Home heating fuel vs. #2 diesel

[daybreak1998]

My son in law is replacing his heating system in his house and has a hundred gallons or so of home heating fuel he needs to get rid of. The guy that fills his tank tested it for moisture and whatever and says it is clean and is the same exact thing as #2 diesel. I am considering pumping out the tank and setting up a couple of 55gal drums on my property. Would sure beat the 5gal at a time system I have now. I would weld up a support frame and maybe work a gravity feed system with filter, etc.

First question... is the claim the heating oil is same as #2 diesel true?

Howdy,

Home Heating Oil = HHO is not #2 diesel

#2 Off road diesel = untaxed dyed red fuel

#2 diesel is dyed red to show road tax is not paid. That means a vehicle with license plates that travels on roads should never have a red dyed fuel in it. (Your messing with the tax man here) Because #2 off road diesel is meant for vehicles, it does have some additives in it. lubricity enhancers, low-smoke enhancers etc... is dyed red. Currently all diesel available is ULSD >15ppm sulpher.(supposedly since 2009)

Home heating oil is not always the same thing. It really depends on the price. If the #2 dyed is at $2.50 a gallon, and HHO is $2.70 a gallon, you will receive the #2 for your furnace. The furnace does not care what it burns, unlike a engine. YES, sometimes the truck fills both farm and home heating tanks from the same delivery truck. NOT always. If there was a big price difference, and HHO was $2.10 a gallon, and #2 was $2.50, you better believe your getting HHO in your furnace. HHO does not have the low-smoke additive, and lubricity enhancers in it. It will have kerosene as well.

So, the overall take is... #2 off road diesel should always be the same in your tank. HHO can be the cheapest stuff due to price.

 

[Kioti Tom]

Howdy,

Home Heating Oil = HHO is not #2 diesel

#2 Off road diesel = untaxed dyed red fuel

#2 diesel is dyed red to show road tax is not paid. That means a vehicle with license plates that travels on roads should never have a red dyed fuel in it. (Your messing with the tax man here) Because #2 off road diesel is meant for vehicles, it does have some additives in it. lubricity enhancers, low-smoke enhancers etc... is dyed red. Currently all diesel available is ULSD >15ppm sulpher.(supposedly since 2009)

Home heating oil is not always the same thing. It really depends on the price. If the #2 dyed is at $2.50 a gallon, and HHO is $2.70 a gallon, you will receive the #2 for your furnace. The furnace does not care what it burns, unlike a engine. YES, sometimes the truck fills both farm and home heating tanks from the same delivery truck. NOT always. If there was a big price difference, and HHO was $2.10 a gallon, and #2 was $2.50, you better believe your getting HHO in your furnace. HHO does not have the low-smoke additive, and lubricity enhancers in it. It will have kerosene as well.

So, the overall take is... #2 off road diesel should always be the same in your tank. HHO can be the cheapest stuff due to price.

It all depends on the dealer. Mine said his HHO is #2 Diesel with the dye in it. He said that he puts the dye in it. He gets his Diesel in a tanker and then has part of the load put into the off road tank and he puts the dye in.

 

[D7E]

All the same here . Truck pumps 1000gal into farm dyed tank then 500 into the house tank from same batch .

 

[dragoneggs]

My fuel delivery guy says the only difference in the diesel and HHO is the colour, the taxes and no winter grade and around here if your caught with HHO in a road vehicle you get to extra for all the additional fines :shocked:

As for plastic barrels. Last year I did some research and the more I was reading on it the more confusing it got. There are different types of plastic drums. Some of them can break down due to the fuel in them. I decided to go with the steel barrel because there was no risk of chemical reaction to the diesel plus less risk of the threaded bung stripping out. The plastic bungs are easy to strip.
I went with the electric pump with the optional automatic cutout nozzle. I did make one change thanks to the good advice of TripleR. I put a 90 degree elbow on the hose that exits the filter (not shown) The filter takes any crap and moisture out.

This of course is the ultimate set up. This is definitely a possibility but my blue plastic gravity feed system will be much cheaper... I generally don't take the cheap route but I did set up a salt water mix/feed system with a 65gal storage and 40gal mix tank with a mix/flush pump system with mostly plastic and was very happy with the system. I guess that is why I am leaning that way at the moment.

 

[dragoneggs]

Hey Mark, it it possible to just take the existing tank to your place and put a pump on it or elevate it for gravity flow? Probably want a Goldenrod style filter also.

If not possible, the blue drums should work fine.

Hi Rick, the existing tank is kinda funky, and old and I just don't like it. I will institute a filter in whatever set up I finalize on though... thanks.

 

[lostcreekranch]

Hi Rick, the existing tank is kinda funky, and old and I just don't like it. I will institute a filter in whatever set up I finalize on though... thanks.

OK, good luck Mark, lots of great advice offered here.

 

[crazyal]

With the money you'll save I would invest in a pump. I have the same Fill-Rite pump as 4 shorts. I use it to pump out 275 gallon tanks into 55 gallon drums when someone is in the same situation as your son. I had to add an extra 6" section of pipe to the adjustable intake pipe to get to the bottom of the 275 gallon tank. My 55 gallon drum isn't as fancy as 4 Shorts, it's just sitting on a wood platform with 4 Harbor Freight 6" casters so I can roll it around the garage. In the fall I just call up the fuel dealer and he stops over and fills up both the home tank with HHO and the 55 gallon drum with ORD with anti-gel. Fill-Rite pumps aren't cheap but they last and if you ever need to you can rebuild them. Harbor Freight does sell a pump that some people here have bought and said works fine. It doesn't screw into the large bung on the drum or tank though.

 

[dragoneggs]

With the money you'll save I would invest in a pump. I have the same Fill-Rite pump as 4 shorts. I use it to pump out 275 gallon tanks into 55 gallon drums when someone is in the same situation as your son. I had to add an extra 6" section of pipe to the adjustable intake pipe to get to the bottom of the 275 gallon tank. My 55 gallon drum isn't as fancy as 4 Shorts, it's just sitting on a wood platform with 4 Harbor Freight 6" casters so I can roll it around the garage. In the fall I just call up the fuel dealer and he stops over and fills up both the home tank with HHO and the 55 gallon drum with ORD with anti-gel. Fill-Rite pumps aren't cheap but they last and if you ever need to you can rebuild them. Harbor Freight does sell a pump that some people here have bought and said works fine. It doesn't screw into the large bung on the drum or tank though.

The fill rite pump will wipe out my savings and more! Would love to have but I am seeing $320 for the low end and need a barrel. My BX will be the only user as I run LP for supplement heat and cooking. Generator is gasoline as are other vehicles and tools, so it hard to justify. Also in the mix is a multi process welder and I would rather skimp on this project and steer the $$$ to the welder and accessories.

Still thinking gravity feed unless someone can convince me that the pump is the way to go for limited use/need.

 

[The Fred]

Just go buy a cheap oil barrel hand pump it will work just fine. 100 pumps= 13 gals. :dance1:

IF your heating oil happens to be high sulfur (old stuff like mine) then your engine oil will dirty more quickly. 100 hours change versus 200 that Kubota recommends.

All I have is old fuel and have zero issues except dirty engine oil.

Fred

 

[Looking4new]

Have you thought about a rotary hand pump? I've got one that I stick into the HHO tank when I am caught short on cash and fuel.