Oil & Fuel Home heating oil as tractor fuel

[h2opdler]

I just bought 100 gal of home heating oil snd my furnace bit the dust. I am going to replace it with propane.
Can I use the home heating oil in my tractor ?

 

[Sawyer Rob]

yes

SR

 

[TMGT]

Yup, we replaced an oil heater with propane a few years ago, right after filling the tank up. Had about 500gal and mostly used in the equipment.

 

[CobyRupert]

For certainty, ask your supplier if their home heating fuel oil was from the same tank as: No.2 Diesel.

"Typically", home heating fuel oil for indoor basement tanks is the same as No.2 Diesel fuel. This is "summer" diesel.

In my opinion there are a couple issues here: 1) Can fuel oil be stored outdoors in tractor's tank in colder weather? 2) Lubricity for tractor fuel pump.
I also don't know enough about low sulfur vs high sulfur diesel and/or fuel oil, but I don't think this is an issue anymore. I'll let others comment.

No.2 diesel fuel can gel at temps below 40 degrees, so "winter" diesel sold at stations or delivered for trucks/tractors is often a mix of No. 1 & No. 2 Diesel, and/or may have some anti-gel additives. If your furnace fuel oil tank is outside, your fuel oil may also be a mix of No.1 & No.2 diesel. This is fine for diesel motors.
If your fuel oil is straight No.2 diesel, add a anti-gelling treatment (Power Service white bottle) to it if you have cold temperatures.

To be on the safe side, I'd add some diesel treatment to help fuel pump lubricity (Power Service grey bottle) too in case there is some difference in supplier's "diesel" vs. "fuel oil". It won't hurt.

And if you do nothing, that would probably work too. (i.e. none of this is probably a big deal)

 

[TMGT]

Everywhere around here the heating oil tank is outside, either above or below ground. Always forget some places may have indoor tanks.

 

[stuckmotor]

This is a very popular topic. There are five threads with similar titles below.

 

[mike48130]

When I was a kid, we moved into a house that had 2 1500 and a 3000 gallon tank buried for heating oil. We converted to LP and the one tank had hundreds of gallons in it. It was like 1983, and my dad worked at Ford and got employee leases, so he leased two 1984 diesel escorts. We ended up buying one of them after the lease and we burned thru the heating fuel in the escort for years. Ran great other than it was a diesel escort.

 

[hosspuller]

If your diesel is a tier 4 machine, I would not use the heating fuel. The new fuel is okay but the tank is not. A little bit of contamination goes a long way with common rail, electronic injectors, DPF and sensors.

Pre tier machines were tough and could digest near anything that burned.

 

[LouNY]

The fuel will be fine, it you are concerned run it thru a filter, the higher quality the better.
A filter is always a good idea.
PetroClear - New PetroClear^(R) 45W-AD 5-Micron Dispenser Filter Protects High-Performance Engines From Harmful Particulates

 

[Sawyer Rob]

The fuel will be fine, it you are concerned run it thru a filter, the higher quality the better.
A filter is always a good idea.
PetroClear - New PetroClear^(R) 455W-AD 5-Micron Dispenser Filter Protects High-Performance Engines From Harmful Particulates

Yup, I'd run it through a filter and use it up!

In fact, I've done it, with hundreds of gallons of heating fuel.

SR