Heating oil

Heating oil is a low viscosity, liquid petroleum product used as a fuel oil for furnaces or boilers in buildings. Home heating oil is often abbreviated as HHO. Heating oil consists of a mixture of petroleum-derived hydrocarbons in the 14- to 20-carbon atom range that condense between 250 and 350 °C (482 and 662 °F) during oil refining. Heating oil condenses at a lower temperature than petroleum jelly, bitumen, candle wax, and lubricating oil, but at a higher temperature than kerosene, which condenses between 160–250 °C (320–482 °F). The heavy (C20+) hydrocarbons condense between 340–400 °C (644–752 °F). Heating oil produces 138,500 British thermal units per US gallon (38.6 MJ/l) and weighs 8.2 pounds per US gallon (0.95 kg/l). Number 2 fuel oil has a flash point of 52 °C (126 °F). Most heating oil products are chemically very similar to diesel fuel used as motor fuel. In many markets heating oil and on-road diesel fuels are the same product sold out of the same truck in route labeled as either heating oil or dyed diesel respectively dependent on the person ordering product. The legal difference between diesel and heating oil in the United States is sulfur allowance. Diesel for machinery and equipment must be below 15ppm sulfur content while heating oil must be below 500 ppm sulfur. This means that the two can often be successfully interchanged for heating or boiler systems. However, the taxation of the two differs in many places, with heating oil being taxed less than motor fuel. This creates an incentive to buy heating oil at a lower price and then use it as motor fuel, avoiding the fuel tax. To make enforcement possible, some visual difference or odor difference must be introduced to the oil. Therefore, red dyes are usually added, resulting in the 'red diesel' name in countries like the United Kingdom. In the U.S. the fuel oil dyed red is not taxed for highway use; the dye makes it easy to identify its use in on-road vehicles (whereas diesel fuel sold for motor fuel use is usually green). Since 2002, Solvent Yellow 124 has been added as a 'Euromarker' in the European Union. Heating oil is commonly delivered by tank truck to residential, commercial and municipal buildings and stored in above-ground storage tanks ('ASTs') located in the basements, garages, or outside adjacent to the building. It is sometimes stored in underground storage tanks (or 'USTs') but less often than ASTs. ASTs are used for smaller installations due to the lower cost factor. Heating oil is less commonly used as an industrial fuel or for power generation. Leaks from tanks and piping are an environmental concern. Various federal and state regulations are in place regarding the proper transportation, storage and burning of heating oil, which is classified as a hazardous material (HazMat) by federal regulators. Heating oil is known in the United States as No. 2 heating oil. In the U.S., it must conform to ASTM standard D396. Diesel and kerosene, while often confused as being similar or identical, must conform to their own respective ASTM standards. Heating oil is widely used in both the United States and Canada. In the United States, biodiesel blends of B5 (5% biodiesel) and B20 (20% biodiesel) are available in most markets as a lower CO2 and cleaner burning heating fuel. The heating oil futures contract trades in units of 1,000 barrels (160 m3) with a minimum fluctuation of $0.0001 per gallon and (for the USA) is based on delivery in New York Harbor.