For those running oil fired rigs

[DocsMapleSyrup]

I've been researching oil fired evaporators as an option for the next season. Cost of producing the BTUs needed is a concern. I've read that home heating oil and #2 diesel have the same BTUs and their chemical composition is quite similar. Home heating oil is not as clean as diesel and does not have the cetane boost in it that diesel contains. It has been used to heat homes for short periods of time. It would also be available to use in the farm tractor if needed. Has anyone considered using off road diesel rather than fuel oil if there is a price advantage?

[ecp]

Interesting question you bring up. We purchase heating oil in the summer when it is less expensive and run that in our tractors and equipment all year round with no issue. I would say you can go with whatever is cheaper, but I have never been able to buy off road diesel for what I can get heating oil for thus the reason I have never thought about burning off road diesel for the evaporator.

[mainebackswoodssyrup]

Our 2x6 evaporator runs like crap on #2 oil. We bought it used from a guy who owns an oil company in VT. Clearly, they have the nozzle size and pressures set to run on K-1. We have a stack temp of 700 degrees and a tight flame dispersion with K-1. Even running a mix of the two, it runs like crap. The stack temp climbs to 900 and the flame is wider and the whole evaporator runs worse with any #2 mixed in. Boil rates go from around 50 GPH to less than 40 GPH. Last year we tried #2 at the end of the year when we ran out of K-1. This year we added a 2nd tank with K-1 in it and when we ran out, we swapped to the other tank which was 80% K-1, 20% #2 oil and it ran the same as if it was all #2.
As mentioned, oil is also dirtier. It produces an oily soot compared to the dry soot from K-1 that is much easier to clean and does not build up on the pans as badly. Point is, we have learned the hard way there are nozzle and pressure settings for whatever you want to run. Fortunately, it was on the last few boils each year. I am sure we could change things to get a better boil with #2 oil but it works perfect with K-1 so why mess with it. We have chose to stick with K-1 and bare that extra cost but I am tempted to try some diesel. So the first question you should ask is what was the burner designed to run on? Maybe our evaporator is overly sensitive but we will never run another ounce of #2 in ours.

[steam maker]

Had my oil fired for 3 seasons , always have run off road diesel in it . No issues and always can find it cheaper than home heating oil around here. I would suggest no matter what u get for a rig , and im gonna probly take heat for this, call cdl and have there oil guy richard come tune it in !!! Well worth the money . Or if u end up with a new cdl oil rig first time is free. Im sure theres more out there than him but hes made mine run excellent.. just my 2 cents

[Wise Maple]

I am sure all maple co have a tech to setup oil fired evap , CDL tech guy set ours up and it works great, as he said never call a home heating service tech for an evaporator.

[DrTimPerkins]

We use Kerosene in our evaporator -- our fuel line (a single line) is in the floor so we don't want to take the chance of fuel gelling (a double-line, feed/return is a far better way to go). Kerosene burns cleaner, but the BTU content is about 5% lower and the lubricity is lower so an additive is needed. Diesel would work also.

However you go in terms of fuel, as already mentioned, having a well-qualified evaporator oil-burner tech come and tune your rig is well worth it. We've had techs (we call them "evaporator whisperers") from CDL and Lapierre come and do their respective evaporators for us, and been very pleased. They know their stuff inside and out.

[WMF]

Just keep in mind with a two line setup you will be constantly filtering your whole tank of fuel and if your tank has crud settled out in it your fuel filter may need changing more frequently.
I have seen issues with plugging filters right after a tank fill as this usually stirs up settled out crud.
I prefer a one line setup and a tiger loop as the tiger loop will slightly warm the cold outside stored fuel for better atomization.

[DrTimPerkins]

I have seen issues with plugging filters right after a tank fill as this usually stirs up settled out crud.

Different fuels have different additives and detergents added. When we switched to biodiesel (B20), we plugged up a couple of filters almost immediately from the algae growing in the moisture inside the top of the tank. Good to have a few spares around when you're starting up the season, especially if you wait until just before it starts to fill your oil tanks.

[mainebackswoodssyrup]

Dr. Tim, what do you use as an additive with K-1? Is it just get increase Btu’s?

[DrTimPerkins]

Dr. Tim, what do you use as an additive with K-1? Is it just get increase Btu’s?

I don't recall what the name of it is. Was suggested by the fuel distributor and they just add it as needed. It was to increase lubrication and to reduce possibility of gelling.

[VT_K9]

Three years ago we built a new sugarhouse and upgraded from a Leader WSE 2x6 wood fired evaporator to a CDL Deluxe 3x10 oil fired evaporator. One of point of interest was much like yours...can/should we run off road diesel over #2 heating oil.

First stop was the propane supplier I used to inquire about differences between the Off Road Diesel Fuel and Heating Oil because they sold all three products. The first answer was due to Vermont's regulations on heating oil there is little difference between that and Diesel. Apparently NH has different heating oil standards.

We have a tractor and excavator we would like to be able to pump fuel into from the same tank. It would allow for better rotation of fuel.

Why not ask CDL...We were told the evaporator runs on heating oil. We talked about the differences and it was still logical that off road diesel would work. However it would be more expensive in some cases. I did read somewhere it does not provide 100% the BTUs heating oil provides, but the difference is minimal.

We have used off road diesel for the last three years. Last year there was a brief discussion to switch when heating oil costs dropped as we had not hook up our fuel pump to the tank. We stayed with the off road.

We had our evaporator tuned this past year and there were a couple minor adjustments but it was running well.

We used our 600 gph RO this year for the first time and it cut the fuel usage by a little more than half and we made 176 gallons compared to last years 118 gallons.

We have a 330 gallon fuel tank with pipe run under the slab in conduit to our evaporator. We have the parts and need to find the time to add the fill rite fuel pump to the tank. In the meantime we are still filling from 2 55 gallon drums which we can also use to refill the primary tank in an emergency.

One more...shop around for your fuel. The first supplier, a company my Dad has been with since 1985, charged us X Dollars (I don't recall). Then we needed to refuel mid season. It was MUCH cheaper at the pump, but a pain to pump from the 2 tanks to fill it. This year we found another supplier whose price is the same as the pump price delivered. I am sure if we were bigger users the price would be less.

I would recommend off road diesel fuel and make sure you have the rig tuned by a competent evaporator technician, not just an oil tech. I believe the firing goals are slightly different.

Mike

[Bellehollow]

Mike - what kind of evaporation rate are you getting? We are looking at either a 2.5x8 or a 3x10 deluxe. Like you we thought burning off road diesel would streamline refueling the farm equipment.