Diesel Fuel

In the UK, you buy 'Blue' diesel at the pumps and pay tax, 'Red' is reserved for agricultural use, you don't pay tax but if you get caught they throw the book at you! The colour is just dye.

My father owns a small construction company and they actually have places on the vehicles where you can see the color of the fuel to make sure people aren't suing "heating oil" in their vehicles.

you don't want to know what the fines are for having the 'wrong" type of fuel.

Wait: On the off-road vehicles - there are inspection glass for that purpose? You sure? I can't see why they would care. Heating oil or off-road diesel isn't taxed and if you want to use "taxed" on road diesel in your off-road equipment well Uncle Sam will happily take your money.

On the construction vehicles there is inspection glass. I know that the dump truck, front end loader and backhoe all have them. Not sure if they qualify for off road though.

I can't speak for the dump truck but on the loader and backhoe I'm guessing the inpsection glass you're referring to is around a fuel filter. The purpose is to check for water content on the fuel and dirtiness of the filter itself. Also if your operating the equipment in a cold climate the inspection glass is used to verify gelling isn't happening. It orginal purpose has little to do with fuel inspection - Think about it, this a piece of off-road equipment, if you want to pay the tax for on-road diesel, no one is going to stop you.

you get a refund. it is like boats that do not want to pay marina prices.

Ok...I'll let you in on the secret but you can't tell anyone. Come closer....closer....closer....ok ready?- They are the same except for one is dyed. So really the difference is one you've paid the proper taxes for. Hopefully you'll use this knowledge for good

Multiple issues here. Off road diesel is dyed for tax purposes..if they find off road diesel in an on road vehicle you can be fined as you're avoiding the fuel tax (off road fuels generally have no tax or different tax structure). Also, as of October, on road fuels must meet the ULSD (ultra low sulfur diesel) standards; this fuel was mandated to meet EPA requirements for the new 2007 engines which utilize DPF's (diesel particulate filters) and regeneration to meet emissions standards. Using off road fuel (generally high sulfur content) in on road application with new engines can create premature soot/ash filter blockage. Long story short...off road diesel and "regular" diesel ain't the same.

The difference between OFF-ROAD diesel and "ON-ROAD" diesel is that OFF-ROAD diesel has more sulfur in it. Sulfur acts as a lubricant for fuel pumps and injectors in diesel engines. The operational tolerance in an injector is about four millionths of an inch so the sulfur lubricates the moving parts inside of the injector. In 1993 the EPA changed the sulfur content of on road diesel to 500 PPM (parts per million) this was then called LSD (Low Sulfur Diesel). Now in 2007 they are requiring it to be changed again to 15 PPM this is called ULSD (Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel). Another difference is that ON-ROAD diesel is taxed and so to tell the difference between ON-ROAD and OFF-ROAD the OFF-ROAD diesel is dyed red. The only way you can legally use OFF-ROAD is if your vehicle is a registered farm vehicle. You can use the OFF-ROAD but only on your property, if you get caught using it on public roads you can be fined and even spend some jail time.

Hi, am sure you don't want to know what is really behind "off road disel" and the "regular one". The people in the oil industry will know it is their "bread and butter", well in the US these are commercial class of diesel fuel. Yes sir you are right when the dye is use for visual distinction of the two. However, we have different perception of the so called "off road" and "regular" diesel fuel. I am living in the 3rd world. you fellows are lucky enough not to be here. It is also true that sulfur content is one of the basic difference between the two class of diesel. but if you want to be more informed just seek and span you will discover more than just you can see.. You would not dare to do it.

Am in this industry and advocating the responsible use of these fuels, whether "off road or regular" in the world am in it has no distinction, it is just pollutants.

you may see amptroncorp.com or google clean city.

andynh2

The main difference between off road heating deisel and road use is just the huge price difference and a little bit of dye....

So with some fuller's earth shaken and stirred into the heating oil the dye is removed and its difficult to tell the difference unless you take samples for analysis...

Funny how fuller's earth sales rocketed when this fact became known, even stranger was the governments response to investigate any large purchases of fullers earth???!!

John.

It is all the same these days. Even off-road diesel is low-sulfur. The only difference is off-road is dyed and the highway use tax is not applied, only sales tax where applicable.

In what instance would sales tax be applicable? My company has off-road equipment but puts regular undyed diesel in them. We have applied for a diesel credit on the federal and state level. The state that we lived in called today and said they could give us the credit for the fuel but would have to charge us sales tax which would be more. Why would sales tax be applicable?