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Diesel Bug and Fuel Polishing


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54 minutes ago, LadyG said:

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My fathers a lavatory cleaner
He cleans them by day and by night
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He's covered all over with...
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     You can buy it or whip it from Woolworths
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And when it came round to Christmas
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He brought her a box full of...

Some say that he died of a fever
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Some say that he's buried in a graveyard
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  • 10 months later...

Like all boaters with a diesel engine, I live in dread of the diesel bug and other fuel contaminants such as water, dirt and rust.

 

I see that the US firm Racor make a fuel polisher the "Racor P510MAM Multipass Fuel Polisher Diesel 10M 12V-24V Filter Marine Engine LC", which is available on eBay for around £500. 

 

While it seems a good idea to have an on-boat polisher that (while it is switched on)  constantly filters the fuel and separates contaminants and then returns the cleaned fuel to the tank, £500 seems rather a lot for a fairly basic device.

 

It seems that it should be possible to make a similar and better device for a lesser sum. It would need one or more good quality filters with a large glass water separator sump, and a 12v or 24v fuel pump. The device could then operate whenever the engine or generator was on (or whenever one's solar panel was charging above a certain level), and also have simple timer that would limit how long it operated for (if on shore power). A deluxe system, could have two filters in parallel, allowing one to be cleaned while the polisher continued running. Also, there could be an inline magnetic filter (see image) that supposedly kills bugs.

 

I reckon a heavy-duty system like this could be put together from off the shelf parts for somewhat less than £500.  Any comments?

inside-tri-flux.jpg

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2 minutes ago, Trevor Lyons said:

I reckon a heavy-duty system like this could be put together from off the shelf parts for somewhat less than £500.  Any comments?

 

The cost of 'putting together' such a system does not reflect the price is needs to be sold for, once labour costs, fixed overheads etc and a commercially viable profit margin have been added. 

 

Yes the parts might only add up to £200 but you have to pay someone to do it, make the box, write the instructions, deal with the guarantee returns, etc etc. £500 strikes me as cheap. I certainly wouldn't want to make and sell them for any less. 

 

 

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9 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

£500 strikes me as cheap. I certainly wouldn't want to make and sell them for any less. 

I have no objection to anyone trying to make an honest buck, although the Racor item (pictured) seems pretty basic for the £500.

 

Rather, my point was that if one is to install an on-boat fuel polisher & water separator, a better system could be put together relatively easily for a fraction of the price.

 

I posted to see if any others had comments,  similar thoughts, or had even made such a system.

s-l1600-1.jpg

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Ideally such a system would have a separate draw off from the tank, lower than the engine draw off and as close as possible to the lowest point of the tank, so that it would tend to deal with all the water and sediment that collects there. If you are only polishing using the engine draw off outlet you may well be leaving muck to get shaken up the next time you go out on rougher water.

Any glass bowl sedimentor would need to comply with the BSS.

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8 minutes ago, David Mack said:

Ideally such a system would have a separate draw off from the tank, lower than the engine draw off and as close as possible to the lowest point of the tank, so that it would tend to deal with all the water and sediment that collects there. If you are only polishing using the engine draw off outlet you may well be leaving muck to get shaken up the next time you go out on rougher water. Any glass bowl sedimentor would need to comply with the BSS.

I agree with those points. (Where would I find BSS rules on glass bowl sedimentors, please?)

5 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

Thanks for this!

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Most of us already have such a system, especially on self bleeding boats. They always return a fair proportion of filtered fuel back into the tank but this does not address David's point about the muck collecting in the bottom of the tank. This is easily dealt with using a length of clear plastic hose with some copper pipe on the end to set up a syphon every six moths of so to suck the muck from the bottom of the tank. Say less than £5 plus a bit of work.

