Can you explain about diesel red and blue?

[jollysailor17]

Firstly I did a search and could not find what I needed so I posted the question. Apologies if this has already been discussed and if so, please direct me to the thread. Thanks.

When I bought my boat she came with two diesel tanks. One is black supplying the engine and the other is red supplying the diesel heater. The black one has in it blue diesel exactly as I would buy from the gas station for my volvo. The red one has red diesel.

I was looking at a possible replacement for my eberspacher diesel heater and on a canal site was informed that due to the changes in duty red diesel would no longer be okay to use for boat heating. Then I read a different site that said it would be okay.

So could you please let me know which is it? and if I was to run out at sea would I be allowed to use some of the engine diesel for the heater, though presumably not the other way round, unless perhaps life and limb were in question?

Thanks. Look forward to your replies.

 

[Allan]

Red diesel can be used for both propulsion and heating. The heating element is duty free and the propulsion element is subject to duty. To make it more workable, most marinas charge at a rate they call 60/40, That is 60% with duty, 40% duty free. Charging for domestic purposes is also duty free.
With your system, I assume you could fill your heating tank with duty free and the engine tank with 100% duty paid. Unless you use the heating a lot, filling both with 60/40 would probably be cheaper.
Allan

 

[Tranona]

There is a full explanation on the subject on the RYA site.

 

[prv]

Note that most systems feed from a single tank. There's no need to have separate tanks for duty purposes. In fact, I suspect the reason you have two may be in order to feed red to the engine and white (ie normal road diesel) to the heater. Some people do this because they believe the white is cleaner and better for the heater.

Pete

 

[jollysailor17]

Thanks Alan, Pete and Tranona for your advice. I will also check out the RYA site.

 

[BoyBlue49]

Diesel

Hi
Are you sure your Eber is tuned to run on diesel, the reason I ask is I have not come across blue diesel, I have sold many gallons/litres of blue paraffin/kerosene,(Esso Blue).

Road diesel is a pale straw colour, boat diesel is in this country at the moment red, abroad it is what is known as white (pale straw).

As far as we are concerned both red and white are ok for boat use and normally for boat heating.

If your Eber has been set up for kero, that could explain the two tanks. Have you tested what is in that tank?

This subject has caused much wringing of hands in the past for no reason other than technics looking for something that is not there.

Someone will be along in a minute to blast me out of the water with some technical jargon and theorem, just you see.

 

[Bru]

I have not come across blue diesel,

Blue dye is added to DERV as an anti-theft marker by a lot of large organisations

IIRC, railway locomotives used to use blue diesel years ago too (different duty rate) but I think these days they use red.

Either way, if it really *is* blue when viewed in a clear container I'd keep schtumm and get rid!

The tank setup makes sense - DERV to the engine, gas oil (a.k.a. red diesel) to the heating and will avoid any problems with Johnny Foreigner and our very own wonderful tax gatherers when the buggers, sorry burghers, of the EU force our government to ditch the 60/40 split compromise

That said, BoyBlue may be spot on about the heating being set up to run on Kerosene so it needs checking before refuelling it

 

[ostell]

Perhaps filled up in Ireland where they have blue dye in diesel as a tax marker rather than the UK red.

 

[colvic987]

Perhaps filled up in Ireland where they have blue dye in diesel as a tax marker rather than the UK red.

when i last filled up in howth, the diesel had a green dye, (very patriotic i thought), maybe the diesel the op has was from scotland !!!!!!

 

[rivonia]

Irish Diesel IS GREEN
UK Duty free is RED
H eating Diesel is BLUE Enough said!!

 

[VO5]

Naive question:~

What happens when you hop from port to port and top up your tank with diesel of different colours ?

Is the colour just a dye and does not affect performance of engine / Eber ?

And suppose Customs want to have a look...how would they deal with a resulting blended colour (from a visiting boat not UK register) ?

Any ideas ?

 

[VO5]

As an afterthought.......when different coloured diesels are put in the tank, do they blend to one colour or do they swill around in there like a rainbow ?