Re: diesel fuel vs. heating oil

"Ron Jones" <ron@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:461d29dd.0@xxxxxxxxxx

What heating oil?? There is more than one grade, certainly here in the
UK.
IIRC the cheapest red is not the same as white. The next grade up is
somewhat similar (I think that's the 35sec one - not sure). But it has to
be said that the common rail diesel (and I have a Ford Mondao one) is more
fussy in respect to the fuel it needs, and plain red is likely to cause
problems with long use. It is known that you can dilute white diesel with
bio diesel(*) - but the recomended max for common rails is only 5%.
Whereas
if one took an older engine (such like I use in my boat - 3cyl normal
aspirated, standard injection Mitsubihi), you can run with almost anything
(I use red, of course as it's still allowed for a while longer). Note
that
some countries take a very dim use on illegal usage of red (UK
especially -
that's why red diesel sales are very carefully monitored), and it's very,
very easy for a "road test fuel unit" to tell how much red is in the tank
(test by g.c. - colour is not the deciding factor, there are fingerprint
chemicals added to red to allow a quantitive assay).
(*)Bio diesel is not the same as vegitable oil - proper bio diesel (as
recognized by UKRC) is veg oil where all the esters have been
transesterified to methyl esters.

--
Ron Jones
Process Safety & Development Specialist
Don't repeat history, unreported chemical lab/plant near misses at
http://www.crhf.org.uk
Only two things are certain: The universe and human stupidity; and I'm not
certain about the universe. ~ Albert Einstein


"Uncle Al" <UncleAl0@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:461D2AFB.54C23FB4@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"C.D. Koger" wrote:

My new common rail turbo diesel got its first tankful of heating oil
today.
Started like normal, drove like normal. Here in Europe, heating fuel is
coloured red to facilitate customs inspection because it is more than
50%
cheaper than diesel fuel.
I recall from my highschool days that the liquids are identical except
for
the added colour, but people around me keep telling that there are
differences, like necessary additives in diesel fuel, although no one
can
tell me what these are and what purpose they serve.
There are 2 kinds of diesel fuel available nowadays, with or without
sulphur. Again, no difference in performance, smell or colour, only in
price.
Your expert opinion please.

Diesel may contain microbiocides, have tight specs for water content,
and otherwise respect fuel injectors and cylinder valves. Furnace
fuel may not perform well in the long run. Physical reality aside...
the State will whack your pee-pee for cheating it out of its mandated
revenues.

When a ship sinks the only people guaranteed to drown are those
chained to its oars.

--
Uncle Al
http://www.mazepath.com/uncleal/
(Toxic URL! Unsafe for children and most mammals)
http://www.mazepath.com/uncleal/lajos.htm#a2

In this country, things are a bit different. Being an emerging state, laws
are mass produced but rarely enforced. The government promises to do a lot
more than just whack your pee-pee if they catch you, but they lack the means
to do the analysis and forgot to order whips. The whole law enforcing system
still depends on anonimous phone calls only. And of course rumours of severe
punishment as a deterrant.
The gas station offers 4 refinery products that I think are identical. There
is the red heating oil I already mentioned, and the colourless (yellow)
diesel fuels with or without sulphur. The latter is labelled 'Euro diesel",
presumably for tourists. The 4th type is blue diesel, only available to
those who have a license to buy it, like fishermen. It was introduced a
number of years ago when fishing boats blocked harbours in protest about the
rising fuel costs. To avoid that fishermen switched from fishing to fuel
redistribution they got a booklet where all fuel purchases are entered and
confirmed by the seller. It is generally believed that the government checks
the amounts purchased against the amount of fish they legally sell, so the
knife cuts both sides there.
But back to physics and chemistry.
Uncle Al's two sentences both contain the word 'may', that might also have
been 'may not'. The only thing I'm sure about is that in winter the fuel
companies are supposed to mix some lighter gasoline fractions with diesel
fuel to reduce viscosity. They are also supposed to change the mixture of
butane/propane, but that would force them to store butane several months.
The low pressure in my gas tank on a cold winter day is evidence that they
deliver these gases in the same ratio throughout the year.
That diesel fuel and heating oil both contain water is of course a fact. My
car has a water separating fuel filter: the maker even took the trouble to
put a sensor in it that controls a dashboard warning light saying it's time
to press the bleeding valve.
That biodiesel differs from salade oil is clear. I use my wife's oil bottle
for the chainsaw and would never use it in the car because it is more
expensive than diesel and has a higher viscosity.



.

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