Joe, your diesel is suffering from what's called Diesel Bug. There is always water in diesel, and the bacteria (bug) lives on the interface between the water and diesel.
In the UK, we use additives a great deal, and we've found there's only one which works completely. It's called Soltron, and it's available pretty well everywhere.
The Soltron enzyme eats the bug, and ingests dead buig as well, such that the residue naturally passes through all the filters to be burnt in the engine. Furthermore it consumes the water in the diesel.
The public challenge of Soltron is to find them a tank that's heavily contaminated, and their product will cure it. It might take some heavy dosing, but it's easier and simpler than steam cleaning.
As I said, in the UK we use additives. In the USA, I see people tend to use Fuel Polishers. Additives are simpler.
I have encountered a SLUDGE LIKE goo, on the bottom of the tanks with the consistency of peanut butter...on the bottom (couple inches deep) of my trawler diesel tanks. It seems to break loose and clog up fuel filters whenever we encounter rough water.
I want to get the tanks cleaned, and they have access holes 6" diam. on top of tanks, but there are baffles in the tank. My marina can't pump this SLUDGE which WE THINK IS REMNANTS OF ALGAE GROWTH THAT HAS BEEN KILLED, due to it's thick consistency.
The only way to get this out will be to find SOME SORT OF CHEMICAL SOLVENT THAT CAN DISSOLVE THIS SLUDGE, THEN WE CAN PUMP IT OUT.
Does ANYbody have any clues what will dissolve this crud??? I am in Michigan, but the boat "caught" the algae problem 2 yrs ago when it was in Florida, not being used (previous owner).. and down there they have specialists used to treating tanks, but up north, it's fairly rare, and they don't have pressure washers that will work plus their experience in this is fairly limited.
So back to the subject of fuel and tanks. To run the fuel through a number of filter in line would not make the fuel that much cleaner/polished than through one or two filters if is was a straight transfer from dirty tank to a clean tank. The reason fuel has to be recycled so many time in polishing is the clean fuel is dumb back into a tank with un filter/dirty fuel, each time polished the fuel becomes a little more cleaner as the % of the cleaned fuel becomes higher. Fuel will layer it’s self the heaviest/dirtiest on the bottom and the cleaner on top. That is why it is best to suck from the bottom and not the top.
"Since our tanks are old I keep them only 1/2 full so if they leak can transfer to the other two tanks,"
Half empty tanks have loads of room to condense water should you live in a humid place.
Perhaps this is WHY you need to "polish" the fuel, your creating your own problem.
You will have less fuel contamination if the tank is kept FULL or Empty and ventelitated.
Full is far superior .
Many working boats will have the tanks of different sizes , so they can be kept full , which helps with the free surface hassle too.
The easiest if you had room is transfer all the fuel to one tank, clean the tank and then transfer back to the clean tank and then clean the other tank. Then polish the fuel. The trick is how to clean the tank? If you have an access that you can get a stiff hose down to the bottom of the tank you cold suck it out. I hope the fuel is diesel and not gas. Not recommended, but I have used a wet vac. to suck up water and diesel from the bilge.
If you really want to clean and check the tanks then the best is to open the tanks by cutting a hole, but I would try the hose and vacuumed first. If you have to cut a whole let us know and we can walk you through that. I had to have one of our three tanks repaired, and hope to do the open the other two in the near future.
Since our tanks are old I keep them only 1/2 full so if they leak can transfer to the other two tanks, while repairing. Diesel fuel does last for a long time. We had a 1930 tug in our marine and the engine had not been start for at least 10 years, so the filter/polish and put in some oil/additive and the engine started right up. The cost to get rid of old diesel is more costly than it cost, so it is well worth the cost to clean/refresh/polish. I take my old fluid to the plant and we have a company come into take out old fluids away, but it is like twice the what the fluids cost.
Do not try to dumb it as it will cost a bloody fortune if you get caught and have to clean up. On the lake if there is any sort of a slick the police boat is right on it, and that can cost thousands.
I just empty my fuel tanks and I fill up six 55gals.drums.The boat has been sitting over ten year.Has anyone have any idea if it can be use?
With the price of fuel it sure is a waste to throw it away,let alone finding a place that will dispose of it.
Now that the tanks are empty what's the best way to clean the inside.As far as I can see of the fuel that came out there are no grud but then again I have never work on a boat this size before. |
