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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www.fueloilnews.com | FUEL OIL NEWS | AUGUST 2016 15 I FIND THAT MANY FUEL OIL DEALERS ARE SKEPTICAL ABOUT fuel additives and don't even want to talk about them. This "snake oil" per- ception has even pervaded our industry support specialists. How is a fuel dealer to choose from among the many additive choices? Each product claims to be "the one that works" or "the best one on the market." It's no wonder that fuel dealers are hesitant to spend hard-earned dollars trying a new additive, especially when the impartial industry advisors try to avoid the subject altogether. I am a relative newcomer to the fuel business. I spent 30 years with the DuPont Company doing things not related to fuels, and only started experimenting with fuel treatments after I "retired" in the early '90s. I've heard stories from old-timers about fuel additives that would make one's hair stand on end. I also hear about products that apparently did good things…but then simply disappeared. Before I eventually move on to real retirement, I want to share three case histories from my years in the business. My hope is that these case histories might renew the willingness of fuel dealers to consider that certain additives out there will actually make their businesses healthier and their lives easier. CASE HISTORY 1 — A TEST INTENDED TO FAIL I had just started my fledgling fuel treatment business when the local newspaper printed a small article about us. A few weeks later, I received a call from the marketing manager for the largest fuel dealer in northern Delaware. This guy, (who we'll call MM for marketing manager), said he envisioned a marketing advantage for his company by using our product and making that public knowledge. There was just one catch, however: He had to see evidence that our product really worked. I suggested that he have his service manager (SM) set up a test of our product. When I visited, he asked SM to join us and gave him the assignment. With great lack of enthusiasm, SM agreed to make a short list of customers with serious service issues, then he and I would treat their tanks and see what happened over a year's time. SM produced a list of 10 customers for the test. When I saw the service records, I knew this would not be easy. Within the previous season, these 10 homeowners had had a total of 65 unscheduled ser- vice calls. Almost all of these calls appeared to have been filter/strainer/ nozzle issues. One poor homeowner had had 13 service calls during that one heating season. Frankly, I wondered why that homeowner was still buying heating oil from that company. Our product in those days was simply a diesel additive package made by a large and reputable chemical company. I had learned about this product while still with DuPont, and knew it had helped my own sludge problems first in my diesel automobile and later in my new Pennsylvania home. The manufacturer sold this product only in bulk quantities to refin- eries, terminals and fuel wholesalers, but they were willing and some- what amused to have me buy drums from them and put their product into little bottles under our label. Because this product had limited potency—and because I was still figuring out how it should be used in home heating systems—I was rec- ommending that it be added to the fuel tank three times a year. For our test, SM and I drove in his truck to treat these ten test systems every four months, a total of three treatments in that season (early summer, fall and mid-winter). At the end of the heating season, SM and I reviewed the service records. Those 10 customers who had lived through 65 no-heat situa- tions the previous season had only three unscheduled calls the year of treatment. And only one of these was fuel-related, a plugged filter about two weeks after our first treatment. After hearing this MM was bursting with enthusiasm, and I eagerly helped pile a pallet-load of our little bottles onto the middle of their office floor. SM admitted that if I had come to him first, he never would have given me an audience in the first place, but MM outranked him so he had to go along. He also confided that the list of accounts he had picked for treat- ment was intended to be such a challenge that it would surely prove our product worthless. In other words, this had all been a test designed to fail. A few weeks later, I heard that my prized new customer had been bought out by a major holding company. The new owners promptly fired MM, SM and most of the remaining staff. They brought in a business guy to run the company, a fellow who didn't even want to talk about additives or service calls. Welcome to the new world of heating oil businesses. [ ADVERTORIAL ] FUEL RIGHT CASE HISTORY I — A TEST INTENDED TO FAIL Bob Tatnall, P.E., is the founder and CEO of Fuel Right, and may be contacted at (302) 425-4400 or bob@fuelright.com