Illegal to use #2 Heating Oil in Machinery in MA

[timalabim]

Just got off the phone with my Oil dealer. He says that recent laws (at least in MA) prohibit using anything other than Low Sulphur on-road diesel in machinery. I was planning on setting up an aux. 30 gal tank for the fill up when I get my oil delivered, but now I guess I'm back to saving receipts and applying for the tax rebate for non-road usage.

[MrJimi]

What is wrong with putting 30 gallon container in your PU and get it filled ? and do whatever you want with it later Shh

[257NH]

I would either do what jimi says or find a dealer who carries off road diesel and not let the state hold any of my money for any length of time.

[MrJimi]

I pay for on road diesel and I put it in 5 gallon jugs in my PU and I hate transfering it, just a few drops on clothes will stink diesel for about 4 washings and a permanent stain, there has to be a better, easier way

[kevinj]

Originally Posted by MrJimi

I pay for on road diesel and I put it in 5 gallon jugs in my PU and I hate transfering it, just a few drops on clothes will stink diesel for about 4 washings and a permanent stain, there has to be a better, easier way

Nothin' better than the smell of diesel!!!!!!!!!!!

I have a 55 gal drum with pump that I take to the station and fill. Still have the risk of a diesel stain but that is what work clothes are for

[Ductape]

Get a 110 transfer pump and pump it out of your heating oil tank after they deliver it. Just have the pump somewhere the delivery driver can't see it.

As a side note...... i find it difficult to believe your current heating oil is not dyed ULSD at this time.

[Iowachild]

I am going to pass along some information that people may or may not be interested in and with the qualifier that I am only speaking of the fuel that comes from the refinery that I work for.

Home heating oil is a very different product from ULSD. It still has a relatively high sulfur content, I cannot say for sure the exact ppm but it is higher that even LSD was. Many years ago you could say home heating oil and diesel fuel were the same. NOT ANY MORE! It also has the addition of a yellow marker dye that is not visible to the naked eye which became required by some government agency. It requires some sort of scanner to ascertain if it is in the fuel. The dye is called Unimark. (Scroll down the page to find Uinmark) The bill of laden for home heating oil clearly states it is not to be used as any sort of motor fuel.

All of our off-road diesel fuel is ULSD with the addition of the visible red dye.

I will also say when we switched our distillate hydrotreater over in April 2006 to make ULSD instead of LSD it required a large financial investment in equipment modifications and a change of catalyst in the reactor. I can not remember what I heard the new catalyst cost, but it was very, very expensive. We are shutting down the DHT again in two weeks to change the catalyst again as it has reached the end on its useful life. For comparison, the catalyst used to make LSD had a life of 10 to 12 years and was not as expensive. What I am saying is the government requirement to make diesel fuel with 15 ppm or less sulfur is most likely the reason diesel fuel costs so much more than gasoline now.

Hopefully some of you find this helpful.

[Z-Michigan]

Very interesting info Mike, thank you.

[WeedHopper]

The other reason ULSD costs so much more is the process used to remove the sulfur simply replaces the sulfur ions in the fuel with hydrogen ions. The crux is that the hydrogen ions have to come from somewhere and at most refineries they come from natural gas. So, the refinery has to buy natural gas not only to fuel their furnaces and boilers but to provide hydrogen for their hydrotreater. On top of this, they used to be able to sell the sulfur they extracted from crude but now there is so much of it the market has gone to **** and they may have to start paying to dispose it. "There ain't no free lunch."

Originally Posted by Iowachild

I am going to pass along some information that people may or may not be interested in and with the qualifier that I am only speaking of the fuel that comes from the refinery that I work for.

Home heating oil is a very different product from ULSD. It still has a relatively high sulfur content, I cannot say for sure the exact ppm but it is higher that even LSD was. Many years ago you could say home heating oil and diesel fuel were the same. NOT ANY MORE! It also has the addition of a yellow marker dye that is not visible to the naked eye which became required by some government agency. It requires some sort of scanner to ascertain if it is in the fuel. The dye is called Unimark. (Scroll down the page to find Uinmark) The bill of laden for home heating oil clearly states it is not to be used as any sort of motor fuel.

All of our off-road diesel fuel is ULSD with the addition of the visible red dye.

I will also say when we switched our distillate hydrotreater over in April 2006 to make ULSD instead of LSD it required a large financial investment in equipment modifications and a change of catalyst in the reactor. I can not remember what I heard the new catalyst cost, but it was very, very expensive. We are shutting down the DHT again in two weeks to change the catalyst again as it has reached the end on its useful life. For comparison, the catalyst used to make LSD had a life of 10 to 12 years and was not as expensive. What I am saying is the government requirement to make diesel fuel with 15 ppm or less sulfur is most likely the reason diesel fuel costs so much more than gasoline now.

Hopefully some of you find this helpful.

[gemini5362]

Originally Posted by timalabim

Just got off the phone with my Oil dealer. He says that recent laws (at least in MA) prohibit using anything other than Low Sulphur on-road diesel in machinery. I was planning on setting up an aux. 30 gal tank for the fill up when I get my oil delivered, but now I guess I'm back to saving receipts and applying for the tax rebate for non-road usage.

Actually I am thinking that I would set me up a spare 30 gallon tank for my shop heater. As long as he is filling up a tank with heating oil what you do with it should not be his problem. If it is too much of a problem for him I would maybe look for another dealer if you have that option.