HYDRAULIC OIL MIXING WITH USED HYD. OIL

WHY ARE YOU SHOUTING?

It is generally considered rude to type in upper case when posting in forums like this. It is equivalent to shouting when having a face to face conversation.

hydraulic oil isn't always an oil. It can be a glycol or other mixtures of hydrocarbons.

Because of this you'd have to have your furnace permittec to burn it in th US.

To answer your question (in a whisper), yes, you can mix your 'used' hydraulic oil with your furnace oil if you like! However, there are three things you need to watch for:-

1) The furnace flame length will almost certainly change. This may mean that, if the flame length increases, you may find that the internals of the furnace steel work may be impinged and melt away.

2) The air inlet control will need re-adjustment. This will need to be on a fairly regular basis as the mix of oil, I doubt, would be constant. Without attention to this, fuel efficiency will drop!

3) Used hydraulic oil will contain various debris ranging from metallic to Viton rubber any of which could block furnace nozzles (or at least wear them, again causing inefficiency's culminating in smoke and environment issues).

Unless you have got huge volumes of used hydraulic oil, I wouldn't bother. There are better solutions if disposal is your aim.

Some Hyd Oils are fire retardant. The old types burn very well. Be careful of pollution concerns and your health for things like cancer causing fumes in the exhaust and also equipment damage to your furnace.

I just checked some material safety data sheets. IF you have #68 hydraulic fluid, AND it is the typical petroleum based oil, THEN yes you probably can filter it and add it to the fuel. You will want to ensure there are no local regulatory prohibitions (I do not know your location) or permits required. Be advised that the typical flash point of this material is 425°F/218°C, so the fuel characteristics will, as others have mentioned, change significantly. Hope this helps.