Brother n' law says off road diesel is bad

[tinkertoys]

Pumped 50,000 gallons of died diesel in one year. never had any problems.
Wish I used enough too make it worth while to do all the paper work. I only use about 15 gal a month now.

 

[ultrarunner]

I buy 150 gallons of red diesel each year for a Hospital Emergency Generator. Been doing it since 1995... so far no problems.

The unit is a Onan 150kv standby rate with a turbo cummins.

 

[gemini5362]

If I get to one of the very few places that sells offroad diesel I will buy it and put it in my tractors. If I need fuel and I am not near a service station that has offroad I just fill up and pay the extra money. My tractor does not seem to run any different no matter which I use.

 

[Soundguy]

Hmm.. at the GC I work for we can burn a couple thousand gallons of red fuel in a week easy.. and probably 1000g of clear fuel a week. Can't say that i've seen a problem with either as long as the equipment that burns the fuel is maintained.

soundguy

 

[DieselPower]

As far as quality goes it should be the same as what is sold for on road use. In many locations in the US these day's on and off road diesel fuel are exactly the same. Other locations you may find the off road is a higher sulfur content than the on road. In general the only difference is the dyed red color (to tell if your cheating on your tax's by using it in a vehicle). The dye will not have a effect on engine longevity or performance.

 

[Skyco]

I suspect the fuel, red or not, is delivered from the supplier at the same quality level. I see lots of portable tanks sitting around at job sites and suspect that is why the fuel gets "funky". Lots of dust in the air getting into the tank vent, it is sitting in the sun getting warmed up during the day, then cooled at night- perfect recipe for condensation problems and water is what supports the diesel "bug" problems, no telling how old some of it is....etc.

The red dye has stumped many a tax cheat I understand many have devoted lots of effort to trying to figure out a way to remove it and none have been successful..

 

[billbill1]

I use off road (dyed) whenever I'm going to be going by the place that sells it and I'm in the pickup. I've also used on road and can tell no difference other than when I pay, off road is about $.45 per gallon cheaper around these parts of the country.

 

[Roto]

my brother in law used to use the off road and there equipment and they put thousands of hours in the woods like 12 hour days every day and they had problems and now they use the good stuff and have no problems so it cant be the tank its sitting in. We small tractor owners wont see a difference what little hours we put on compared to the big boys putting 3000+hours a year on so maybe it takes time to develop and clogging or build up. i dont know but this big outfit doesnt use it anymore for some reason.

mike

 

[KICK]

your brother in law sounds like he has the makings a being a good customer, anywhere he goes.

he sounds like the type who would buy an extended warranty if he bought a new anvil.

probably changes the winter air in his tires for summer air, every year. pays to get it done.

 

[Roto]

if you could here him talk you would laugh hehe. No he is not that type at all. he is "back woods" does everything himself and is too cheap to hire anybody for anything and i am surprised that he pays more for diesel then he has to.

From reading at chevron it appears that on-road diesel used to be 500ppm of sulfer till recently when on-road diesel is now going to 15ppm of sulfer for all vehicles starting now. off road starting in June 2007 will be 500ppm but thats what regular diesel used to be anyway and more sulfer adds lube so there is no issue with too much sulfer the issue is if the die causes any problems.

On-Highway Diesel Fuel
Refinery < 15ppm by June 1, 2006
Terminal < 15ppm by September 1, 2006
Retail < 15ppm by October 15, 2006
Off-Road / Locomotive & Marine Fuel < 500ppm by June 1, 2007

How do I know what diesel grade I am putting in my vehicle?
As part of the S15 (ULSD) regulation, the EPA requires that new labels be placed on every diesel dispenser in the United States, excluding California. The label should be located near the indicator that shows how many gallons you have pumped into your diesel vehicle.

If the diesel fuel is S15 (ULSD) then the label will be titled "Ultra Low Sulfur Highway Diesel Fuel". If the diesel fuel is S500 (LSD) then the label will be titled "Low Sulfur Highway Diesel Fuel". All Chevron and Texaco diesel dispensers, excluding those dispensers in California, were appropriately labeled by June 1, 2006.

Lubricity:
Lubricity is a measure of the fuel's ability to lubricate and protect the various parts of the engine's fuel injection system from wear.The processing required to reduce sulfur to 15 ppm also removes naturally-occurring lubricity agents in diesel fuel. To manage this change the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) adopted the lubricity specification defined in ASTM D975 for all diesel fuels and this standard went into effect January 1, 2005.
The D975 specification is based on the High Frequency Reciprocating Rig (HFRR) test (D 6079) and requires a wear scar no larger than 520 microns.