{"id":977,"date":"2012-12-13T18:19:28","date_gmt":"2012-12-13T18:19:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.unitedmarine.net\/blog\/?p=977"},"modified":"2012-12-13T18:48:38","modified_gmt":"2012-12-13T18:48:38","slug":"diesel-fuel-in-the-tank","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unitedmarine.net\/blog\/index.php\/2012\/12\/13\/diesel-fuel-in-the-tank\/","title":{"rendered":"Diesel Fuel In The Tank"},"content":{"rendered":"

The recent posts on \u201cFuel in the Tank\u201d and \u201cPutting Your Boat to Bed\u201d generated a large number of comments including several that requested more information about storing diesel fuel. I asked Columnist and freelance writer Mr. Bob Duthie<\/u><\/a> to review the subject and here is what Mr. Duthie reported.<\/p>\n

The good news is that diesel fuel does not deteriorate over time. The bad news is that diesel fuel tanks always contain some water. The water comes naturally from condensation in the tank during storage. Diesel fuel is lighter than water and floats on top of the water. <\/p>\n

There is a brand of bacteria that likes to live at the diesel-water interface. Over time this bacteria multiplies and forms dark black particles which eventually form a black sludge. Since the engine pickup tube in the fuel tank is an inch or two above the bottom of the tank, no particles get into the engine until the motion of the boat when underway stirs up everything in the tank. The fuel filters plug up and the engine stops. The best answer to this problem is to have dual filters that allow switching from one to the other. A pressure gage lets you see when one of the filters is plugging up.<\/p>\n

The problem with storing diesel fuel can be reduced by filling the tank to the top to minimize the surface area in the tank where water can condense. In addition, always add biocide to the tank that will minimize the growth of sludge. Unfortunately, once the sludge is in the tank biocide does not do anything to reduce the existing sludge. <\/p>\n

The only way to eliminate sludge is to have the tanks cleaned. This is a two step process. First the fuel in the tank is pumped though large filters into a storage tank. This removes any particles that have been stirred up and is called \u201cfuel polishing\u201d. Then the tank must be opened up and the sludge on the bottom removed with a wet vacuum. If possible, the bottom and sides should be wiped up. After cleaning, the polished fuel is pumped back into the tank. <\/p>\n

Mixing biodiesel with diesel is not the same issue as ethanol in gasoline. Biodiesel is actually better than diesel because it has higher energy content than regular diesel. Biodiesel does clean sludge in the tank, so be prepared to change a lot of filters the first time you fill up with biodiesel. There may be other problems with biodiesel so be sure to check with your engine manufacturer before using it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The recent posts on \u201cFuel in the Tank\u201d and \u201cPutting Your Boat to Bed\u201d generated a large number of comments including several that requested more information about storing diesel fuel. I asked Columnist and freelance writer Mr. Bob Duthie to review the subject and here is what Mr. Duthie reported. The good news is that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[238],"tags":[36,10,14,388],"class_list":["post-977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-boating-tips","tag-boat-equipment","tag-boat-insurance","tag-boating-safety","tag-boating-tips"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unitedmarine.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/977","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unitedmarine.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unitedmarine.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unitedmarine.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unitedmarine.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=977"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/www.unitedmarine.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/977\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1008,"href":"https:\/\/www.unitedmarine.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/977\/revisions\/1008"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unitedmarine.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unitedmarine.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unitedmarine.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}