Oil & Fuel Home heating fuel in a tractor?

[Oldoak]

"I use off-road dyed fuel to save from paying the very high PA fuel tax."

Nothing wrong with that. Perfectly legal. I do the same. Your wasting money if you don't.

 

[Tractor Seabee]

"I use off-road dyed fuel to save from paying the very high PA fuel tax."

Nothing wrong with that. Perfectly legal. I do the same. Your wasting money if you don't.

I found that for us smaller users it was more advantages to apply for the rebate monthly than trying to get to the closest place offering off road. That would be a 30 mile round trip versus a 5 mile round trip to a gas station.

I would suppose most states have that arrangement. Here in WA, with our one of the highest fuel taxes, it paid off for both diesel and gasoline.

Ron

 

[BX23S-1]

I wont step over a dollar to pick up a dime. There is no place close enough for me to buy off-road diesel,
so a 4 mile trip into town to pay at the "taxed" pump, actually saves me alot of money vs a 40 mile trip both ways to only save a few pennies per gallon.

And i don`t burn enough diesel the whole year to make it worth running all over to find & save money buying it.
It would only make sense to me as if i had the option to buy off-road diesel at the place i buy mine at right now, 4 miles away from me.

 

[moship]

Here in PA the state fuel tax is $0.741/gallon. Add on the federal tax and there is nearly a $1.00 difference in price. Typically buy 15 gallons at a time and the pump is close and convenient.

I believe our fuel tax is still the highest in the nation.

 

[BX23S-1]

Here in PA the state fuel tax is $0.741/gallon. Add on the federal tax and there is nearly a $1.00 difference in price. Typically buy 15 gallons at a time and the pump is close and convenient.

I believe our fuel tax is still the highest in the nation.

I`m minutes from PA, i use to drop into PA to buy gas and fuel, until your prices went higher than ours in NY. What a shame in what they are doing to your beautiful state.

 

[MHarryE]

I believe it’s a mistake to believe home heating oil can be used interchangeably with diesel in new equipment. Only 6 northeastern states require home heating oil to be 15 ppm sulfur, same as diesel. The rule went into effect July 2018. Prior to that, only New York required 15 ppm home heating oil, same as diesel. The other states do not appear to have the same requirement according to the Fuel Oil Industry. Oil distributors can use diesel fuel to supply as home heating oil and in many states with low demand for fuel oil as home heating fuel that is the case. However only the New England states require ULSHO. So just because it’s dyed red does not mean it’s the same, it only means it did not have road taxes. Here in Minnesota our local fuel oil guy has separate tanks on his truck for home heating oil - 500 ppm limit - and diesel fuel 15 ppm limit.

 

[LouNY]

I believe it’s a mistake to believe home heating oil can be used interchangeably with diesel in new equipment. Only 6 northeastern states require home heating oil to be 15 ppm sulfur, same as diesel. The rule went into effect July 2018. Prior to that, only New York required 15 ppm home heating oil, same as diesel. The other states do not appear to have the same requirement according to the Fuel Oil Industry. Oil distributors can use diesel fuel to supply as home heating oil and in many states with low demand for fuel oil as home heating fuel that is the case. However only the New England states require ULSHO. So just because it’s dyed red does not mean it’s the same, it only means it did not have road taxes. Here in Minnesota our local fuel oil guy has separate tanks on his truck for home heating oil - 500 ppm limit - and diesel fuel 15 ppm limit.

So you may be lucky and get a better fuel

 

[Paystar]

Here in northern Ontario Canada as I stated in the other thread on this same subject, all our fuel is the same 15 PPM ULSD with the exception that the off road/heating has red dye.

There is also no longer a summer and winter fuel (with Petro Canada anyway.) It is treated year roundwith same additive package, my fuel supplier told us while delivering to out truck stop/gas station.

 

[MHarryE]

So you may be lucky and get a better fuel

Unfortunately for anyone owning a tractor made in the past 5 years and many go back 10 or more, home heating oil with high sulfur will cause expensive fuel injection system problems over time. Modern high pressure injection systems, along with pollution controls, cannot tolerate the crappy high sulfur junk. That’s why the fuel pumps at stations have good fuel. As for the damage people have forecast for low sulfur diesel in older tractors, my nephew has 14 tractors and 2 combines over 20 years old, uses no additives, and has zero fuel injection system failures since introduction of ULSD. My tractors are 3 years or less and have been more finicky due to water. He goes through 1,000 gallons weekly so our supplier fills his tanks weekly. I seldom use over 100 gallons weekly so the supplier only fills me if I remember to leave my fuel trailer at nephews on fuel day. Otherwise it’s in to town where there is a water in fuel problem unless I buy on-highway fuel with high turnover.

 

[Firefighter Kubota]

I remember posting in that old thread, somewhat the same info.

Except for the die added to heating diesel; it and motor diesel are the same product. My BIL mega farmer in OR bought heating fuel for his house and barn and used it in his tractors and trucks. He had 1000 GL tank and had a pumped underground lines to his furnaces. Buying that qty in heating fuel save him a lot of money.

A thing to remember is that the lower (thinner) you get in the distillate chain the lower the BTU content (cetane rating), hence the lower the power output of a given engine. Back in the old days it was not uncommon to use #3 diesel in engines, especially marine, farming, and stationary plants. Not sure it is even made today. It was a dark amber color from the higher carbon content. #4, 5, 6 and bunker fuel had to be heated to thin it out for the injectors. #6 and bunker fuel in effect were asphalt. The residue after refining the thinner oils out of the crude. #3 was also the common heating fuel back in those days where it is now low sulfur #2.

Stationary diesels almost always used #3. That was before low sulfur took over. The power increase was considerable. The large diesel engine ships still use #6. It is heated if I trust my memory to 250 degres C. Then centrifuged and strained to remove water and solids. I have seen those engines with pistons 10' in diameter. With today's environmental hue and cry that may have given way also #2.

During the Vietnam era the military had multi fuel engines in trucks so fuels found locally or when #2 was not available. Not unusual to use jet fuel. The manuals gave you the ratios of motor oil to add to provide lubricity for various higher distillated fuels. A loaded 5 ton truck on jet fuel had a lot less power, difficult to pull much of a grade.

With today's additives, resorting to kerosene may not be indicated except in temps well below 0 F. We Seabees were specially trained in all this stuff when we were the designated cold weather Battalion. The Navy had arctic fuels and lubricants in storage for such contingencies. Almost 60 years now so memory is getting short.

Ron

Spot on.... Used to run tankers from Valdez to Benicia CA