Here in Idaho it's a $10,000.00 fine if you get caught with red fuel in a licensed vehicle. EPA can add further fines if they feel like it. They can tell if you are burning it by using a "sniffer" on the tailpipe so be careful.
We've seen them check trucks at farm auctions and write a lot of tickets.
The only ones they constantly check are the over the road trucks and they check them very routinely.
I'm told most of the red fuel has a higher cetane rating so it offers more power, but I've never been able to tell the difference. The only one I can tell a difference with is Bio diesel and I like it a lot better.

When they started putting diesel engines in 1/2 ton PU's. The CHP (California Highway Patrol) commercial cops started pulling diesel pickups over to check the fuel.

I don't know about checking trucks at auction, but getting caught on a public road not paying the toll is asking for trouble.

I think how they are doing it with a sniffer is that on-road fuel is 15ppm or 50ppm of Sulfer. Off-road is 500ppm of Sulfer which will show up as a higher exhaust value of Sulfer Oxides.

I used to work on radar antenna hydraulic systems, that had .5 and 1 micron filters. They were metal filters that had to be cleaned every 120 hours of operation. These system were modified aircraft systems that operated at 3000 PSI. If you went scavanging through an aircraft bone yard you might find one you could use for this illegal purpose. My recollection is that the filters could only be cleaned 8 times and then you threw them away. The Air Force paid $500.00 apiece for the .5 micron filters, and $350.00 for the 1 micron filters in the mid 60's

If you are trying to get the dye out for over-the-road purpose then quit being cheap. This is a IRS violation with a 10K fine and up plus an audit of all fuel records. This money is for road improvements. This happened to a friend here in CT. If you are using it in your equipment or tractors, then don't worry about it. If you buy clear over the road fuel and use it in your off road machines, keep track of the gallonage and when you do your tax returns in april you can file to get the tax back, my accountant does it for me. Here in CT you can't get "off-road/farm" fuel any more. It will be taxed as over the road and you have to apply to get back when you do your taxes. From experience with switching fuels, 1 gallon of red fuel will taint 1000 gallons of clear. The IRS has been showing up on construction projects and truck stops and has been dipping fuel tanks. They have been finding problems with using the wrong fuel. If you use red fuel in your pick-up then be very careful when it comes to warantees. Dealers are using this as an excuse to void engine warantees.

The reason Ct. quit selling off road fuel is:
Small users like myself can not justify the cost or time to do the paper work required to regain a few dollars, thus the state gets to keep the road tax for off road fuel - another rip off by the bureaucrats!
I use about 50 gallons a year and my accountant charges me $85 to do the paper work to get the taxes back. Being in Washington I can and do buy only red fuel for my tractor.

In Idaho the price difference is about $.20 per gallon. The red is cheaper than the green so it's not really worth it to run the red over the road.

We don't get much sun in the UK !!! DARN IT
Martyn

hey guys
If you get caught with red dyed fuel in a road truck by the D.O.T. dipping the fuel out of the tank you are looking at a $1000.00 fine they will take your truck,then they will put a redflag on your licence# so you will be pulled in at most weigh stations caught a second time and your looking at jail time.Talk to any D.O.T officer they will explain it to you They seem to take red dye fuel serious..It is not worth the little savings on 600 gal.Good luck> Steamroller, 35Yr Trucker OwnerOperator