Diesel fuel off-road vs hwy blends

[von-mil]

I use off road fuel, but have never done any paper work. Just go to cashier and pre-pay, then fill my fuel cans. Am I doing something wrong, or is my local station doing something wrong? I do not have an on road diesel right now.

prs

Same situation here. The 2 or 3 stations that I have purchased off-road dyed diesel from do not appear to require any paperwork. I just drive up to the off-road pump, swipe the credit card and fill my 5-gallon jug. The price is usually 30-40 cents less per gallon.

I saw an 18-wheeler at the off-road pump once but I think he was just filling the tank on his trailer's reefer unit which I assume is legit.

 

[ovrszd]

I saw an 18-wheeler at the off-road pump once but I think he was just filling the tank on his trailer's reefer unit which I assume is legit.

Yep, perfectly legal.

 

[davesl708]

I get mine at a regular gas station. Some times they have me sign for it but most times do not.
They have a separate pump away from the rest and you have to go inside to pay.

 

[Copperhead]

Yep, perfectly legal.

Yep. Reefer fuel is untaxed at the regular truck stop fuel pump anyway as not being on road tax required, so red dye fuel is perfectly applicable.

 

[Gary Fowler]

I buy only off road fuel, store it inside an enclosed shed and never had any issues with water, algae or gelling. About the coldest it has ever gotten here is 15F and never had a gelling issue. Perhaps we are just lucky in that regard. I have a 105 gallon steel tank on rollers and a 300 gallon(?) plastic TOTE tank that I store my reserve fuel in. It takes 200 gallon purchase in order to get free home delivery so I fill the steel tank which has the 15 gpm electric pump and put the rest in the TOTE tank both of which are stored inside and out of direct sunlight. Fuel filter is on the pump and my tractor went over 300 hours prior to requiring filter changes, same with my RTV and even then there was no water in the filter.

 

[clemsonfor]

I use off road fuel, but have never done any paper work. Just go to cashier and pre-pay, then fill my fuel cans. Am I doing something wrong, or is my local station doing something wrong? I do not have an on road diesel right now.

prs

Probably not, if you dont know about it and the gas station doesnot do anything i dobut there is anything to do. Here in SC and GA you just pull up and buy the fuel. In some stations in GA they make me sign a book sometimes for a log on the amount i got. SC i have never filled anything out. I dont use much fuel either so i buy what i can but try to buy offroad to save. The towns around here are full of loggers and they run through so much offroad i bet none of the fuel is older than a week old.
I do know here you can buy on road and fill out a form on your tax return to claim the tax back. you can do this even for mower or boat gasoline. But i dont use enough to warrent the doing the paperwork for it back.

I have an old school tractor with a $4 filter. It gets changed yearly wether it needs it or not.

 

[namesray]

A question I have been wondering. I will ask it here. Both on road (highway) diesel and off road (dyed non highway) diesel are the same thing other then the dye added. Any comments on rather that dye adversely effects the newer tier 4 engines with the dpf and regen systems? Seems like my hours between regens is longer running the on road, no dye fuel as compared to the dyed off road diesel. Both fuels 15 ppm ultra low sulfer.

 

[ovrszd]

A question I have been wondering. I will ask it here. Both on road (highway) diesel and off road (dyed non highway) diesel are the same thing other then the dye added. Any comments on rather that dye adversely effects the newer tier 4 engines with the dpf and regen systems? Seems like my hours between regens is longer running the on road, no dye fuel as compared to the dyed off road diesel. Both fuels 15 ppm ultra low sulfer.

That's a good question. My personal opinion is there's no difference. My argument would be the vast majority of dyed fuel is burned by high HP heavy AG tractors, combines, etc. Can't see the manufacturers of that equipment accepting inferior fuel for their products.

As to your regen cycles. There is a lot of variation in cycle times based on what work has been done. Put your tractor on a PTO load and you'll see longer times between cycles versus idling around between cycles.

The JD that I run is Interim Tier IV that regens but doesn't burn DEF. If I'm pushing snow and working it hard it's cycle times are longer than if I'm doing light maintenance work at half throttle.

 

[5030]

Right on, no difference. I happen to haul it and gasoline from the refinery. All comes out of the same loading rack. The ONLY differences are: off Road has red dye added (metered in at the loading rack) and 'Premium Blend' is nothing more than common ULSD with additives added at the rack. Additives like anti-gel and flow agents are metered into the load as it's loaded in the tank.

Buy the least expensive and then add your store bought elixir's that supposedly so some 'magical' stuff inside your engine, it's your money after all. I'd suggest only adding 3 things to ULSD and those are:

Biocide (if you store it for any length of time in a storage tank)
Anti-Gel (if you live in a cold climate and use it (diesel) below zero)
Additional lubrication (ULSD is dry (very little sulfur and sulfur lubricates the injector pintles and pump surfaces), so a pint of light oil like ATF (not synthetic) helps prolong pump and inhector life)

That's it.

 

[namesray]

Ok, thanks. Off road is easy to still get here in northern pa and as much as I use, I WILL notice the savings. Just seemed like after the dye was in, regens were happening about every 10 hours, while with no dye, regens were about 18 to 20 hours apart. As was said maybe the tractors tasks probably made the difference.