On road diesel vs off road NO 2 red

[Dave M7040]

I find the key is first having a water block filter on the outlet of your bulk tank.

GOLDENROD 495 Bowl Fuel Tank Filter with 1" NPT Top Cap, Fuel Filters - Amazon Canada

GOLDENROD 495 Bowl Fuel Tank Filter with 1" NPT Top Cap in Fuel Filters.

www.amazon.ca

The second is before pumping fuel into your tractor, pump the fuel in the hose back into the bulk tank. This stops any condensation etc from entering the tractor system and in effect re-filters the fuel sitting in the bulk tank discharge hose.

My tractor is 9 years old and I have never had to change the tractor filter, never found any water in the tractor system

Dave M040

 

[Dave M7040]

If you have a tier 4 common rail engine, it requires ultra low sulfur diesel. The process of making the ultra low sulfur reduces the lubricity of the fuel, so a lubricity additive is used in diesel fuel that is not required in heating oil.
If you get off road diesel, with the red dye, it may or may not be ultra low sulfur and it may or may nor have the lubricity additive.

My locale requires ultra low sulfur heating oil, so I buy heating oil and add the lubricity and cold flow additives myself, that way I know for sure what is in my bulk tank. You could ask your supplier if they get the lubricity added at the loading rack, but I don’t gamble, I know for sure what I have.

I would point out that oil burning furnaces and boilers had many problems when low sulfur fuels were introduced. These problems initially appeared in Alaska as winter arrived there first during the mandated change in fuel requirements.

The greatly reduced lubricity caused the pump on the oil burner to seize. These pumps had to be re designed
to deal with the new fuel. The new design pumps runs reliably on ultra low sulfur fuels.

Dave M7040

 

[Cranblue]

I find the key is first having a water block filter on the outlet of your bulk tank.

GOLDENROD 495 Bowl Fuel Tank Filter with 1" NPT Top Cap, Fuel Filters - Amazon Canada

GOLDENROD 495 Bowl Fuel Tank Filter with 1" NPT Top Cap in Fuel Filters.

www.amazon.ca

View attachment 688666

The second is before pumping fuel into your tractor, pump the fuel in the hose back into the bulk tank. This stops any condensation etc from entering the tractor system and in effect re-filters the fuel sitting in the bulk tank discharge hose.

My tractor is 9 years old and I have never had to change the tractor filter, never found any water in the tractor system

Dave M040

9 years on engine fuel filter is impressive !! When working on cranberry farm we had a black algae get in our tanks it was a hell of a mess !! It would plug up tank filters and machine filters lucky to get 250-300 we finally got it under control our filters weren’t as impressive as Goldenrod of course machines had water separator filters.Thx for info appreciate it

 

[Cranblue]

Local LS dealer was having tractors come in with fuel issues, all used off road diesel. They've been running some tests to try to figure things out, so far inconclusive, but they are currently recommending on road fuel at the moment.
It is 'supposed' to be the same fuel, but the many many questions you can read about it here and other places, seems to point that it isn't, at least not in all places. This is a rural farming area, so the red fuel turnover should be decent.

Well it seems storage and additives are factors.There may be differences in filters at pumps this may be what Sun Belt tech was stating to me ?? I don’t know if there’s only one type of filter used at service stations or there’s multiple types like available for private storage.

 

[Cranblue]

I would point out that oil burning furnaces and boilers had many problems when low sulfur fuels were introduced. These problems initially appeared in Alaska as winter arrived there first during the mandated change in fuel requirements.

The greatly reduced lubricity caused the pump on the oil burner to seize. These pumps had to be re designed
to deal with the new fuel. The new design pumps runs reliably on ultra low sulfur fuels.

Dave M7040

I guess real question I had is final filtration the same at service stations do they use different filters or is there a standard or multiple types they use like you or I can ?? I think this was what the Sun Belt tech was leaning towards.

 

[RalphVa]

Growing up on blue berry farm and working on fairly large cranberry farm 20+yrs off road was standard for price and was allowed for farmers !! Now retired in Western NC off road not real easy to find but I did find some near me.I have a L4701 when I first purchased I put road diesel in tractor then I started with off road but it noticed tractor regeneration was more often ?? Then I rented small excavator I put off road in it was loaded with water.Service tech from Sun Belt told me road diesel was filtered more than off road not just dye.I’m using On Road from now on and Kubota fuel additive. Just curious on others experiences and opinions ??

The only time I bought off road was when I had some problems with wax globs coming out of solution and partially plugging the outlet of the tank. Took back to Exxon. They refunded me, and I bought on road again. Had a couple days down to 10 F that caused the wax globs to come out of solution. Never had this with on road.

 

[tibadoe]

Just filled up the tank for the first time and used on road diesel. I will continue to do so unless I find a local dealer that sells somewhat high volume fresh fuel, no water, and changes out their filters when needed. I don't mind paying a few cents more to know I'm not getting any water. I just retired from driving fuel trucks and I know which retail stores in my area have water and which don't. Most places have smaller above ground tanks which heat & cool daily which adds more condensation. They are not high volume sellers so they only fill tanks a few times a year. I stay away from these places.

I'm not saying this is what everyone should do. This is just what I do and it works for me in my small part of the world.

 

[Zakatak]

The only time I bought off road was when I had some problems with wax globs coming out of solution and partially plugging the outlet of the tank. Took back to Exxon. They refunded me, and I bought on road again. Had a couple days down to 10 F that caused the wax globs to come out of solution. Never had this with on road.

It is very likely that the off road fuel you purchased was a summer blend and the on road was a winter. Not so much to do with the fact that it was "offroad". The seller probably does not move as much off road and therefore had some leftover product from the warmer season.

Key thing here for everyone is due diligence on their fuel supplier. This is especially true in rural areas that do not move as much volume.

 

[DK35vince]

In the 20 years I have owned my tractor it I have run off road fuel only, never an issue

 

[jaxs]

Just filled up the tank for the first time and used on road diesel. I will continue to do so unless I find a local dealer that sells somewhat high volume fresh fuel, no water, and changes out their filters when needed. I don't mind paying a few cents more to know I'm not getting any water. I just retired from driving fuel trucks and I know which retail stores in my area have water and which don't. Most places have smaller above ground tanks which heat & cool daily which adds more condensation. They are not high volume sellers so they only fill tanks a few times a year. I stay away from these places.

I'm not saying this is what everyone should do. This is just what I do and it works for me in my small part of the world.

Now that's some special knowledge to have. Do you know this from having witnessed which stations have water added to their delivers? I aggree about above ground/low volume turn over tanks but people also pick up water from underground tanks. It's those underground tanks that make me ask how you know which does and which does not contain water. BTW,did you by chance deliver for Sunbelt before retiring?