 

I did not live in dread of diesel bug but did my bets to understand it and use procedures to minimise the chances of an outbreak. Basically buy fuel from high volume sources who have more to loose than I do if they don't look after their fuel, clean the tank base as above at least once a year. Regularly change my filter and water trap ellemenets & drain the sedimentor, always inspect whatever the filters have caught and finally use a suitable additive that in my case changed from summer to winter to meet the different potential problems. Recognising the early stages of bug infection when its easier to deal with is important.

 

A lot of people have been making money from the fuel bug thing but try to keep a sense of proportion. I am not the only one on here who has never suffered even a hint of fuel bug but likewise I am not the only one who tries to take care of the fuel. However there are a very few cases on here where bug has caused members problems and in at least on case plain fuel polishing did not solve it.

 

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1 hour ago, Trevor Lyons said:

I agree with those points. (Where would I find BSS rules on glass bowl sedimentors, please?)

Thanks for this!

They are acceptable if a metal heat shield is fitted.

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1 hour ago, Tony Brooks said:

Try to keep a sense of proportion.

 

Thanks for your helpful comments. Of course, I don't have sleepless nights about bugs, but I once had difficulties with dirty fuel sailing back from Dublin to Holyhead, when after very rough weather in Dublin Bay, I had to spent hours changing filters. I am currently buying parts to make my own polishing system with a filter/water separator, a magnetic bug killer, 24v pump and switch gear. I may post a photo once it's done. I've just got to find a way of getting a low-down access point into the tank. Since it's full of diesel, I may have to drill from the top and put a pipe down to the bottom. My boat is a widebeam river barge that I'm going to take across the Channel to France, so I don't want it to break down at sea.

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2 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

Oh that’s cool :)

8 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

They work like magnetic scale  reducers for water pipes of magnetic bracelets for people

So they do nothing then?  Glad that’s cleared up ;)

2 hours ago, Trevor Lyons said:

Where would I find BSS rules on glass bowl sedimentors, please?

Section 2 here:

https://www.boatsafetyscheme.org/media/268789/ecp-private-boats-ed3_rev2_apr2015_public_final.pdf

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9 minutes ago, WotEver said:

Oh that’s cool :)

So they do nothing then?  Glad that’s cleared up ;)

Section 2 here:

https://www.boatsafetyscheme.org/media/268789/ecp-private-boats-ed3_rev2_apr2015_public_final.pdf

But it does state inside the engine bay, in my case if I was to fit one it would be nowhere near the engine bay but by the fuel tank

 

 

Capture.JPG

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I've been back to Lidl today, only just made it back to boat,  hypothermia setting in [feels like -10C].

Bought a wee 12volt electric pump for oil/diesel, All I need now is a big container or two [tank half full], some filters stuffed in to a filter funnel, and some aquarium socks, what could possibly go wrong?

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1 hour ago, WotEver said:

Oh that’s cool :)

So they do nothing then?  Glad that’s cleared up ;)

Section 2 here:

https://www.boatsafetyscheme.org/media/268789/ecp-private-boats-ed3_rev2_apr2015_public_final.pdf

Also there are FAQ sheets which relate to specific products 

https://www.boatsafetyscheme.org/search/?q=racor

https://www.boatsafetyscheme.org/media/294426/TN0107Q4-Racor-marine-diesel-fuel-filters-Jun07.pdf

 

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As an oil company engineer I was responsible for hundreds of company owned storage tanks on customers sites and our own dispensing and distribution sites.

Diesel bug needs water, so minimising water ingress to fuel storage is 1st priority in storage management. 

Secondly assume that some water will get through, even if it is just condensation from the make up air.

Assume also, the yeasts that grow the bug will always be present from minute quantities upwards, from the supplied fuel, and just the pollens etc in the make up air.

For most storage and engine supply tanks the fuel outlet is a little above the tank bottom.

The space below the fuel take off point is your primary water settling chamber. If you never remove tank bottoms then the water level, with crud, will eventually rise to the fuel outlet level and overload your line fuel filters.

