable to gelling as a vehicle.

Kerosene is the general equivalent of #1 fuel oil, also. I use the #1 from my furnace all the time to run my Reddy heater.

Then you need to get a mind of your own and stop parroting. Way too much of that around here lately and much of it is misinformation.

heating oil IS #1 diesel.

Not necessarily. Sometimes it's #2 diesel. Sometimes it's a mix of the two. And sometimes it's #2 with additives to keep it from getting thick a colder temps.

(One effect of the above is that if you buy heating oil in bulk it is *essential* to make sure the supplier is aware that fuel bought in the summer will be stored and used in the winter. Otherwise it is possible to get a great deal on "summer grade" stove oil, and have a tank full of jelly come cold weather.)

Moreover, Both #1 and #2 "diesel" are regionally defined, with each refinery deciding exactly what they will sell under those names.

No

Not here in CT. It is #2

It is done much differently. They don't blend the oil and offer "heating oil" except at point of delivery if that is what you specify. They sell #1 or #2 for home use and if they have never delivered to you they will ask if you have an outside tank. If so they will flag your account as requiring #1.

Or they put in an additive for the #2. Many places around here do not do #1

#1, #2, the question was "can i use diesel in home heating". #1. or #2. it's still diesel. And i doubt your's is #2 in that climate.

Our local dealers (Halifax, N.S.) stopped offering #1 three or four years ago and this caused problems for folks with oil stoves/space heaters; in most cases, a simple carburetor adjustment did the trick, but in a few instances, homeowners were completely out of luck.

Interestingly, low sulphur heating oil may offer superior low-temperature performance; to whit:

".... Don Allen, Jr., President of E.T. Lawson, says his technicians are discovering clear evidence that the amount of scaling in low sulfur-burning furnaces is comparatively less than systems used with regular #2 oil. The corporation is so convinced of low sulfur oil advantages that it guarantees that the oil will not gel, wax, ice, or sludge; otherwise, the company promises to clean the entire heating system for free and refund the cost of the tune-up...."

Source:

Delivery slip says #2

When I was in Italy it was common to use diesel in home heating burners. Sells for the same high price as heating oil. In mild climates people can buy five or ten gallons at a time that way.

All my meter slips for heating oil delivery in northwest CT list "#2 Fuel" in the product field.

I knew some folks years ago, who often ran out of fuel oil. They were upset that the water heater didn't work dependably, so they replaced it. Instead of having the oil tank filled. They were idiots, for sure. I poured a lot of five galon cans of diesel or kero into their tank for a while.

I can totally believe that. One friend of mine moved into a trailer, and doesn't yet know how to check the gages. Ran out of propane on Saturday, and called for fuel. The truck got there Thursday. She got to live in one room with electric heater those couple days.

According to George :

At the refinery, there's rather more than that - I had a summer job at a refinery testing the raw feeds straight off the distillation and cracker units. At the one I worked, they had "heavy" and "light", in diesel, kerosene, naptha and gasoline - and there was some considerable crossover and confusion about nomenclature (the specs are what matter not what they call it) especially at the gasoline end.

The light and heavy kerosenes/diesels/napthas were pretty consistent straight off the units and were mixed in relatively fixed proportions to make each of the desired final products with their own naming conventions (#1 diesel etc).

The light and heavy gasolines were all over the map (some lights were so light they'd boil in your hand from skin temperature alone), and the results of mixing had to be tightly monitored to attain the proper properties. Then of course there's all the stuff about octane ratings...

According to Paul M. Eldridge :

As I recall, Bunker C is also considerably heavier than regular diesel fuel. Even at only modest temperatures, it has to be preheated to get it to flow.