Is #2 home heating oil identical to #2 diesel fuel?

[Snatchface]

Had a chat with my mechanic and he informed me that these two fuels are actually the exact same thing. He said that they are priced differently because of extra taxation on motor vehicle use. He recommended that I keep a drum in the garage and have them fill it when they come to deliver heating fuel for the house. Is this true?

 

[DK35vince]

Had a chat with my mechanic and he informed me that these two fuels are actually the exact same thing. He said that they are priced differently because of extra taxation on motor vehicle use. He recommended that I keep a drum in the garage and have them fill it when they come to deliver heating fuel for the house. Is this true?

Yes its true.
Its priced differantly due to sales tax for use in off road vehicles.
(its against the law to use off road diesel on highway vehicles).
There is no sales tax on home heating oil.

 

[MikePA]

Had a chat with my mechanic and he informed me that these two fuels are actually the exact same thing. He said that they are priced differently because of extra taxation on motor vehicle use. He recommended that I keep a drum in the garage and have them fill it when they come to deliver heating fuel for the house. Is this true?

The same question has been asked in a thread 2/3 down this forum. Off Road vs Home Heating The answer is NOT absolute because it depends where you live. In SOME areas of the country, they are the same. In other areas they are not. The only way to know for sure is to call your fuel oil distributor, not go by what your local mechanic says.

 

[DieselPower]

The answer is yes and no. It depends on the distributor. Some sell the same thing while others use two different fuels. Diesel fuel will also frequently have additives added to it where HHO will not.

 

[cp1969]

HHO would have no requirement to meet any cetane level at all; no requirement to meet any lubricity standard; and no requirement to meet any detergency standard for keeping injectors clean.

You might get lucky and have the HHO meet all three by accident, and that's what it would be--an accident. Because nobody is checking it for those things which are important for diesel engines.

 

[Snatchface]

Thanks for the responses. I was not aware that this was a repost - and I actually did scan through 4-5 pages of threads before posting. From reading I had done here earlier I was under the impression that additive packages to diesel in the US were middling to poor at best as it is - hence the need for aftermarket additives. Would an aftermarket product such as Stanadyne or PS make up the difference?

 

[MikePA]

To repeat, if your fuel oil distributor says off road and HHO are the same in your area, you don't need to add anything. If they are not, no OTC additive will make them the same. I'm not sure what posts made you think additive packages in the US are poor. I don't recall any posts indicating on road diesel fuel in the US is any better, or worse, than anywhere else. Additives are a popular, and repetitive, topic on TBN. For example, many people pour in an additive to prevent gelling in the winter, but that's because many people, like me, don't use much diesel and it's not unusual to buy the fuel in the spring/summer and still have it around come winter time.

 

[DieselPower]

Diesel fuel standards in the US actually are rather low if you look at it on a global scale. The US has one of the lowest lubricity standards there is, a HFRR of 520 micron. The EU (Europene Union) has a standard of 480 micron. Ideally it should be around 420 micron. Also, when the NCWM (National Conference on Weights and Measures) set the standard HFRR of 520 micron they REMOVED the Cummins L-10 Detergency Test. Fuel must also have a minimum cetane of 47, meet regional winter operability requirements (which it did a very poor job of this last winter) and pass the Thermal Stability Test with a minimum 80% reflectance.

 

[Snatchface]

Yeah...what he said.

So the bottom line I am getting here is that unless I can prove that they are identical, I should get the gas station stuff AND use an aftermarket additive.

 

[mboulais]

The fuel company I used before I moved also ran fuel stations. I am pretty sure they dyed the fule as they loaded the truck. Ask the delivery guy next time he's there. I've used both and only added aditives in cold weather (January on the Canadian border in northern NY).