Oil is at $70 a barrel and OPEC is panicing...

[Perd Hapley]

Well, I looked for "panicing" in a couple of dictionaries, but only found "panicking."  Is the former an accepted spelling? 

[Gewehr98]

Yup.  We ran kerosene in our old John Deere diesel tractors all the time.  Hell, we even ran kerosene in the second "distillates" tank on the spark ignition John Deere Model B, after it warmed up on the "starting" gasoline tank.

John Deere owners - 1.

Manedwolf - 0.

Kerosene really isn't that bad a diesel fuel, just not as refined quality-wise as automotive grade diesel. Military diesel trucks can make use of it as well as JP-4/JP-8, or the Jet-A equivalents.  Hell, you can run a jet turbine on powdered coal with the right delivery system...

[ArmedBear]

 

Yahoo! This is your celebration
Yahoo! This is your celebration

Celebrate good times, come on! (Let's celebrate)
Celebrate good times, come on! (Let's celebrate)

There's a party goin' on right here
A celebration to last throughout the years
So bring your good times, and your laughter too
We gonna celebrate your party with you

Come on now

Celebration
Let's all celebrate and have a good time
Celebration
We gonna celebrate and have a good time

It's time to come together
It's up to you, what's your pleasure

Everyone around the world
Come on!

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

KEROSENE IS NOT THE SAME AS DIESEL! 

close enough that you can run a tractor on kerosene

[txgho1911]

Bunker oil is almost raw heavy crude. High viscosity filtered and pumped hot is what they run in ships. The leftover mess is fired in the same reactors processing the crude. There is always something left over through the distilation processes in making the propane and butane + all the other anes as well.
Auto diesel is much cleaner than truck diesel. Diesel can be seen as many different colors from blue/purple to amber and clear. The red dye is added for the tax exempt uses like machinery, farm, offroad and many others. They add the red dye to every color and grade of diesel that can be used to operate auto to truck sized engines. The dye is detectable in trace amounts. One tank full 3 tanks and 900 miles ago may still be detected.
Spent time on a few land based drilling rigs. There was a reason people drove diesel pickups and not cars. There was a reason they used second tanks in the bed.

[Tallpine]

The county supplies us with dyed untaxed diesel for our fire trucks  :|

[Manedwolf]

"Okay, go put kerosene in a VW and diesel in a Kerosun and tell me how that works out... "

I've run a John Deere tractor on kerosene quite a few times over the years.

Tractor, yes. VW, I think you'd be looking at a new fuel pump.

[seeker_two]

Well, I looked for "panicing" in a couple of dictionaries, but only found "panicking."  Is the former an accepted spelling? 

Then it MUST be "panicing".....The Irwin is infallible....shun the bunny heretic....shun....

[Regolith]

There was a reason they used second tanks in the bed.

Heh.  I thought it was so that you'd have a reserve tank.  That's how my father used his dual-tanks, anyway (his truck ran a gas engine rather than diesel).

He'd drive like he didn't have a second tank, that way when we got way the hell out in the middle of nowhere while hunting or camping and "ran out of gas" we'd still have enough to get home/back to camp.

[K Frame]

Ah. Yes.

There you go. Your life is confirmed as "valid" for another day. Glad I could be of service.

When you type as quickly as I do, those sorts of errors creep in occasionally.

[K Frame]

I know someone who did run their old VW hatchback on kerosene in an "out of fuel" emergency once. Didn't hurt the car at all.

[Perd Hapley]

Ah. Yes.

There you go. Your life is confirmed as "valid" for another day.

Oh joy!  Oh joy! 

[RaspberrySurprise]

So how is the dye supposed to help them catch you using off road diesel anyways? I've never understood that.

[K Frame]

They do a dip test on the tank during an inspection.

Mainly it's aimed at tractor trailers.

[thumbody]

So how is the dye supposed to help them catch you using off road diesel anyways? I've never understood that.

The fuel for road use (taxed) is dyed one color, the off road farm use fuel(not road taxed)  is dyed another.
Several local farmers got nailed a few years back when the inspectors showed up at the stockyard on sale day.
Inspectors opened the cap inserted test strip and determined which fuel was in the tank.

[Azrael256]

Tractor, yes. VW, I think you'd be looking at a new fuel pump.

I know someone who did run their old VW hatchback on kerosene in an "out of fuel" emergency once. Didn't hurt the car at all

Actually, both are right.

Any older diesel will run K1 or JetA for a short time, but the fuel pump will die eventually.  Diesels made in the low-sulfur era will run forever on kerosene because they have newer fuel pumps.  Diesel manufacturers had to offer retrofit fuel pumps to keep older diesels on the road with low sulfur fuel.

Check the manual on any modern diesel.  They'll specify #2 diesel, K1, JetA, etc. as acceptable fuels.

[K Frame]

Oh joy!  Oh joy! 

Jus dooin mah jobz ta keepz da 'tardz happez.

[Sergeant Bob]

The fuel for road use (taxed) is dyed one color, the off road farm use fuel(not road taxed)  is dyed another.
Several local farmers got nailed a few years back when the inspectors showed up at the stockyard on sale day.
Inspectors opened the cap inserted test strip and determined which fuel was in the tank.

Road fuel (taxed) is not dyed, only off road fuel is dyed. The reason behind dyeing the fuel is to have to ability to catch people avoiding the tax. Vehicles licensed for "farm" use can use either dyed fuel or undyed fuel. The vehicles in question evidently were not licensed for "farm" use.

They do a dip test on the tank during an inspection.

Mainly it's aimed at tractor trailers.

My truck fuel tanks were dipped a couple times at weigh stations. Even using red additives in your fuel can get you in trouble.

[K Frame]

My brother's tanks have been dipped many times over the years.

[Ben]

My brother's tanks have been dipped many times over the years.

I'm not even going to ask.....


 

[seeker_two]

I'm not even going to ask.....


 

I am....   

[kino74]

Another thing most people don't understand is that fuel isn't "made" from crude, it is separated.  In other words, there is a portion of crude that is gasoline, motor oil, diesel, kerosene, jet fuel, etc.  My guess is that fuel oil (keep in mind I have never even seen it) is probably the left over.  That is, fuel that isn't a high enough quality for jet fuel or kerosene (probably the left over from the separation processes), and therefore probably makes up a small (relatively) percentage of crude oil. 

If that is the case, they probably have to process all year round to meet predicted winter demand, and simply stockpile in the summer.

Fuel oil is also called #6 fuel oil.  Its pretty thick and can be a PITA to run testing on.  I know I use to do petroluem testing for a couple of years.    Fuel oil can be mixed with cutter stock or even diesel for a variety of fuel uses.

The "dyed diesel" is dyed for taxes but also remember that diesle is HSD meaning High Sulfur Diesel.  On-road vehicles use to be LSD (Low Sulfur Diesel) which had a max sulfur of 500 ppm. Today ULSD (Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel) is the current diesel for passenger vehicles.  FYI max sulfur is 15 ppm but I use to typically see sulfur around 4 ppm. 

[Zed]

My truck fuel tanks were dipped a couple times at weigh stations. Even using red additives in your fuel can get you in trouble.

What about Blue Additives?

(Yes i Drive a Diesel)

[seeker_two]

Certainly there's not a chemical that can break down the dye in farm diesel and allow you to filter it out....

[Hawkmoon]

Yes. The leftover is bunker oil, a thick, gooey black mess burned only by ships.

And still further down the chain is asphalt -- the stuff they use on roads.

Heating oil is actually comparatively high in the hierarchy.