Red Diesel Colour Change.

[Jim@sea]

As Red Diesel is only ordinary diesel with a red dye put in it. Is there no other dye which one could use to change the colour from red.
I was told once that in Ireland agricultural diesel was coloured Green, if so why couldent that green dye be mixed with our red diesel, that would certainly change the colour, perhaps enough to alter the European Enforcement Criteria.

 

[Topcat47]

Since late last year, I reckon a lot of "boat" diesel has been clear as my tank contains "pink" rather than "red" fuel (a bit like parrafin or have they stoped that now?). Last year I filled up in the Channel Islands but this season it's been all UK fuel ( I got a shock comparing French prices with ours).

 

[snooks]

I still have green diesel in a jerry can on Pixie.

It was paid for in Euros, but haven't been to the eurozone since.

 

[prv]

As Red Diesel is only ordinary diesel with a red dye put in it. Is there no other dye which one could use to change the colour from red.

Well, they do their best to make sure there isn't, otherwise what would be the point?

There are apparently some techniques which will filter out the colour, but not the chemical marker that goes with it. But if you do that, presumably you're now illegal in the UK, especially if you bought it at 60/40. And illegal fuel through a specific act (setting up a filter system) is much harder to justify than "illegal" fuel due to international bureaucracy.

Pete

 

[G12]

You can buy a dye to make it blue - they sell it to farmers to help combat diesel theft.

 

[theoldsalt]

Jim@sea,

"As Red Diesel is only ordinary diesel with a red dye put in it"

If by "ordinary diesel" you mean road diesel, at most marine outlets this is not true.

Previous threads on this and other forums have covered this at length.

 

[tigr]

changing colour

Dodgy ground, I have heard that stolen red diesel can be filtered through cooker hood filters and the dye taken out, leaving a clear fuel. Suddenly the sale of hood filters dramatically increased!
But as a law abiding citizen why should you hide what you have purchased!
At the moment is not illegal to use red diesel, it is only a EEC complication, the RYA have proof it is not illegal and can prove it. A good person said that Europe is a good place to go on holiday but why should they control our laws.

I may upset some fellows but I use my boat for leisure and so do not believe that this is the same as commercial use. Fisherman and Farmers use red diesel to produce food for the country and so have reduced tax on fuel, lorry drivers deliver food but pay the full wack, I have vans to deliver goods and pay the full tax. We are all doing this to make a living, for profit not leisure.
It sort of does not seem right that a big expensive motor can fill up on gallons of fuel on reduced tax designed to help producers of food or services and then to use the fuel to blast out and have some fun!

Maybe the EEC is right in their view but what we are doing is not illegal - yet


Sorry, rant over!

 

[eidiohir]

As Red Diesel is only ordinary diesel with a red dye put in it. Is there no other dye which one could use to change the colour from red.
I was told once that in Ireland agricultural diesel was coloured Green, if so why couldent that green dye be mixed with our red diesel, that would certainly change the colour, perhaps enough to alter the European Enforcement Criteria.

It is indeed possible to mix red and green to obtain an almost clear diesel and it was done and sold openly in the border areas for years.I think that Ireland has the same rules as the UK as far as buying marked fuel for boats so mixing them should not be illegal

 

[PCUK]

It's not the dye that is tested for but the added chemical that can't be removed.

 

[NormanS]

I may upset some fellows but I use my boat for leisure and so do not believe that this is the same as commercial use. Fisherman and Farmers use red diesel to produce food for the country and so have reduced tax on fuel, lorry drivers deliver food but pay the full wack, I have vans to deliver goods and pay the full tax. We are all doing this to make a living, for profit not leisure.
It sort of does not seem right that a big expensive motor can fill up on gallons of fuel on reduced tax designed to help producers of food or services and then to use the fuel to blast out and have some fun!

Maybe the EEC is right in their view but what we are doing is not illegal - yet


Sorry, rant over!

I expect that your vans run on roads, which have to be made and maintained. In theory, the tax on fuel is supposed to be a "road" tax. The sea, on the other hand, is just there.

 

[Reverend Ludd]

Dare I suggest that you try domestic heating oil.
Cheap and no dye.

 

[ffiill]

YOU MUST BE JOKING-domestic heating oil is keroscene;paraffin;esso blue ;aviation fuel -call it what you will.It totally lacks the lubricating properties of diesel and your injector pump which relies on the oil present in the fuel for lubrication will self destruct.
Now if you add a suitable quantity of oil-gear oil;two stroke;or just engine lubricating oil no problem.
You can put diesel in your central heating tank-red or white and it will burn although it prefers a slightly bigger jet as it is slightly thicker..
Bottom line is anyone can buy as much red diesel as you want and quite legally store it wherever you want.
Its what use you put it too that can create problems/break the law etc.

