Here are copies of my emails with Blackstone for those that are interested. I'm not buying the fuel dilution issue response. They don't really address why they are so much lower than Horizon.
Thank you for the business over the years, and sorry about the delayed turnaround with recent samples.
I asked our president, Ryan Stark, about your fuel dilution questions. To paraphrase, no, we do not plan on using GC for fuel dilution testing any time soon. Since they are two different methods (flashpoint and GC), it's not unusual for differences in readings to show up. We don't know what a problem level of fuel is with the GC, but if we're reporting fuel at less than 0.5%, then it's not a problem for your engines.
If you have any further questions please don't hesitate to ask.
Take care,
Luke Miller
Blackstone Labs
Hi,>Just trying to figure out what's going on with my sample. I've been >with you guys a very long time and it seems like it's taking longer >and longer every time to process my samples after you guys receive >them. We are now up to almost 3 weeks after you guys received my >sample. That is unacceptable to me, Are you guys short staffed? I >also find it strange that according to USPS tracking, my sample >arrived at Blackstone on 10/27, but on your website it shows you >guys "unpacked" the sample on 11/6. Still no results back, I have >had to use Horizon Labs recently because you guys take way too long >to process samples. They process samples and report back within two >days of receipt and the cost is slightly cheaper. I think I may be >switching permanently to them if things don't change. When will my >sample be processed?
Good morning Steve,
We're working on building another lab, hiring more analysts, etc. Getting everything ready takes a lot of time. We've only recently (about 6 months or so) been extremely busy. We thought it was the typical seasonal change but as we're heading into winter- it still hasn't eased. We expect that we're simply getting much busier as a business and we're only about 35 employees at the moment.
Your sample is here and is getting checked in. You should see your test results via email sometime around 5-6 business days. Right now the full turnaround is about 16-18 business days. Please be sure to check your spam/junk folder as we've been having that issue occasionally. Please let us know if you have any other questions/concerns.
Thanks,The Blackstone Team
Hi Steve,Thanks for the reply. One more question I have for you is do you have any plans on switching to the GC method to test fuel dilution or are you going to continue to use the flashpoint method? I have sent the same oil sample to both Blackstone and Horizon on a few occasions, mainly because Horizon won't do particle counts on used engine oil, and I have found Blackstone's fuel dilution numbers to be substantially lower than Horizon every time! Horizon uses the GC method to test for fuel dilution. On my 7/21/23 Subaru engine oil sample sent to both labs, you guys showed Thanks,
Steve
Thank you for the business over the years, and sorry about the delayed turnaround with recent samples.
I asked our president, Ryan Stark, about your fuel dilution questions. To paraphrase, no, we do not plan on using GC for fuel dilution testing any time soon. Since they are two different methods (flashpoint and GC), it's not unusual for differences in readings to show up. We don't know what a problem level of fuel is with the GC, but if we're reporting fuel at less than 0.5%, then it's not a problem for your engines.
If you have any further questions please don't hesitate to ask.
Take care,
Luke Miller
Blackstone Labs