off road diesel in your home oil burner

[Oldtom]

A few years ago I was underemployed. I could not always afford to fill my oil burner tank. The local fuel oil dealers charged a stiff premium for small deliveries ( cannot blame them, they have to stay in business ) I started buying 25 gallons of off road diesel when I got paid and dumping it into my tank. I live in a farm community so off road diesel was cheaper than heating oil most years. The heating oil dealers have to maintain a specialized truck and carry lots of insurance. I had my old Toyota and 5 cans. The heater ran fine and I could not tell any difference. A lot of folks are underemployed nowadays. I thought this might help someone.

 

[daman]

Yup, Red or clear road fuel can be used, I do it all the time.

 

[Wolf359]

Yeah, you could use regular diesel too, basically the same as home heating oil. I see around here sometimes people convert to gas and then they try to get rid of the old oil on craigslist. Of course home heating oil in a diesel also works, but that's illegal because the road tax wasn't paid and it has a dye so if you're ever caught, it's a big fine.

 

[bullwinkle]

AFAIK, off road diesel and home heating oil are the same thing? For a while, HHO wasn't ULSD, but I think they're all the same now.

 

[dnewton3]

fuel for home heating does not have the additives that vehicle driving fuels have (lubricity agents, etc). Hence - it's fine to use on/off road fuel for home heating, but not a good idea to use home fuel oil for vehicles.

 

[eljefino]

on topic, does winterized off-road diesel have essentially the same BTU content? IOW is the winterization an anti-gel additive or a bunch of kerosene (which lowers BTUs) mixed in? Regular #2 home heating oil doesn't need the winterization since it sits in basement tanks. I am in a situation where my oil dealer made the news for terribleness and other dealers are barely able to service their own customers, so I'm dumping 5 gallons per day in my tank to buy more time.

 

[SZR48207]

Off-road diesel must be the same as the Kerosene pumps I see at rural gas stations around here.

 

[eljefino]

Originally Posted By: Reddy45

Off-road diesel must be the same as the Kerosene pumps I see at rural gas stations around here.

Nope! But, here, we often find a dealer of one to sell the other as well. They can have above-ground tanks as long as there's a concrete berm.

 

[Donald]

Its all ULS these days. HHO has a dye. It does not need to be blended with kerosene for winter like diesel does. I do believe they sell a HHO blend for people (mainly trailers) who have an outdoor oil tank. Mainly the off road has less taxes.

 

[Audios]

I usually throw a bottle of diesel 911 in when getting a heating oil delivery, my heating tank at the shop is outside as well, and it froze up on me about 2 weeks ago. I bought a small block heater, put it on a timer, and added 2 layers of pipe insulation for the feed line into the building. This weekend it was -1 and the shop was 50 degrees all weekend.

 

[Delta]

I guess it varies per area. Heating oil is cheaper than off-road diesel, even delivered. Unfortunately with the cold snap both has shot up $.30 a gallon.

 

[mk378]

Furnaces with a low firing rate such as in mobile homes tend to work better with a lighter oil like kerosene or blend. But the BTU per gallon is less. Kerosene is 120,000 btu/gal and #2 or diesel is 140,000.

 

[Linctex]

Small oil companies don't have separate HHO and ORD anymore. There's only two: Dyed and undyed, and that's probably the way it will all become eventually.

 

[Andrew1972]

The excess demand locally due extreme cold temps for New England coupled to holidays have left home owners resorting to self fill. Oil delivery companies cannot keep up for will call customers. Even auto delivery folks run out but the start up prime work is on the oil company instead of homeowner.

 

[SHOZ]

Been like that for me since 1980. They use to to have to insist on #2 and then I would add my own additive. But I always suspected and was confirmed one year that they also added. Never saw any jelling problems even at -20F.