New European bio-fuel rules could harm oil-fired boilers

New European Union rules which aim to introduce two new grades of oil into the UK could play havoc with the oil supply chain and have significant impact on oil installations and oil-fired domestic boilers, according to one of the UK’s leading boiler manufacturers.

The warning, from Worcester, Bosch Group, refers to the new Fuel Quality Directive, due to be introduced in January 2011, which will mandate an A2/B5 EN 590 specification of fuel with up to seven per cent mix of bio-fuel into 35 second gas oil.

The concern is that boilers currently in use in the UK which run on either fuel are not compatible with bio-fuel which could potentially clean away other fuels, absorb any water in the tank and ultimately block filters which will stop the boiler operating.

The vast majority of oil fired boilers in the UK use 28 second kerosene, but there are a small number which use 35 second gas oil, more commonly known as red diesel. Red diesel is used almost exclusively in mobile off-road uses, such as tractors and quad bikes, but a small amount is used in domestic heating, on sites where red diesel is used for other applications, such as farm machinery.

Martyn Bridges, Director of Marketing and Technical Support at Worcester, Bosch Group, commented: “Our concern is that the introduction of bio-fuels into the UK oil supply chain will complicate the market and lead to distributors innocently delivering the wrong fuel to domestic homes or homeowners ordering the wrong sort of fuel.

“Most oil-fired boilers currently in operation in the UK are not compatible with bio-fuel and if used could have a detrimental effect on storage tanks, fuel lines and filters, fire valves and oil pumps etc.”

Representatives from the heating industry have attended fuel quality meetings with the Government in order to bring the potential for cross-contamination in the supply chain to the attention of Ministers and civil servants.

“Until recently, the Government has not considered that bio-diesel will get into the supply chain for fixed combustion installations,” says Martyn. “Only now is the Government waking up to the magnitude of the threat to domestic oil-fired boilers and oil supply systems.”

Date published: 26th January, 2010

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