Off road diesel - How do you find locations?

[LD48750]

Is there a good rule of thumb for how quickly you need to turn over fuel? A big drum would be convenient, but I want to be rational about it.

Think back a few years to when fuel oil (same as diesel) was the preferred heating source for homes.
People had 250 Gal tanks outside their homes and had no problems with them.
A simple water filter on the outlet changed once a year should be fine.

 

[clemsonfor]

Just curious, how likely is it that someone would be caught using the off road in an on road vehicle? I cannot imagine a cop taking the time to check every time they pull over a diesel pickup....different if we are talking tractor-trailer rigs. I don't have or plan to have an on-road diesel vehicle, so this is pure hypothetical for me.

I wouldn't bother, personally. For the relatively low amount of diesel I expect to use, I will pay the additional tax. That being said, if it is convenient, I'll use the cheaper stuff.

Is there a good rule of thumb for how quickly you need to turn over fuel? A big drum would be convenient, but I want to be rational about it.

Its not often but I have heard, and also I had a logger working for me have a dually pulled over and they dipped the tank. They don't go after big trucks usually I think it's more the age trucks and the mid size vehicles like hot shot truckers which is basically if I remember right what they pulled over for my guy. Think he was hauling logs on a smaller flatbed type equipment trailer that or it was a bobcat, it was 10 years or so ago and I just don't remember the details. You will see transport police waiting in certain spots. I'm guessing they don't dip all tanks but they probably know what there looking for.

Diesel treated will last year's, older stuff if not full of algae will run after decades. But it had sulpher which from what I understand cut way back on what could grow in it.

 

[bmaverick]

Its not often but I have heard, and also I had a logger working for me have a dually pulled over and they dipped the tank. They don't go after big trucks usually I think it's more the age trucks and the mid size vehicles like hot shot truckers which is basically if I remember right what they pulled over for my guy. Think he was hauling logs on a smaller flatbed type equipment trailer that or it was a bobcat, it was 10 years or so ago and I just don't remember the details. You will see transport police waiting in certain spots. I'm guessing they don't dip all tanks but they probably know what there looking for.

Diesel treated will last year's, older stuff if not full of algae will run after decades. But it had sulpher which from what I understand cut way back on what could grow in it.

With the new clean diesel fuels, just add a can of Seafoam to the 55-gal barrel to prevent the algae growing that mostly occurs in warmer temps.

 

[California]

I read somewhere (here?) that farm equipment auctions are where a lot of tanks get dipped.

As for old high sulphur diesel - when I bought the YM240 in 2003, the seller had put a modern home in front of an old farm that had been subdivided into horsey 5 acre sites. There was an old rusty bulk fuel tank there that must have had decades-old sulphur diesel. The fuel in the YM240 burned my eyes. It smoked, and smelled, worse than following an old Greyhound up a long grade. Hard to start. Refueling made a day/night improvement.

 

[Williy]

To find off road diesel you can ask your local
diesel fuel stop or check with the fuel delivery
people.

Can you imagine driving behind a grayhoud
and smelling like mcconald's???
The cop's don't have to look or check your
fuel tanks to see if you are burning the off
road diesel they just look at your tail pipe and
if its red You get to pay $10,000 fine! On ten
gallons of the red stuff I saved $1.76 so I just
use regular diesel. The only way you save is
if you have not sure if its 150 or 250 gallons
delivered to your home!

willy

 

[ning]

to see if you are burning the off
road diesel they just look at your tail pipe and
if its red

The dye doesn't get burned and colors the soot red?

 

[ponytug]

The dye in off road diesel is flammable, and burns.(Solvent red #26 or 164) No, the soot is still black.

Off road diesel was high sulfur longer than on-road diesel, but has come down to low or ultra low sulfur levels. Anyone with an older diesel is well advised to use a lubricity additive, or add biodiesel, or just use biodiesel.

Not all red fuel is off road diesel. Some aviation gasoline is dyed red as well.

At the fuel amounts that I use, and the distance to get to an off road diesel supplier, it just isn't worth it to me.

I think that the key to long term diesel storage is an algicide, and an air drier (desiccant) on the vent line. Diesel is hydroscopic, and once wet, you get algae sludge and rust. Personally, I keep all of mine in sealed metal containers. (Wavian NATO cans)

All the best,

Peter

 

[clemsonfor]

To find off road diesel you can ask your local
diesel fuel stop or check with the fuel delivery
people.

Can you imagine driving behind a grayhoud
and smelling like mcconald's???
The cop's don't have to look or check your
fuel tanks to see if you are burning the off
road diesel they just look at your tail pipe and
if its red You get to pay $10,000 fine! On ten
gallons of the red stuff I saved $1.76 so I just
use regular diesel. The only way you save is
if you have not sure if its 150 or 250 gallons
delivered to your home!

willy

This must be a wives tale??? I run mostly off road in my tractor, besides the stained translucent plastic tank that's got a slight tint to it and the filter nothing else is red. My pipe is black from soot...nature of a diesel. And as I have mentioned I'm a Forester. I oversee logging. I am friendly with many loggers and talk to them all the time especially working on their equipment of I'm there. I also see it running and have seen many pipes up close. There is NEVER a red tint to them. Put your finger and it's black soot. The dye combusts like the fuel. The new machines run a ****load of deff and have cleaner pipes as they put almost no soot out compared to the pre tier whatever put def on those size engines did.

