Is it true that Diesel fuel & fuel oil are the same thing & if so I can burn fuel oil in my equipment. Since diesel is $4.50 Gal & I can buy fuel oil for 2.50...........Or has someone been blowing smoke :beatsme...Cheyenne
where you buying fuel oil for $2.50? i'll take a transport of it
:thumbsup
:yup The oil companies claim one or the other is cleaner, or more refined, or has been blessed by a wizard, or something; depending on which they are pushing. My Brother-in-Law was furious this winter because they made a delivery of off-road to his shop, then drove 150 yds and made a delivery of fuel oil to his house, without changing anything on the truck; When he got the bill, one was $1.55/ gallon more.
I belong to a co-op: Fuel Oil is $ 2.50 Propane is $ 2.01 The prices do fluctuate with the market & right now the market is high.......Cheyenne
Fuel oil and Diesel Fuel are not the same. Fuel oil looks and smells similar but the flash point is lower and closer to Kerosene. It is used for home heating because it burns cleaner and the gelling properties are lower. Our Winter Blended fuel is a ratio of 60-40 to prevent gelling and aid with starting, you can tell there is a power loss when you use it.
I think this is probably the most accurate answer! I've burned fuel oil in my off road equipment for 25 years with no fuel related problems provided I winterize it for cold weather. The off road diesel at work is the same exact red color as the fuel oil in my home heating tank. I have to be convinced they are different products.
The difference is the TAXES. If you burn heating oil in equipment or trucks you risk some very expensive fines.
I can understand a fine if you used fuel oil in a truck that's being used on the road but not if it's used in off road equipment like dozers or whatever.
The difference here in NY is heating oil has no sales tax where equipment fuel does. Road tax is an entirely different story:Banghead
here's a link to some info I found.......... http://www.enviroharvest.ca/dieselvsheating.htm
The lubricity is different in home heating oil and diesel fuel so you will wipe out you injection pump faster. You can add additives to help.
Now I'm more confused than I was before :Banghead.......Cheyenne
I always thought it went like this. From highest (most refined, filtered) to lowest grade (less refined, filtered) Kerosene, then #2 Diesel fuel, then home heating oil. I have run diesel fuel in my furnace for years, and have run kerosene in a diesel engine, without issue. But modern engine fuel injection systems have so much lower tolerance for impurities, lubricity, etc, i wouldn't use anything but "proper" diesel fuel in my stuff. But that's just me, i'm not a risk taker when it comes to my equipment.
Off road fuel, and heating fuel are the exact same. The only difference in them is what you wanna call them.
I found this on the U.S. Department of Energy Website......Diesel Fuel Oil & home heating oil are both Distillate Fuel Oils. The primary difference is that on road diesel fuel has a lower maximum Sulfur content & is subject to federal & state motor fuel taxes. Diesel has slightly higher cost. excluding taxes, than high sulfur distillate or home heating oil......SO......Now we know they are not the same thing.......The question now becomes can we burn high sulfur content home heating oil in off road equipment without any problems........:Banghead........Cheyenne
That's an easy question with two answers: For pre-2007 equipment, absolutely. For a hundred years, all diesel fuel was high sulfur, then in 2007 on-road fuel became low-sulfur (less than 500 parts-per-million). In 2010, off-road fuel became low-sulfur (less than 500ppm), and on-road became ultra-low-sulfur (less than 15ppm). There are actually several reasons that high sulfur fuel is better for older equipment. For newer equipment, I believe so, unless it has particulate filters or other advanced emissions equipment. Maybe someone that has more experience with newer stuff will speak up. I believe this to be a moot question, at least in the US southeast, because at the three distributors I have checked, it all comes from the same tank. The owner of one of them says that it is the standard practice here.
I have delivered thousands of gallons and it is all the same fuel. Even the heating oil is low sulfur now. Most distributors don't have the tank capacity to segregate it anyway. Where you have to watch out is in the bio blends as gelling problems are greater beyond B5. The kero will also run fine with a decrease in power. It is more noticeable in dozers and track loaders. I run a blend year round with minimal filter issues.
Speaking of Gelling... I'm new to diesel. At what tempuratures does one have to start worrying about buying Blended diesel or adding Anti Gel? Geeze, Diesel used to be teh cheap stuff, now , in New York it's priced higher then Premium gas. It's refined less than gas, how can this high price be possible?
I rarely have problems above 25* F, below that things can start to happen.
It has been real could here -10 to -20 below (f) We use lot's of diesal 911, every time we fill a tractor we hit it with a shot of the super juice. No problems and we always are running.
At last, a question on here that I can give an answer to. been around the stuff for twenty years,and can tell you that there is a difference in fuels, just not what the companies want you to believe. kerosene and #1 clear fuel are the same.#2 road fuel is the same as #2 red (ruby) just without the dye. both #2 fuels from our company have additives that decrease gelling tempertures ,increase cetane ratings and add a certain amount of lubricity . it is true that off road fuel is used for home heating and vice versa, only difference is the taxes paid. with that being said , you should not be caught with a dyed fuel in your road tractor or diesel dually, Uncle Sam frowns upon that ,and will make you regret it if caught.
Something I was wondering about, what is the disadvantage to winter fuel in the summer? Maybe lower energy content? My life experience has been coastal South Carolina, south and central Florida, and Surinam (tropical rainforest). I don't have much experience w/ fuel gelling.
in canada diesel is diesel. the only diference in marked and unmarked is the dye. the only difference in dyed road and heating is the tax. the only difference in winter blends and summer is the additives (antigel) and btu rating. cetane if you will. summer diesel can be used successfully here to around minus 20 celcius after that you better start looking for good antigel for the problems you will have. the way winter fuel thins up in the summer and the lower btus equals poor efficency. compare it to summer fuel you ll notice a huge difference. in western canada all diesel comes from the same tanks. in some locations thedye is added at the bulk plant, pumps, or truck with a dye injector. i dont immagine there is a whole lot of difference bellow the border. check with your supplier they ll let you know.
You guessed it Mitch, there's less energy in the winter fuel which means less power and higher fuel consumption. Around here it's cut with kerosene quite often which reduces BTUs significantly.
The home heating oil does not lubricate machinery as well, therefore it will mess up you're injector pump etc, you can add additives to enhance its lubrication properties and ive seen people putting the "one shot" 2 stroke oil into their tank. Also in my experience with machinery you can put a half a gallon of synthetic engine oil into a fuel tank before you fill it.. I would only suggest the engine oil if you refuel your machine daily.