If you're not connected to the national gas grid you could be relying on heating oil to heat your home. Heating oil is the most common alternative energy available on the market today for domestic use. In the UK, approximately four million homes are not connected to the national gas grid, known as "off-grid", relying on alternative energy to heat the properties instead.
You may be asking "is home heating oil the same as gas oil ?" - the answer is no they are not the same; most domestic oil systems in the UK run on kerosene (heating oil), while gas oil (diesel) is the most common type of home heating fuel used in France, Spain, Italy and Germany. In larger buildings or commercial systems the boilers often run on diesel or gas oil, not kerosene.
- Heating oil vs kerosene - This is a common misunderstanding as they are the same thing! Heating oil, also known as "kerosene", "kero", "28-second burning oil" and "domestic oil" is a low viscosity oil.
- Gas oil is a low fuel duty variant (red diesel) of regular road diesel that you would typically fill your diesel-engined vehicles with when visiting a petrol filling station. Red diesel and commercial gas oil are the same thing, but specific restrictions and guidelines are surrounding its use due to the low fuel duty applied.
- ElimiNOX Eco™ is compatible with both.
Generally speaking stored fuel will last 18 – 24 months if stored correctly in a compatible tank.
One of the the biggest risks to stored fuel is water contamination. When fuel tanks are partially empty it allows water to from in the tank from condensation, creating the breading ground for diesel bug. Which is a mixture of microbes and fungi that grow in your oil tank during the summer and left untreated they corrode tanks and block pipes.
They breed when fuel oil is contaminated with water and a single spore can reproduce around 260,000 clones in as little as six hours. As they are doing this, they consume tank lining and coatings for the mineral content, and create waste which forms a dark sludge that blocks fuel lines and plugs filters, seriously damaging your heating efficiency. Water also causes rust inside the tank and pipes, shortening their lifespan considerably.