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Home heating oil as a alternative fuel?

Dodgincones

Dodgincones

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I was chatting with a friend the other day (he's a mercedes diesel driver) and at some point in the conversation, he brought up the idea of using home heating oil as an alternative to diesel. It was explained that the BTUs are similar or higher, lubricity is higher and prices are lower. It is illegal though.....

I wanted to bring up the subject here to see if anyone else has entertained this idea....on an offroad vehicle (naturally). ;)
 
Do they dye home heating oil red?
And no, no more illegal than making your own biodiesel and skipping on highway fuel tax...
 
Home heating oil? I thought that was kerosine or #1.
What is the price? Is it just cheaper because of no road use tax?
 
Tax evasion... punishable by $10,000 fine and prison time....

Will it work? Yes if you make sure that the quality of the fuel is good and filtered very well. If you get just one bad tank you can grenade a motor.
More lubrication? Yes, no argument there.
More BTU's? Not sure but ULSD has a lower cetane value than #2

Would I recommend it? Absolutely not!
But it replaces diesel with no ill effects as long as you maintain the quality of the fuel, construction companies have been doing it for years in heavy equipment.
 
I haul fuel for a living every day, and I know for a fact that the ONLY difference is the red dye is added so that the DOT can tell the difference on the road in your tank, The red dye is there to say that the road tax has not been paid on the fuel. When I load a load of heating oil it is ULSD and dye is injected while loading. In my area, (south east) we don't have winter fuel and there is no more high sulfur diesel and hasn't been for several years now.

It is a very big fine if you get caught with red fuel in your tank on the hwy, about 3000.00$ here, even if you have a farm tag, if you are on the hwy, it's against the law here, but lots of people do it.

And just for info, gas is all the same, branded or unbranded, it comes out of the same tank, difference is the additive that is injected while loading, And the difference between 87 - 89 octane is more ethanol is added, buying 89 octane is a waist of money...

Chris
 
he said offroad so there is no problem running it. storage tank might have debris so run it through a 5-10 micron filter and smile.
 
For the record, Yes, it would be for "off highway" use only..... For the record, I never-ever exceed the posted speed limits and I never download copywritten material from the internet. ;)

I found some interesting discussions after posting the thread, much of it completely echos sctrailrider's comment. Lots of insight on the legal end of things, as well as firsthand accounts from heavy equipment users.
 
I can add one note to this just for info, you can mask the red dye buy adding some burnt oil to the tank, it turns the fuel black or very dark. If a DOT man checks you they drop a clear tube in the fuel tank and pull it out to see what color the fuel is, if they see the dark color, mention that your pump seal is bad and the fuel pump is sucking some oil from the motor and they will believe it, BUT if they happen to send the sample off to get tested the chemical will show up and they might send you a fine. I have been driving big rigs for 25 years and have only been checked once......

Chris
 
Second thing to do is go by a tranny shop and get a bag of empty tranny fluid jugs and keep them in the bed, if asked about the red color, say you use the tranny fluid for lube reasons due to the ULSD. I know that will fool them for a fact...

Chris
 
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I'm not saying I'm going to run the stuff exclusively....but I may try it for the long hauls we make.....gotta save beer money somehow!

Thanks for the tips!
 
Talking about the red dye got me to wondering. I, and many others, add TCW3 two stroke oil for lubricity. The stuff I get is a real dark blue color. Will TCW3 add color to your fuel? I've never checked it.

Don
 
I do the same. It mixes with the slight green tint ULSD, and get's a little darker, but not much. Definitely not red, that's for sure. :D
 
I don't have access to off road fuel...but I know "Stihl" 2 stroke oil in the orange bottle is dyed red

also IIRC Mobil 2 stroke oil if you can find it is dyed red...

stabil fuel stabilizer also has a red fuel stabilizer(non diesel) that they say may cause you some legal issues... so I guess you you could use that as an excuse on if using off road gasoline...

so you could always carry bottles of any of the above depending on your usage...
 
I heat with feul oil and it's painful when the tanker shows up. Last purchase was $3.515/gal on 1-4-12.. 14 years ago it was a DOLLAR a gallon....

There's dyed ULSD offroad diesel too.

It's all about the sulfer ppm... (and all about the money too)

Dyed #2 is usually home heat oil..
 
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