Tankbusters Review

[Tony Brooks]

My comment is that when pumping or siphoning from the bottom of the tank via  a bent length of 3/8" copper pipe I was amazed at the amount of water rubbish I drew up the first time and that it gradually decreased over the next few years to just a little cleanish  water.  If all narrow boaters got the habit of "vacuuming3" the bottom of their tank every year I thin that we would have fewer fuel problems and even less if they ditched the idiot flush fuel fillers and installed one with a raised female screwed cap.

[MtB]

5 minutes ago, Tony Brooks said:

and even less if they ditched the idiot flush fuel fillers and installed one with a raised female screwed cap.

 

 

Very much agree, I think those leak rainwater into the tank which obviously stays in the tank for ever, or until hoovered out. 

 

 

[David Mack]

2 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

 

Very much agree, I think those leak rainwater into the tank which obviously stays in the tank for ever, or until hoovered out. 

... or until sucked into the engine's fuel system.

[LadyG]

28 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

 

Very much agree, I think those leak rainwater into the tank which obviously stays in the tank for ever, or until hoovered out. 

 

 

I replaced the 20 year old thin rubber gasket, and it now needs to be screwed down with a wide chisel, I am looking out for a decent locking cap. 

Edited February 22, 2022 by LadyG

[tree monkey]

2 hours ago, MtB said:

My concern is that turning up with a big shiny pump with hoses and filters amounts to little more than 'theatre', and is all for show. 

 

The real problems are water, rust, debris and dirty diesel sloshing around in the very base of the tank, and diesel bug. I doubt either of these can be fully fixed by circulating the diesel through a pump and filter, no matter how fast the fuel is pumped. 

 

But as I said earlier, I've not even seen it done let alone done it myself.

A neighbour was having real issues with their filter being clogged up, a mix of rusty crud and what looked suspiciously like diesel bug it stopped their engine 3 or 4 times, a change of filter got the engine running for about a week and considering they only have diesel heating it became a bit concerning 

 

Anyway they booked a diesel polish thingy with a bloke who turned up with a fairly impressive set up and a lot of banter.

 

There is no denying what came out of the various filters was impressive and they did make a real effort to agitate  the fuel in the tank with the return hose and made an obvious effort to get the extraction hose to as much of the tank as they could.

 

He was there for a good few hours and the cost increased in a similar way to what has been already discussed, extra filters etc.

 

Since then the neighbours have had no issues with their engine, runs as sweet as it did with no filter blocking.

 

I'm just reporting on my second hand experience here and not suggesting it has completely solved the problem, I share MTB skepticism but so far the problems have gone and their wallet is a lot lighter 

1 hour ago, Tony Brooks said:

My comment is that when pumping or siphoning from the bottom of the tank via  a bent length of 3/8" copper pipe I was amazed at the amount of water rubbish I drew up the first time and that it gradually decreased over the next few years to just a little cleanish  water.  If all narrow boaters got the habit of "vacuuming3" the bottom of their tank every year I thin that we would have fewer fuel problems and even less if they ditched the idiot flush fuel fillers and installed one with a raised female screwed cap.

I now do this annually, after my experience of filter blockage, mainly rusty crud and possible bug, I got a fair few litres of water out the first time but now hardly any, I also use the marine 16 treatment once a year 

1 hour ago, MtB said:

 

 

Very much agree, I think those leak rainwater into the tank which obviously stays in the tank for ever, or until hoovered out. 

 

 

I have one of those, I tend to smear a little silicone grease onto the threads and around the gap between cap and fitting after every filling

[alias]

1 hour ago, tree monkey said:

I have one of those, I tend to smear a little silicone grease onto the threads and around the gap between cap and fitting after every filling

 

Me too, and when left on the mooring I cover the filler area with the lid of an old tin weighted down with a stone. 

[Old Son]

I seal my screw down cap with Vaseline. Seems to work well.

[MtB]

Just now, Old Son said:

I seal my screw down cap with Vaseline. Seems to work well.

 

 

How do you know? Do you actually check your tank for water? 

 

Disclosure: I know I should but I never do. 

[booke23]

7 hours ago, Tony Brooks said:

even less if they ditched the idiot flush fuel fillers and installed one with a raised female screwed cap.

Very true. In fact I wish someone would manufacture a conversion kit.....say a 4 inch length of stainless pipe, threaded to screw into the existing flush filler, and with a female screw cap on the other end. 

You can watch the theatrics of Tankbusters in the video below from last June. They charged the unknowing couple £650 and removed 40 litres of water (which you could easily do yourself with a 6ft length of hose and a bucket). Oh, they removed diesel bug as well, which according to tankbusters is "more abrasive than concrete when it gets into the engine and gets heated up". 😅

 

 

[MtB]

12 minutes ago, booke23 said:

removed 40 litres of water (which you could easily do yourself with a 6ft length of hose and a bucket).

 

 

Do tell us how!

 

My preferred method would be to put a 12v wet vac on the outboard end of said 6ft length of hose.

[36national]

7 hours ago, LadyG said:

I replaced the 20 year old thin rubber gasket, and it now needs to be screwed down with a wide chisel,

 

luv it

 

50 000 RPM

 

I find chisels make the most effective paint scrapers too.

