Is home heating oil the same as diesel fuel?

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My son is purchasing a 30hp diesel tractor. He has the opportunity to get a generator with it that runs off the power takeoff. We would like to know if we could run that off home heating oil, which we could get delivered fairly easily.

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-- Dan Hunt (dhunt@hostscorp.com), May 14, 1998

Answers

Check it out. I *believe* diesel is the same stuff but with a dye added so the government can prove tax has been paid on it. I think it is a LEGAL thing. The tractor shouldn't have a concience about it. (grin) But here I add, I don't own a diesel anything. I'm in Australia, not the US, and it is just stuff I have read in the Survival newsgroups. Good luck.

-- David Harvey (Davo@hydra.com.au), May 15, 1998.

Yes, they are the same thing, the only difference is that home heating oil has additives to keep the fuel from freezing and during the winter that is the exact same thing big rigs run. Whenever I would run my home fuel tank out and couldn't any right away (not paying attention to the level), I would just run down and get some winter diesel fuel.

-- Rebecca Kutcher (kutcher@pionet.net), May 15, 1998.

Rebecca: Valuable information! This is the first place I have ever seen anything about diesel fuel and home heating oil being interchangeable. But why is home heating oi -- in my area of Maine -- now selling for 87.9 a gallon while diesel for vehicles is in the $1.15 range? Can we just refuel a disel truck off the heating oil tank in the basement? Where does kerosene fit into it? PLease, details.

-- J.D. Clark (yankeejdc@aol.com), May 17, 1998.

There are different grades of gasoline just like there are different grades of diesel. Diesel fuel for burning is a low grade of diesel. it really doesn't matter where it has algae or what, cause your just gonna have to spray it through a nozzel and burn it in a chamber for heat. But in a diesel engine, it must be much higher quality or the compression won't work right. Diesle for tracotr trailer trucks must be of the best quality.

-- Glenna (kamoroff@hotmail.com), May 18, 1998.

Diesel fuel for trucks has road tax added to it. The DOT can stop any trucker and check the color of his fuel to see if it is the right color. Here agricultural diesel (no road or use tax) is colored red and if it is found in your pickup - even though you use the pickup on the farm - it is about a $1500 fine. I would not use regular heating oil in my truck just to be on the safe side. Check with your supplier, but when I was using heating oil, my supplier told me that diesel and heating oil were the same. I don't know much about kerosene, except that is definitely different than heating oil and diesel and not interchangeable with them.

-- Rebecca Kutcher (kutcher@pionet.net), May 18, 1998.


The only difference between diesel fuel and home heating oil is an item called ROAD TAX. Heating fuel has a red color added to it and if you are caught by DOT on the road with this in your tank there is a very haevy fine. I have used heating oil in my diesel tractors (farm) for over twenty years now. Kerosene is a more refined form of fuel with a little less power than diesel, a lower gel point, and a little thinner. Kerosene is added to diesel or heating oil in cold weather to lower the gel point of the fuel. Don't let anybody kid you that because my fuel is blue or green it is better. Thats just a nother marketing ploy.

Bill VS

-- Bill Van Stockum (billvan@westelcom.com), May 18, 1998.


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