 

[Hay Dude]

To find off road diesel you can ask your local
diesel fuel stop or check with the fuel delivery
people.

Can you imagine driving behind a grayhoud
and smelling like mcconald's???
The cop's don't have to look or check your
fuel tanks to see if you are burning the off
road diesel they just look at your tail pipe and
if its red You get to pay $10,000 fine! On ten
gallons of the red stuff I saved $1.76 so I just
use regular diesel. The only way you save is
if you have not sure if its 150 or 250 gallons
delivered to your home!

willy

1. Never heard that before……None of my tractor exhaust pipes are “red”.
2. Its a considerable fine, but not a “$10,000 fine”
3. You can certainly save by driving your truck with transfer tank to a seller of red fuel and fill it. I have been doing this for decades. You don’t have to have it delivered.

 

[Cycledude]

Around where I live there are plenty of places selling off road diesel , and also plenty of places that will deliver it, some places will even supply the tank to store the fuel in free of charge.
I don’t use a lot of off road diesel so I just haul it home from town in 5 gallon cans.

 

[RalphVa]

I don't burn a lot of diesel - but I have to admit, its alway a challenge for me to find any diesel - and I was wondering how can I find a source of off road diesel - might actually be more convenience for me and save me a few bucks. Google comes up with nothing.....do I just go to a heating oil place and ask for #2 heating oil?

I just typed in "off road diesel charlottesville" and got 14 locations. Thought there was only one, only one Exxon anyway.

 

[clemsonfor]

Even in cities they have off road. Its what the construction/clearing guys will use as well. Often times though they get it from a bulk distributor who delivers to a tank on site if it's a big job. There still going to deliver off road though .

 

[Williy]

I was miss informed about the red diesel in pipe!
This is how they check! Tax authorities can and do check for vehicles using off-road red diesel in on-road vehicles. They do this by using a black light to spot any residual presence of dye in the fuel as well as at key places in the engine compartment.
If you are caught in Oregon the fine can be as big as $10,000 and the State of Oregon does aggressively pursue this type of tax avoidance.

willy

 

[clemsonfor]

I was miss informed about the red diesel in pipe!
This is how they check! Tax authorities can and do check for vehicles using off-road red diesel in on-road vehicles. They do this by using a black light to spot any residual presence of dye in the fuel as well as at key places in the engine compartment.
If you are caught in Oregon the fine can be as big as $10,000 and the State of Oregon does aggressively pursue this type of tax avoidance.

willy

I figured you must have never been around anything that burned off road fuel. Haha

 

[bmaverick]

I was miss informed about the red diesel in pipe!
This is how they check! Tax authorities can and do check for vehicles using off-road red diesel in on-road vehicles. They do this by using a black light to spot any residual presence of dye in the fuel as well as at key places in the engine compartment.
If you are caught in Oregon the fine can be as big as $10,000 and the State of Oregon does aggressively pursue this type of tax avoidance.

willy

The red dye goes away with Seafoam or B-12 treatment. It can't stain too bad.

 

[clemsonfor]

When I put blue twc3 two stroke oil in my fuel at a ratio between 150-300/1 it turns it a darker color so that amount of oil over powers the red dye. If it's UV detected or whatever that won't leave. I know a lot of the older diesel engine guys run the twc3 oil in their diesel's for lubricity improvers, I am one of those people. I put a few ounces of oil in when I put fresh fuel in. Remember diesel fuel today is not what ya mar designed these tractors to run on 45 years ago. These are not your computer controlled particulate filter choked engines of today. Now that we have almost no sulpher in the fuel a lot of the lubricity is removed that was once there.

 

[Hay Dude]

I was miss informed about the red diesel in pipe!
This is how they check! Tax authorities can and do check for vehicles using off-road red diesel in on-road vehicles. They do this by using a black light to spot any residual presence of dye in the fuel as well as at key places in the engine compartment.
If you are caught in Oregon the fine can be as big as $10,000 and the State of Oregon does aggressively pursue this type of tax avoidance.

willy

Here they dip your tanks with a small ladel-like tool. If it’s red, you get impounded and fined.

 

[Hay Dude]

The red dye goes away with Seafoam or B-12 treatment. It can't stain too bad.

Youre saying red dyed fuel loses red color with Seafoam added to it?

 

[clemsonfor]

Here they dip your tanks with a small ladel-like tool. If it’s red, you get impounded and fined.

I have heard here it's a strip type thing of paper maybe?

 

[ponytug]

I have heard here it's a strip type thing of paper maybe?

Yes, the paper is a test strip that reacts with the dye, so it can pick up trace amounts of dye. Whether it can do so in the presence of, just hypothetically speaking, two cycle oil, I have no clue. Since I don't run ORD, I can't test it either.

All the best,

Peter