Central Heating Oil

[jjones]

hi,

i currently have a subaru that does 28mpg and costs a fortune in servicing/tyres/insurance etc. it is due an mot and i am thinking of selling it and buying my dads hi-lux 1996 2.4D (NA) as a replacement. As i can service it myself and carry out repairs without the worry of maintaining a FSH for resale purposes i should be able to save some money here.

i had a pickup before - a 2001 Tata 2.0TD Loadbeta, which was great fun, but dodgy build quality and spares availability made me sell it before it broke! (you see them on ebay all the time sans gearbox!)

anyhow back on track. the subaru can hit 28mpg on the commute and i guess i should get about the same from a hi-lux (used to get 35mpg from the tata). but as i checked the central heating oil level last night i noticed a sticker stating that it shouldn't be used as vehicle fuel on the tank. A 1300 litre stash of fuel would be very handy and at 28.5p litre and no hassle of buying trolley fulls of oil from Asda make it an attractive proposition.

so is it possible to use central heating oil? other than the tax issue (now presumably i already paid 7% tax on the oil could this be offset against a potential road fuel tax payment?) is there any reason why it cannot be used?

[chunkymonkey]

A 1300 litre stash of fuel would be very handy and at 28.5p litre and no hassle of buying trolley fulls of oil from Asda make it an attractive proposition.

so is it possible to use central heating oil? other than the tax issue (now presumably i already paid 7% tax on the oil could this be offset against a potential road fuel tax payment?) is there any reason why it cannot be used?[/QUOTE]


Central heating oil would work - the trouble is the road duty - it would be classed as a diesel substitute rather than a biofuel so you would have to pay 45.6p/l duty resulting in a total cost of around 73p/L (even takinginto account the 7% duty offset which you may well not be able to reclaim). More importantly central heating oil is still a fossil fuel so you gain none of the environmental benefits of driving on veg oil...

Veg oil from the chippy - free - duty 26p/l - thin it with 4%turps substitute and allow to settle - filter through J cloth - total cost ~30p/L

[laser_jock@work]

hi,


so is it possible to use central heating oil? other than the tax issue (now presumably i already paid 7% tax on the oil could this be offset against a potential road fuel tax payment?) is there any reason why it cannot be used?

Yes- but Customs & Excise might be very interested in your activity and they have powers that local Plod can only dream of. Heating oil is marked with a fluorescing dye too so a dip test will pick up traces in the tank.

Nevillef

[Conquering Lion]

Plenty do it, you have to mix a bit of hyrdaulic fluid in for lubrication. Have heard of a couple of people who have been caught with red and were only fined £250 each, but I don't know if thats true. Just imagine how much you'll !!!! yourself if you do get dipped, and if its a pickup you can be sure that they'll pick you out of a queue. Calculated risk.