Posted on 09/25/2022 12:45:55 PM PDT by leopud
I’m hopeful someone can help with his Expert Opinion in this situation: heating oil was accidently added to kerosene in outside fuel tank... Details: Regular home-heating fuel used for 5 years: Kerosene About 70 gallons of kerosene was remaining in the tank before delivery (total tank capacity: 275 gallons). Accidently, during the delivery, 100 gallons of #2 heating oil was added, by mistake, to kerosene (four days ago) Present/current mix in the tank: about 70 gallons of kerosene and 100 gallons of #2 heating oil. Burner: “Thermo Pride” Heard that mix of heating fuels leads to fire hazards... so looked everywhere online & even called fire-departments, as well. But couldn’t find a definite answer. All resulting in 5-6 pieces of conflicting information from “combining kerosene and heating oil can be very dangerous (i.e. fires and excessive fumes) ... to “mixture of #2 fuel oil and kerosene gets a cleaner burn”. Hope to receive an expert opinion. Thank you, in advance.
Play it safe and purge the tank.
Bttt
.
Whoever delivered the oil needs to pay for draining your fuel tank...
Don’t think the company that delivered it should know the answer to your question? I would contact them.
https://www.burts.com/blog/heating-oil-vs-kerosene-whats-difference/
kerosene might burn hotter, but you have a mix
#2 heating oil is pretty much kerosene. Dont worry about it.
“Experts” might not want to give an opinion because of potential liability issues. If the error was on a vendor, you might want to consider demanding that they fix it.
Good luck.
What do you use your kerosene for?
If it just a heater in your barn, people mix fuel oil and even diesel in an orchard heater. Some people call them smudge pots. They can burn any oils but never gasoline.
“Play it safe and purge the tank.”
I was going to make a wise-ass comment about you ‘getting with the program’ and going all-electric.
But the above advice is good as you don’t want to blow a boiler. However, there may be safe ways to use the Kerosene/Heating Oil mixture, such as in a portable heater that vents outdoors, or sell it to someone with an old diesel engine as they don’t care what fuel you use, but I’m not an expert on this.
Call the company involved, an engineer in the field, your country permitting agency to see if they can recommend an expert... Call all of ‘em.
Kerosene has a lower flash point at 100F versus #2 oil at 140F. if the tank is outside then you won’t have issues with fumes/vapors. my truck (m35a2 multi fuel) can run kerosene, diesel, #2 or JP5 and a mixture of all including gas. I would check the BTU differences between the two. A lot of homes also use kerosene for heating. if the furnace is rated for kerosene, Id be more concerned about soot and fumes, than explosions.
[...Dont worry about it.]
I agree. I have one of those square kerosene heaters with a wick. I use it in my garage and workshop when it’s really cold. I can’t find bulk kerosene locally anymore and I’m not going to pay the by the jug price at lowes/hd. I have used diesel several times without a problem. I’ve read that it damages the wick over time but haven’t noticed yet. The smell is a little stronger though.
Call the company involved, an engineer in the field, your country permitting agency to see if they can recommend an expert... Call all of ‘em.
Reply #11 says no... Insurance companies aren’t impressed with homes burning down because someone thought they might get lucky and save $200
regular home heating
after reading your statement, I realized you were burning kerosene before the oil ws added, so you will be fine as the furnace is rated for kerosene, which burns a till hotter but cost more. https://www.hunker.com/12608079/kerosene-vs-diesel-in-a-fuel-oil-furnace
You can safely mix #2 and kerosene in oil fired burners or diesel engines. We use #2 for heating Sept-January, then switch to kerosene for January and February because #2 gels up at -20F, and kerosene will still flow at those temps.
If you’re running a Monitor type heater just get a couple of extra fuel filters because #2 is a little dirtier than kerosene.
Kerosene burns hotter than home heating oil. My suggestion is get the folks back that mixed the two and ask them to make it right.
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