Can I use "old" fuel oil?

[penfrydd]

I have about 300 gallons of fuel oil in a tank which hasn't been used since 1987. Obviously I've got to get the tank out of the ground. I do have a new oil furnace with a new tank. I'm putting in a tarm when I get around to it.

It has always been my understanding that old oil gets some sort of bacteria. I assume it plugs filters or injectors or something. I have a couple of questions.

1. Is there any easy fix (like a filter) that I can run the oil through to "clean" it?
2. Am I better burning the old oil in my furnace or in my tractor? (Which machine has smaller injectors?)

 

[laynes69]

This comes up all the time on tractor talk. I'd filter it to remove alge and water, and mix it with some diesel and put it in the tractor. Fuel oil is basically dyed #2 diesel.

 

[Fred61]

I was a victim of bad fuel oil several years ago after strictly burning wood for two or three years. I found that the oil contained small black particles which, if left standing, would settle to the bottom. My assumption was that they were dead bodies from the bacteria. They were of small enough size that they would go through the filter.

What I did was change the pump system to a single pipe so the oil wouldn't get stirred up and raise it up off the bottom. I burned the fuel and disposed of the stuff on the bottom. To reduce the amount that I had to dispose of, I put some of the gunk in 5 gallon buckets, let it settle and syphoned off the top. This was tedious and got old soon. I had no trouble with the nozzle plugging so I assume, if it goes through the filter it will go through the nozzle. The salvaged oil had a noticeably much reduced energy value. The burner would run almost twice as long to bring the boiler up to temperature.

 

[velvetfoot]

I don't know, but if I had my choice to burn it in a furnace or engine, I think I'd take the furnace.
The injection stuff is pretty pricey.

 

[laynes69]

http://www.ytmag.com/cgi-bin/viewit.cgi?bd=ttalk&th=546867

Heres some info.

 

[Chris S]

I burned some almost 40 yr old fuel that I found on my property.
Get an additive like Cetane boost & a 1 micron filter if you can find one.
I agree with the above post- you will probably do less damage to your oil burner than what potentially you would do to an engine. I wrecked a transfer pump on a Cat motorwhich cost me less than $200 installed, but I burned $1500 worth of fuel.