I wonder if some poor fool ever tried using a chisel for woodwork !

 

 

[booke23]

23 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

 

Do tell us how!

 

My preferred method would be to put a 12v wet vac on the outboard end of said 6ft length of hose.

 

Siphoning. 

 

I mean your idea is great....or using a hand crank barrel pump or a drill pump, but when you're stuck on the towpath away from the mooring as the pair in the video above were, you've gotta work with what you've got. 

[MtB]

9 minutes ago, booke23 said:

Siphoning. 

 

🤣

[booke23]

2 hours ago, MtB said:

🤣

 

 

🤣🤣🤣

[Old Son]

12 hours ago, MtB said:

 

 

How do you know? Do you actually check your tank for water? 

 

Disclosure: I know I should but I never do. 

I use water paste at the start of every season. 

[john.k]

Worst diesel bug I ever got was from using jet kero mixed with hydraulic oil......(PS yeah ,I know planes dump the kero every four weeks)......anyhoo,blocked filters are nothing,but this lot would seize the little spindle thingy in the DPA pump........every time I wanted to run,had to take the top off the pump ,and free up the little spindle.,,,Asked around,and everyone says some chemical stuff for boat fuel which was oddly enough ,made about 10 mile away.......Stuck one of the little bottles of blue stuff in each drum of fuel,and one in the fuel tank.......no more trouble until the jet kero was all used up ,and I went back to diesel.........no trouble with diesel mixed with hydraulic oil......so obviously something in the jet fuel the bugs love.

[john.k]

Dunno about UK,here you can get filter elements that are silicone treated,water repellent...........seems the diesel bug (actually about 30 kinds of bacteria and fungus) lives in the interface between fuel and water.....and the filter paper provides the ideal environment.........deny the bug water ,and it doesnt breed.........anyhoo,the chemical stuff I got actually disintegrates the slimy black snot and turn it into black dust............its the slime quality that blocks filters ,dust is no problem.

[Mike Todd]

13 hours ago, booke23 said:

 

Siphoning. 

 

I mean your idea is great....or using a hand crank barrel pump or a drill pump, but when you're stuck on the towpath away from the mooring as the pair in the video above were, you've gotta work with what you've got. 

. . . and remember that the container into which you syphon the fuel has t be lower than the bottom of your fuel tank - which in many cases is well down into the water!

[MtB]

11 hours ago, booke23 said:

 

 

🤣🤣🤣

 

 

It appears you either don't know how syphoning works or you don't know what a day tank is! Or both.

[Tony Brooks]

8 minutes ago, Mike Todd said:

. . . and remember that the container into which you syphon the fuel has t be lower than the bottom of your fuel tank - which in many cases is well down into the water!

 

Which is why I found a series of 2 liter milk cartons are ideal receptacles. They sit nicely on the base plate between swim side and engine bed or between the shaft and engine bed.
 

[Alan de Enfield]

5 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

 

It appears you either don't know how syphoning works or you don't know what a day tank is! Or both.

 

Maybe in the intervening 10 years he has had some 'learning'.

[MtB]

52 minutes ago, Mike Todd said:

. . . and remember that the container into which you syphon the fuel has t be lower than the bottom of your fuel tank - which in many cases is well down into the water!

 

 

Or more specifically, the bottom of the fuel tank often IS the baseplate of the boat, so getting the receiving receptacle for syphoning to a lower level than the baseplate is no mean feat. 

[LadyG]

14 hours ago, MtB said:

 

 

Do tell us how!

 

My preferred method would be to put a 12v wet vac on the outboard end of said 6ft length of hose.

I don't have a Wetvac or a any means of running it, one would assume if they were foolproof that would be a cheaper option than all the gizmos provided by Tankbusters and other businesses. I don't even think most marinas have one, (they could hire it out, a bit like Rug Doctor). Yes I agree it's a good option for DIY routine maintenance, but if you are on the towpath, and struck down by the bug, what do you do? 

Edited February 23, 2022 by LadyG

[john.k]

Syphoning......drive the world on a length of garden hose.......would you believe millenials have never seen or heard of syphoning?

[Alan de Enfield]

6 minutes ago, LadyG said:

I don't have a wetvac or a any means of running it, one would assume if they were foolproof that would be a cheaper option than all the gizmos provided by Tank busters and other businesses. I don't even think most marinas have one, they could hire it out, a bit like Rug Doctor. Yes I agree it's a good option for DIY routine maintenance, but if you are on the towpath, and struck down by the bug, what do you do? 

 

Get your Jerry can of spare (known to be clean) fuel out and stand it on the rear deck.

Disconnect the feed supply to your main filter.

Replace filter(s) with new (clean) ones.

Fill filter with clean fuel

Take your pre-prepared 'emergency' fuel hose and connect to the filter, put other end into the Jerry-can.

 

Prime and bleed engine, engine starts. You now have about 20 hours of engine run time to get somewhere safe or to somewhere where you can buy / hire cleaning 'stuff' or, to a boat yard to do the work for you.

 

 

 

Edited February 23, 2022 by Alan de Enfield