Hi everybody. I need to get some suggestions regarding treatment and filtering of diesel that has sat for quite awhile and developed algae build up. Is anybody running a fuel polishing system? We have about 700 gallons in a thousand gallon tank with the see thru fuel/water separator installed, plus the fuel in equipment tanks. Right now all is well but I (Know) the algae, rust and sludge are going to be a problem. I am just now learning about the use of old fuel and we have too much to just get rid of it. I am reading about the high dollar filtering/ treatment systems available but I need input, suggestions and advice from people that are dealing with a similar situation. To catch rust I am going to experiment with putting a magnet in the bottom of the see thru separator at the bulk tank. Also I need info on high micron filter/separators as a pre-filter at the equipment tank and what biocide to run. In the trackhoes I have drained and power washed the tanks and installed new filters and high dosed with Lucas Fuel treatment. Today is Sunday so I am taking my wife fishing but I will be back on here this evening and I hope y'all can point me in the right direction. Thanks for reading and have a blessed day. B. Dyer, Ambridge Pa
In your other threads you mention a 1995 Linkbelt with a Cummins LTA 10C, and a 2000 Terex TA40 haul truck, in case somebody else can give advice specifically on those engines, or post what other engines you're considering running this fuel in. With diesel at $2, do you think this is really worth it? Why not put the old stuff in a furnace tank or whatever and burn new fuel? There's plenty of better things to do with old fuel than run it through modern equipment. A magnet will do nothing for rust. Gravity and time are your friends, in that most of the garbage will be settled out on the bottom of the tank, so if you can remove the fuel without stirring it up you'll get far less sediment. Biobor is one biocide for the algae. What signs do you have that the fuel is bad? And what is the oldest engine you run a lot?
First up, how many gallons of "contaminated" fuel do you have..?
contaminated fuel The fuel in the equipment along with about 700 gallons in our bulk tank there is around a thousand gallons
we have over a thousand gallons of fuel to contend with. I am looking at treating and filtering it. And we do not have a fuel furnace. And the old gentleman that owns this equipment is an 81 year old "old school Italian" and will freak out when I start trying to convince him to give the stuff away and start from scratch with fresh fuel. I'm just trying to help the old guy out. This equipment has sat for years. I have drained and power washed the tanks and blew the lines out. And am monitoring the (new) water/fuel separators. The equipment starts and runs great (surprisingly) but the Komatsu filter/separator plugged off with fine brownish looking material even after powerwashing the tank
I heartedly recommend this product: http://powerservice.com/psp_product/bio-kleen-diesel-fuel-biocide/ I have found that the little critters will endlessly produce water as a byproduct of their consuming the diesel. Put this in the fuel and kill them off, and then a fair portion of wyour water problem will be over.
Hi Bryan. Do you have any mobile fuel polishing companies in your area? I have used them in the past with great results but we had way more fuel than 1000 gallons to do. It was amazing the amount of crud that he filtered out. As for a biocide, there are many good ones out there. I have always had good luck with Biobor. http://www.biobor.com/ as far as a prefilter goes, you can't go wrong with a racor http://www.racorfilter.com/online/
Simply doing a bit of basic maths if the fuel is worth $2/gallon and you could sell it as furnace fuel "as-is" for say $1/gallon then you have $1000 to invest in filtration, treatment, or whatever before the process becomes uneconomic. IMHO $1000 isn't going to get you far if you are looking at removing rust, water, & algae as well .......you might as well cut your losses, sell it for whatever you can get, learn from the experience and move on. :my2c
I agree with Nige, but if you're dead set on using that fuel, do the biocide thing and then if you can't locate someone to polish it for you, my suggestion would be to install three filters in line off your bulk tank pump. Using Zinga because that's what I'm familiar with, I would couple three SF100 heads together with the following spin on filters in line: First an LE-25, 25 micron hydraulic filter to catch the elephants, second an LE-10AZ, 10 micron and the AZ stands for "Aquazorb" traps water, and finally an LE-3AZ, 3 micron with water trapping media. Buy two or three of each, and set the bypass valves in the heads to 50 psi, put a gauge on each head so you can tell which is plugged. Ball valves at each end make changing them a bit more tidy. As has been suggested by the time you're done setting it up and buying enough filters to clean it all, you might spend more than buying new fuel, and the quality of the filtered fuel is still suspect, the Cetane value may be way down? Let us know how the story turns out. I remember one tugboat I was one, we pumped from the bulk tanks through a filter bank into one of two "settling" tanks, alternating tanks to allow the fuel to settle out for roughly 48 hours, then pumped that through finer filters into the "Day" tank which held enough fuel for roughly 24 hours at full power under tow. This was pulled through another set of filters by the engine transfer pump which then pushed it through the OEM engine fuel filters. Some boats were fitted with fuel centrifuges to spin out the heavier stuff, these mostly intended for international work where fuel supplies were often suspect in foreign ports. Should have seen our fuel and filter bills! LOL.
Bio-Contaminated fuel Awesome, thanks for the info. I will look at NAPA first thing in the a.m. to see what they have or can get. I have high dosed everything with HEET and the Lucas fuel treatmnent along with tank cleaning and new filters. I knew the old fuel would have water and rust issues, but micro organisms? Who'd a thunk it? Thanks for the info. Have a blessed week
Interesting. Ok, I am getting the picture here. Why do I get myself in these positions? Wowzers, I so need to find a real job.
Interesting. I appreciate your input. I will look at this from that point of view. But the old man that owns this equipment and the fuel will have a stroke when I start talking about giving the fuel away to get rid of it and start from scratch with fresh fuel. But I will show him the numbers (dollar signs involved in saving the old fuel versus new fuel) and see what he says. I like this old guy and have a lot of respect for him or I'd find another way to make a living. Jeez
Hmmm, now there is a thought. I will look into the mobile fuel polishing thing. Interesting thought. Thanks. I'll post results in a few days