Re: Diesel/heating oil


"Mike" <michael.cullen143@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:jESNh.4927$j_2.2964@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I have been for some time trying to find out the difference between red
diesel and heating oil.



There must be more than one grade of heating oil as it would seem that
there is more than one grade of red diesel.



I know there is some low grade heating oil that would be of no use for
Eberspacher & Webasto heating systems but I would have thought that there
must be heating oil that would suit heaters and cooking stoves that we all
use. (we will not mention engines will we)

Do we have to pay just under a pound for heating oil. Is there not an
alternative?

As I understand it its all down to seconds in burning or something.



Can one of our more enlightened contributors show us a little light on
this situation?

Mike

Nd Dances with Bears



From memory : diesel or gas oil (red diesel) About 32 seconds viscosity
(runniness)

Paraffin/Kerosene: About 28 seconds viscosity

The seconds bit refers to how long it takes for a given quantity of the
fluid to flow through a given sized hole at a given temperature.

Seconds has no relelevance to anything but runniness.

Other data you might be given for a fuel:

Density: Weight of a given volume of the stuff - may also be given a
specific gravity/relative density: the same but expressed as in relation to
water.

Calorific Value: How much heat energy the fuel contains

Sulphur content: self explanatory

Flash Point: Simply - the temperature at which it will catch fire (actually
the temperature at which its fumes will catch fire)

Cetane Rating (normally only for Derv or Gas oil white/red diesel): The
readiness of the fuel to ignite, the higher the rating the more readily it
will ignite IN THE ENGINE. This has a bearing on how noisy boat diesels are.



About three years ago I got hold of the specs for Total Derv & Gas oil. As
expected the sulphur content was very different (road diesel now has to be
ultra low sulphur), but I could not see how the differences in the other
data supported Eberspacher's comments at the time. However, as few marine
diesel suppliers display the name of the diesel refiner (like BP/Shell etc)
and few display the relevant BS number we can be sold almost any sort of
crap that will run the engine and is the right price for the pump operator.
Some operators are not very good at looking after it in store or their stock
control. The major suppliers should supply a slightly different product in
the winter and summer if it is to be used in engines.- not much use if the
pump operator still has 1000 litres of summer fuel in December.

From my observations many boaters are also bad at looking after their fuel.

For years we ran out Wabastos on paraffin on the hire fleet because they did
not carbon up as much and would run several seasons without problems. I
think this type of heater will be fine on either, but will have a different
heat output. I doubt a boater would notice.

Anything with a pot burner (like a bubble should also run well enough, but
with a lower calorific value fuel would not produce so much heat.

Both types of heater could probably have their output increased by
increasing the fuel supply (as per other posts).

Listers used to tell you how much oil to mix with kerosene to run their air
cooled units and I see no reason why nearly any diesel will not run on a
kerosene/lubeoil mixture - the oil is to lubricate the injection equipment -
MOD diesel trucks use to be able to run on diesel or petrol after a small
modification (not sure how well they ran on petrol though). The Germans have
run diesels (not our sort) on coal dust and the yanks on the oil from peanut
butter, the Welsh ran unmodified cars and vans on cooking oil. I am sure our
comparatively simple diesels will run on a far wider range of fuels than
most of us think about. Unfortunately HMG know this so pass laws top prevent
it.


Do you have to pay a pound for heating and cooking fuel. The answer is
clearly no, there are no laws that require you to use duty paid fuel.
However there may be some practical difficulties.

1. Do you have or can you fit a second tank - if not, hard luck.

2. Will marinas, boat yards and fuel boats find it economic to stock duty
paid and duty free fuel and also to carry out the administration stocking
both would probably entail? If not you will be carrying the duty free fuel
in containers for wherever you can get it (like a bulk tank at home possibly
with all the regulation that will entail).

I trust this helps explain things


--
Tony Brooks
www.TB-Training.co.uk

Maintenance & Electrical training for ordinary boaters


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