diesel fuel in a home fuel oil furnace?

[Paul M. Eldridge]

I've never laid eyes on the stuff myself, but its been described to me as the scrapings from the bottom of the barrel.... with a viscosity not unlike that of asphalt. ;-)

Cheers, Paul

[Edwin Pawlowski]

We used to burn it where I worked years ago. It had to be delivered hot (IIRC, about 125) in order to drain from the tanker truck. We'd start the boilers on #2 oil and a steam probe from the boiler into an intermediate tank heated it to a pumpable oil. Another pump circulated that back into the 10,000 gallon #6 tank to keep it warm. More difficult to burn, it was much cheaper to buy and has a higher Btu per gallon compared to #2.

[Paul M. Eldridge]

Hi Edwin,

The major hospitals and universities in downtown Halifax burn Bunker C, as does the Tuft's Cove GS located on the Dartmouth side of the harbour. Our natural gas distributor is currently extending its pipeline into the downtown core to serve these loads, so thankfully, a little less of this crap will make its way up the stack. Unfortunately, the situation with Nova Scotia Power wouldn't likely change anytime soon, as the utility prefers to sell off its allotment of natural gas to New England and thereby pocket the difference in the cost of these two fuels (personally, I wouldn't mind paying a little more for cleaner air, but obviously opinions differ).

Cheers, Paul

[Chris Lewis]

According to Paul M. Eldridge :

I had a summer job in an oil refinery, testing products in the lab. I don't think that refinery produced any bunker C, it all either went into asphalt (at the time, this refinery produced 85% of Ontario's road building asphalt, plus specialty asphalts/tars) or further processing for lube oil base stocks (at the time the most advanced lube production facility in North America).

[Harry K]

Hide quoted text -

Yep, You ain't a gonna see bunker C being delivered to homes. Any place that uses it (really big installations or ships) heats it before use.

Harry K

[nerys]

responding to

nerys wrote: Around here (Egg Harbor Nj)

Home Heating oil is $2.90 a gallon 100 gallon minimum plus delivery charge.

Diesel right down the street is $2.95

Off Road Diesel 1 mile down the road is $2.70 Diesel at same station $2.88

Wanna guess which I use in my heater? yes I have 2 5 gallon gas cans just for filling my tank.

here diesel has 64 cents of road tax added to it per gallon.

I want some heating oil company to explain to me why their oil is not 64 cents cheaper than diesel when they are precisely the same thing.

I would also love to know why those gas stations are allowed to rape you for off road diesel as THAT ALSO should be 64 cents cheaper than the price of diesel.

Grrr makes me so mad

=?ISO-8859-1?Q?=22Blattus_Slaf wrote:

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[jeff_wisnia]

Around here (Egg Harbor Nj)

I'm pretty sure that here in Taxachusetts there's some kind of flourescent dye added to heating oil which can be spotted when a diesel road vehicle is inspected if the owners have been "cheating" the tax man by running it on heating oil..

Jeff

[Pete C.]

Not fluorescent, just red dye and it's the same across the US. Heating oil / off-road diesel gets red dye to indicate it is not taxed and not allowed to be used in on-road vehicles, and on-road diesel is taxed and has no dye (clear to yellow). Other than the tax and dye, they are essentially both #2 diesel fuel, and the formula on both is adjusted in the winter in colder areas to reduce gelling.

[Steve Barker]

Around here (Egg Harbor Nj)

That "store bought" fuel may not wanna flow when it's 20 below. Heating oil is straight #1 diesel. You won't find that at the pump. And the mix you do find at the pump will not burn as hot and may cost you by using more and causing excessive build ups in the furnace.

[Steve Barker]

> Around here (Egg Harbor Nj)

Yes, any offroad (untaxed) diesel fuel is dyed red.

[Pete C.]

Heating oil is #2 diesel, not #1 (Kerosene). I have 34 years of experience with oil heat to confirm that.

Yes, actually you will. Kerosene #1 pumps are relatively common.

Sorry, you are entirely incorrect. #2 fuel oil and #2 diesel are exactly the same other than the red dye and taxes, #1 kerosene is always the same and has a little less BTU content per gal then #2, but that's about it. None of them will cause any sort of buildup any different than your normal heating oil.

[EXT]

Actually, you are wrong, in some areas. I contacted a number of oil companies regarding using home heating oil in a standby generator. The answers that I got back was that in some areas where they don't have enough volume to justify separate products they use standard diesel fuel for both. In other areas where there is a large demand for both products, they are different products. Diesel fuel for engines has higher standards and specifications to meet, especially in the cetane rating (Similar to octane rating in gasoline) as the engine must be protected for long life. In these areas the heating oil is a low grade product as it is only intended to burn in a furnace, so they will sell you some poor quality crap that is not as refined. So diesel will be fine for your furnace, but heating oil may damage your engine. Red dye is added to heating oil and to off-road diesel for use in farm tractors and/or construction equipment, and this is what I ordered for my standby generator.

[Steve Barker]

i WASN'T going to try to explain it to him. after all, he does have twenty seven some years experience jockeying fuel around. (like that makes him an expert).

[George]

Actually they haven't been since sometime in the 1990s when low sulfur diesel (500ppm) was mandated. Then about 3 years ago ULSD (15ppm sulfur) was mandated for on road diesel fuel. My buddy has a liquid fuels business and they try to dedicate one truck for hauling it because if you haul say #2 heating oil the residual can be enough to raise the sulfur content beyond the ULSD spec.

[Pete C.]

I'm not sure where those areas may be. I lived in CT where oil heat is the norm for 34 years and all the area suppliers supplied #2 that was the same as the on-road #2 other than the taxes and dye. Certainly more than enough demand there for separate products is there were such a thing. Now some big commercial buildings did use lower grades of fuel, but those also have other grade numbers, i.e. #4, not #2.

[Pete C.]

Please note exactly where in the US the home heating oil is normally something other than #2. I lived 34 Years in CT where oil heat is the norm and every area supplier supplied #2 that was the same as the on-road #2 other than taxes and dye. Only big commercial buildings used lower grade fuel and those have other grade numbers like #4.

[ronyaker]

------------------------------------- you can sidestep the taxes by buying off-road diesel. same as no. 2 diesel i'm told (has the same red dye) but no sales tax. today i got 100 gallons at $2.599, compared to 3.099 for road fuel (no dye). i did this after i called local fuel distributor who was charging 2.799 a gallon, plus sales tax (came to 305, or almost the same as road-priced fuel). in other words, the delivery guy hits you for about 40cents per gallon as a delivery fee. i use two 55-gallon drums which i got for free from a jiffy-lube shop, strapped to a 6x10 trailer. i use a manual-crank pump which i got for about $35 at harbor freight. it helps that i live close to a rural township with farmers around who need this for their tractors and such. may be harder to find in more-urban areas. final result: $50 savings plus/minus, for about an hour's effort.

[ronyaker]

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offroad diesel is about 55 cents cheaper than road fuel in my state, also doesn't pick up sales tax or delivery surcharge that the oil guys hits you with. i d.i.y. mine for about $50 savings per 100 gallons, takes about an hour, 2 55-gal drums and a handcrank pump.

[peterschmidt452]

Heat oil 1.22 litre plus hst. Deasel 1.17 litre at local gas bar! Wtf...

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