Must Oil Company Provide Biofuel Info

seized123

Hi, I've been told oil companies must provide you with some kind of documentation re the composition of the oil they delivered if you request it. Is this true? (I'm in NY State.) This has come up in my conversation with the manufacturer of my fuel pump, which seizes, then I loosen it up by turning the fan or coupler manually, then it works for a few days, then seizes again - they felt this might be consistent with too much biofuel (I don't think it's the pump because we put in a new one and same thing happened.) I started a post about this which I will update soon, but here I just would like to know do they have to provide such a thing, and how will I know it's accurate and applies to my delivery (last delivery was April I think.) The company rep called it a cut sheet, or breakdown of the mixture or some such thing. Thanks.

EBEBRATT-Ed

I would think they would ave to provide that information if you ask. But the bio fuel I am sure has to comply with some standard the same a regular fuel ol does. Wether what is in your tank matches up is another story.

Have you ever had any indications of water in your tank?

I would take a sample of the oil in the tank and have it anaylized

Robert O'Brien

It’s degraded fuel, is the fuel supply system two pipe?

seized123

Thank you for the comments so far, and for that tech note from Suntec, which I have seen before in another thread (maybe you posted it there too).
I have been in contact with Suntec, which has been very helpful, although we have reached no definitive conclusions.
In answer to your question Robert O'Brien, it is a two-pipe system, the tank is outside and above ground just on the other side of the basement wall where the furnace is, above the level of the burner by about five or more feet. The inlet and return lines come out of the top of the tank, but after that it's all downhill to the burner.
I took off the cover of the replacement pump (Suntec A2VA-7116) which has only been in about a month. Talk about brown gummy deposits (such as mentioned in the Suntec note you posted)! Unlike in that note, there were brown gummy deposits all over the metal where the strainer goes (the strainer looked pretty clean) -- I did not go to the next level and expose the gears, as they recommend against that.
This gook was was gummy and rubbed off the metal easily. If it were rust wouldn't it not rub off so easily-- or would it?
Regarding water, a couple weeks ago we checked the oil for water by draining some out at the burner into a glass jar, with no visible sign of water, and also putting water-finder paste on the bottom of the stick and shoving that all the way down into the tank, with no sign of water.
Could this gunk be rust anyway? If biofuel causes brown gummy gunk, this is a lot of brown gummy gunk!
Suntec suggested running off an alternate tank for a while, like I guess running diesel fuel from a 5-gallon container, to see if that cleans it up. Seems like a good idea, but it would be a pain, and might only prove what we strongly suspect, which is that it's not the pump at fault but the fuel or something the fuel goes through, and we'd still be at square one regarding what to do next.
My tank is just above a quarter full now, and colder (though not yet freezing) temps are coming. I thought of getting a delivery from another company and telling them I need oil with almost no biofuel, or just saying the same thing with my company, and seeing if that clears this up.
Also I bought 8 oz. of FuelArmor from Beckett which is about five times as expensive as the other stuff they put in (Hot 4-in1 and Hercules Powerflow) and might try that, but not sure if any of these additives address the problems that biofuel causes.
Any advice or suggestions welcome and thanks!

seized123

Here are pix of the pump:

Robert O'Brien

It's degraded fuel, most often seen in outside tanks with two pipe systems, which is why i asked the question. Switch to single pipe, use a deaerator if necessary. Contact with copper is deleterious to fuels. Would also recommend a dual filter setup, the secondary filter being 2 microns. Fill the tank and use an additive at the recommended dosage.