 

[Reverend Ludd]

YOU MUST BE JOKING-domestic heating oil is keroscene;paraffin;esso blue ;aviation fuel -call it what you will.It totally lacks the lubricating properties of diesel and your injector pump which relies on the oil present in the fuel for lubrication will self destruct.
Now if you add a suitable quantity of oil-gear oil;two stroke;or just engine lubricating oil no problem.
You can put diesel in your central heating tank-red or white and it will burn although it prefers a slightly bigger jet as it is slightly thicker..
Bottom line is anyone can buy as much red diesel as you want and quite legally store it wherever you want.
Its what use you put it too that can create problems/break the law etc.

Have you personal knowledge of that, I doubt it.
I recon all that self destruct stuff is put out by the oil companies to catch some mugs.
I have two friend who use it all the time.
One bought a brand new Range Rover 5 years ago and the other is on his second Merc S Class. Neither has had a single problem.

 

[VicS]

Depends surely on the grade of heating oil.

28 second oil is kerosene and would I am sure be detrimental to the injector pump if no more

35 second oil is gas oil and can be used in a diesel engine without problems.

 

[colvic987]

It is indeed possible to mix red and green to obtain an almost clear diesel and it was done and sold openly in the border areas for years.I think that Ireland has the same rules as the UK as far as buying marked fuel for boats so mixing them should not be illegal

i have been doing this for years, red in uk and filling with green when in ireland for the return trip back home, but it doesnt change it to a near clear colour, more a browny one... sorry to bust the myth...

 

[tigr]

re road tax

The road tax is the highly priced bit of paper on the windscreen, currently 4 vans and three cars should be enough to re-surface my bit of road use per year, and a "tax exempt" Motorbike, why is an old beast free! In the same way as boaties use cheaper taxed diesel I will not complain...
The sea is there, although going by mooring fees and the crown owning the coastline etc I don't think it is unclaimed.

 

[ffiill]

Keroscene -common central heating oil a greenish yellow colour is basically the same as the fuel used in jet aircrafts or sold as esso blue paraffin.
My house is heated by this and there have been several scandals involving civilian airliners in third world countries being filled up with this. As the experts out there I am sure will detail aviation keroscene is refined slighty differently and has different additives.
Our local fishfarm uses red diesel which again is basically the same as taxed road diesel which I believe is the natural colour of the oil.
Some public building including our local schools use heavy oil as opposed to light(diesel) oil.
The same oil that is used by large ships.
Last winter when we could not get domestic heating oil I initially used my supply of red and when that ran out for several weeks I had to use taxed white from the local garage.
Can you use keroscene in a diesel engine without adding oil?
With an old inline pump such as I have fitted to my OM636 Merc boat diesel it might be possible because the pump which is like a minature version of a car engine has an independant lubrication system to its bearings.
In any indirect diesel fitted with a rotary injection pump you will kill the pump-minimum £500 for a recon.
What does intrigue me taking comments on here into account is the high pressure pump fitted to a modern computer controlled direct injection diesel.
They drive of the cam belt,may well have sealed roller bearings and the pump looks very similar to the pressure delivery pump found on an oil burner fitted in a domestic central heating system so maybe you can get away with it.But you will loose the lubrication that exists between the rotating delivery plate and base plate with inlet and outlet valves in it.
However as it clearly states on my delivery chits "it is illegal to use this fuel oil on road vehicles"

 

[GrahamM376]

As Red Diesel is only ordinary diesel with a red dye put in it. Is there no other dye which one could use to change the colour from red.

Filter through Fullers Earth which is sometimes used as cat litter.

 

[Quandary]

Filter through Fullers Earth which is sometimes used as cat litter.

Or join the IRA who are already in the clarification business as they are official suppliers to the taxis in Belfast, but I think their technique involves substantial quantities of sulphuric acid.

A builder aquaintance of mine was stopped on his way home, the mobile excise crew dipped his Range Rover and offered him the chance to pay £500 on the spot or go to court, he rang the wife as he had not enough cash and asked her to bring him the money, he said to her 'come down in the daughters Mini' he could not empasize it too much, so the silly cow just jumped into the family Merc. Two birds for the price of one.

 

[steve6367]

I expect that your vans run on roads, which have to be made and maintained. In theory, the tax on fuel is supposed to be a "road" tax. The sea, on the other hand, is just there.

Very little of the duty on fuel goes on roads - it is a tax designed to raise money and in theory reduce use of fuel. If we are going to have that system (and I am not saying I agree with the level of fuel duty) then why should it not apply to leisure boaters?

Steve