The home heating oil industry has a long and proud history, and Fuel Oil News has been there supporting it since 1935. It is an industry that has faced many challenges during that time. In its 77th year, Fuel Oil News is doing more than just holding
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B IO FUE L S Living With Biofuels A special focus on alternative fuels quality BY GEORGE L ANTH I ER even more I'm mad because I feel betrayed and I'll tell you why. I keep reading about all these focus groups and such that love alternative (bio) fuels, but I don't find it to be true in my everyday conversations with Northeast homeowners and my consulting clients. My large clients are switching to gas, and there's nothing T I can do about it; believe me, I've tried. Part of the reason is increased fuel consumption and that's another part of the betrayal problem. Although we at Firedragon don't do anything with homeown- ers, it's still amazing the number of calls and e-mails we get every week from them and boy they are not happy. I can tell you from these calls the last thing the retail oil industry needs to do is turn consumers off any more. Again, only my opinion, but biofuels are turning many people off. I'm not just talking about heating oil either, go talk to some diesel and auto mechanics and if you really want to hear an earful, go talk to small engine guys. It's gotten so bad with them that the hottest product right now is a straight run gas-oil mix that sells anywhere from $16.00 to $40.00 a gallon! Funny thing is it's hard to find and works. I'll tell you, after replacing a few small engine Figure 1 HIS ARTICLE IS ABOUT FUEL QUALITY, PURE AND SIMPLE. WHAT I'm going to focus on is the biofuel thing. For the record as a consumer, I'm not impressed, and carburetors and other parts, I can vouch for it. No more ethanol mixes in my small engines. Anyway, back to the basics and specifically the fuel. I've been writing articles for over 25 years and just started my 45th year in the heating business. Over that time oil quality hasn't gotten any better, it's just gotten worse and that is sadly the problem. Refiners find heating oil a nuisance, too many problems with storage and delivery and not as good a profit as taking crude oil and making other things including diesel and propane, yup the competition. Remember though, 80 percent of the propane dealers in New England also sell oil maybe not so much the com- petition as the future. You must keep in mind that crude oil is also the basic ingredi- ent of propane and diesel, Figure 1 (taken from NORA Oilheat Technician's Manual). Make more propane and you make more money. As to diesel, it's a refinery favorite. Diesel use is growing, oilheat is not! Diesel is higher profit, no long-term storage prob- lems and a quicker cash turnover and that's really important right now for anyone in any business. This article is not for the gallonage minded or the guys and gals who deliver fuel oil, it's for the servicemen who have been beating their brains out trying to find out what they're doing wrong for up to five years now. The truth, you have done nothing wrong. The problem is the oil! Figure 2 30 FEBRUARY 2012 | FUEL OIL NEWS | www.fueloilnews.com