Stash
Active member
Point taken. The use of home heating oil had not entered my mind. The loss of electricity at the stations was the driver to my initial response.
Random thoughts on being prepared... or not...
- Thread starter Chip
- Start date
Help Support vftt.org:
Point taken. The use of home heating oil had not entered my mind. The loss of electricity at the stations was the driver to my initial response.
Just make sure you have #2 oil. #4 is not supposed to be used in diesel appliances.
Tim
Tim
Spiny Mouse
Member
At the hospital where I used to be a facilities engineer, we used #2 home heating oil to fuel our 660kW stand-by generator.
We had to monitor the cetane rating of the fuel though and occasionally pour in additives to bring the rating up the the engine manufacturer's specs. We also had to be careful about the sulfur content of the heating oil so as not to run afoul of environmental regs.
Still a lot cheaper than using over-the-road diesel fuel, and it worked great.
We had to monitor the cetane rating of the fuel though and occasionally pour in additives to bring the rating up the the engine manufacturer's specs. We also had to be careful about the sulfur content of the heating oil so as not to run afoul of environmental regs.
Still a lot cheaper than using over-the-road diesel fuel, and it worked great.
For those interested in diesel generator options, there are two ways to go, high speed or low speed. Most of the high speed diesels are chinese origin and are esentially throwaways (Home depot or Lowes gas generators are too). They are really only designed to run limited hours before needing overhaul. Some folks get lucky and have one run for a long time and others end up on Craiglist. One major expeption are Yanmar diesels that tend to run a long time, I would compare them to a Honda. Low speed diesels are available as army surplus quite frequently and they will run for years. The trick with the military units is that they are frequently 3 phase and 4 times the size of high speed diesel. They also tend to be real noisy, althouhg in general all diesels are noisier than most gas units. There are also the classic Lister Peter diesels and their Indian Clones that are low speed and are based on 75 year old technology. They will run just about anything. Unfortunately the EPA has banned importation, so they are somewhat hard to find. Older generators in general tend to be able to run lower grade fuel versus the newer units.
Central Maine Diesel in Bangor ME is a good resource for generators in general and diesel generators in particular.
Central Maine Diesel in Bangor ME is a good resource for generators in general and diesel generators in particular.
RoySwkr
New member
- Joined
- Sep 4, 2003
- Messages
- 4,467
- Reaction score
- 285
Not true. They are not required to filter it but they add both chlorine and flouride and will soon add UV treatment.
http://www.nyc.gov/html/dep/pdf/wsstate11.pdf
Tom Rankin
Well-known member
Sorry, I should have said unfiltered.
sardog1
New member
- Joined
- Nov 8, 2003
- Messages
- 2,579
- Reaction score
- 231
Before you pour any home heating oil into a diesel generator, you will want to verify whether it contains kerosene, among other things. Kerosene is worthless as a lubricant, burns hotter than diesel fuel and might just cook the touchy-feely parts of the engine faster than you can scream WTF??!!!, as you stare at the now useless iron hulk in your driveway ...
Raven
Well-known member
Along those same lines, biodiesel lubricates very well. Also, it doesn't require advanced organic laboratory skills to make, and it's significantly less toxic than diesel.
Chip
Well-known member
I don't how to verify that. I assume there is no kerosene in my home heating oil as kerosene is more expensive and my bill says "Dyed Diesel" or some such. Also my diesel mercedes will burn vegetable oil, if needs be, so I (AGAIN) assume diesel generators are more tolerant of various fuels, including the use of kersosene.
