Workshop temperature – cold

[not done it yetParticipant @notdoneityet]

Kerosene, not ‘paraffin’ and gas oil not ‘diesel’. Subtle differences in the fraction but gas oil and diesel are the same – just a difference in name (and price) at retail outlets.

Bulk deliveries for central heating is only charged at 5% VAT. 20% VAT for small quantities in containers.

Make of that what you wish. Personally, I would make a suitable arrangement with/for a bulk supply….

[Roger ClarkParticipant @rogerclark]

Around here you can't get bulk deliveries unless you have central heating tanks, my supply is a 39 mile round trip but I can put up with that with getting 120 ltrs for £50 and it's also cheap diesel so I fill the car up as well! It's a 2 or 3 year trip after all!

[Ex contributorParticipant @mgnbuk]

Kerosene, not ‘paraffin’ and gas oil not ‘diesel’. Subtle differences in the fraction but gas oil and diesel are the same – just a difference in name (and price) at retail outlets.

In these parts the product is usually refered to as paraffin, not kerosene. There used to be several outlets with pumps (hardware shops & a local bulk oil supplier) where you could take a container in & get it filled. One hardware shop used a calibrated jug to draw the fuel into from a drum, another had an electric pump that filled an integral glass flask with a pre-determined quantity that was then gravity fed into your container. The oil company had a standard fuel pump with a meter. The hardware shops typicall sold "Esso Blue" & the oil company had two grades – commercial and premium. The commercial stuff was sold for cleaning puropses & to tarmac gangs – for heating you bought premium.

For the first couple of years after I got married (early '80s) I used a "Blue flame" paraffin heater in the bathroom & subsequently used the same heater in a greenhouse, so I was a relatively frequent purchaser. When I bought the night heater & tried to buy the same product from the oil supplier, they had ceased to sell the product "loose" – changing times, I guess. Also known as 28 second heating oil, some local heating oil suppliers sell this pre-packaged in 20 litre drums as "emergency top-ups" – still to investigate whether this is a cheaper option, but most "pre-packaged" fuels tend to be expensive. B&Q sell 4 litre containers of paraffin for £8, for example – it would be cheaper to buy diesel road fuel than use that !

Heating oil.co.uk have the following description under "Whats the difference between kerosene & paraffin" :

In the UK, kerosene is quite often referred to as paraffin when people are talking about heating oils, so you will probably be getting the same product regardless of what it’s called. In other words, it doesn’t matter whether your supplier describes the fuel as kerosene or paraffin oil. In both cases, you can use the product to power your heating system.

"Red diesel" & "Gasoil" are also interchangeable terms in these parts. These days "red" is likely to be a bit more refined than diesel heating oil (35 second oil), as it is used by farmers & construction companies for tractors, earthmovers & other diesel engined equipment. Modern electronic injection diesel engines require ultra low sulphur fuel, so these days "red" is usually the same as EN590 road fuel, just dyed to show that is not to for road use. We use this at work in the diesel generators & FLTs.

IIRC the 5% VAT rate on bulk deliveries only applies up to 2500 litres – over that & it's 20%. Bulk supply is not practical for me – I have nowhere suitable to store it. Better to be able to fill a 20 litre jerry can to top up the 25 litre supply drum when it gets down to the last 5 litres. At a consumption of around 0.5 litre an hour, it is not too regular a task.

Nigel B.

[JAParticipant @ja]

Gas oil and diesel (for motor vehicles) may be the same as far as distillation, the basic chemistry, goes but there are serious differences. Diesel contains additives particularly a Cetane number modifier. This, I think, speeds up the ignition of the fuel after injection.

JA

Having used gas oil and, accidentally, diesel at work for testing gas turbines we in the end had to seek advise from a fuel blender on the terminology we used. This was after paying the road fuel tax on 35,000 litres of fuel.

Edited By JA on 04/12/2020 18:00:27

[Steve NeighbourParticipant @steveneighbour43428]

I use a 1/2 kW electric panel heater which I pop on the 2kW setting as a instant heat boost when in the workshop and run on a timer on the 1kW setting if the oat drops to freezing or below overnight.

The workshop is extensively insulated to reduce heat loss.

Seems to work well, although if we get a '63 winter as the weather folk are suggesting it might get pushed to its limits 🤔

[not done it yetParticipant @notdoneityet]

Agricultural vehicles run on diesel – nobody calls it gas oil – but they order diesel, not DERV.

DERV is taxed as it is for Diesel-Engined Road Vehicles (what the abbreviation stands for).

Central heating oil can be diesel or kerosene, the difference being the volatility. Kerosene has a Redwood viscosity index of 28s while diesel is 34s or 36s (can’t remember which). The longer chain fraction has a slightly higher calorific value, of course.

[not done it yetParticipant @notdoneityet]

Agricultural vehicles run on diesel – nobody calls it gas oil – but they order diesel, not DERV.

DERV is taxed as it is for Diesel-Engined Road Vehicles (what the abbreviation stands for and gives a clue of why it is taxed so heavily).

[martin perman 1Participant @martinperman1]

Posted by not done it yet on 04/12/2020 19:40:56:

Agricultural vehicles run on diesel – nobody calls it gas oil – but they order diesel, not DERV.

DERV is taxed as it is for Diesel-Engined Road Vehicles (what the abbreviation stands for and gives a clue of why it is taxed so heavily).

Or Duty Exempt Road Vehicle.

Martin P

[Bob WildParticipant @bobwild67557]

What a load of wimps on here. Just spent an afternoon in the workshop at 1.0 deg C. Done a load of milling with a glove on one hand to reduce the conductivity from an aluminium handle. But it was most successful 😋😋

Edited By Bob Wild on 04/12/2020 22:59:31

[Peter Simpson 1Participant @petersimpson1]

No normal person would attempt to work in a workshop in those temperatures unless it as a dire emergency. But it takes a all sorts I suppose !

[Guy LambParticipant @guylamb68056]

I find a wood burning stove has more than one benefit, the primeval pleasure of sitting around a fire is one and another is the material I find for reuse while 'skip diving' for fuel wood.

Guy

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