Managing the tank bottom with regular water removal and sample inspection is paramount in fuel storage management.

I personally did not like fuel additives, except for use cleaning up after a contamination incident. They are toxic to bugs and people, so treated diesel is more toxic then untreated and extra care must be taken to avoid skin absorption from dosed diesel. The toxin must be treated as cumulative.

Emulsifiers defeat normal water fuel separators, which rely on the specific gravity differential. Emulsifiers  facilitate the water, (and bug) dispersal through a broader interface layer.

All that is needed is to routinely pump off the tank bottom, and examine it for water and crud. The results of the inspection will help determine a suitable following inspection interval. After our first inspection removed quite a bit of crud water, we re did it a couple of months later, and eventually settled for six monthly, the beginning and end of season. The heritage yacht I help with maintenance is currently on a three month frequency, but if the next result is near clear, six monthly should be fine.

Rose's marmalade jars are great as sample, examination and disposal containers.

 

 

Edited by DandV
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2 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

But it does state inside the engine bay, in my case if I was to fit one it would be nowhere near the engine bay but by the fuel tank

 

 

Capture.JPG

Yes, it certainly reads that if you have a separate (no, autocorrect, not desperate) engine room and the filter is remote that it’s irrelevant. But good luck arguing that one with an inspector who interprets the rules his own unique way :(

46 minutes ago, MartynG said:

Good tip sir :)

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It is of course better to try to avoid issues with fuel , by consuming the fuel  without storing it in the boats tank to long  , using a fuel additive to hep deal with any microscopic water  and  making sure the seals on fuel fillers  are intact .

The worst thing is leaving boats standing unused any longer than necessary , which many of us probably do for about  half the year .

Keeping the tank full over winter is said to be a good idea to minimise condensation but I am less certain about that as any biofuel will be liable to deterioration.

So far I have avoided bug issues , but possibly with an element of luck.

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12 hours ago, DandV said:

As an oil company engineer I was responsible for hundreds of company owned storage tanks on customers sites and our own dispensing and distribution sites.

Diesel bug needs water, so minimising water ingress to fuel storage is 1st priority in storage management. 

Secondly assume that some water will get through, even if it is just condensation from the make up air.

Assume also, the yeasts that grow the bug will always be present from minute quantities upwards, from the supplied fuel, and just the pollens etc in the make up air.

For most storage and engine supply tanks the fuel outlet is a little above the tank bottom.

The space below the fuel take off point is your primary water settling chamber. If you never remove tank bottoms then the water level, with crud, will eventually rise to the fuel outlet level and overload your line fuel filters.

Managing the tank bottom with regular water removal and sample inspection is paramount in fuel storage management.

I personally did not like fuel additives, except for use cleaning up after a contamination incident. They are toxic to bugs and people, so treated diesel is more toxic then untreated and extra care must be taken to avoid skin absorption from dosed diesel. The toxin must be treated as cumulative.

Emulsifiers defeat normal water fuel separators, which rely on the specific gravity differential. Emulsifiers  facilitate the water, (and bug) dispersal through a broader interface layer.

All that is needed is to routinely pump off the tank bottom, and examine it for water and crud. The results of the inspection will help determine a suitable following inspection interval. After our first inspection removed quite a bit of crud water, we re did it a couple of months later, and eventually settled for six monthly, the beginning and end of season. The heritage yacht I help with maintenance is currently on a three month frequency, but if the next result is near clear, six monthly should be fine.

Rose's marmalade jars are great as sample, examination and disposal containers.

 

 

 

Pretty much what BT did for the  circa15,000 bulk fuel tanks that supplied fuel to their diesel standby generators.

 

 

 

12 hours ago, MartynG said:

It is of course better to try to avoid issues with fuel , by consuming the fuel  without storing it in the boats tank to long  , using a fuel additive to hep deal with any microscopic water  and  making sure the seals on fuel fillers  are intact .

The worst thing is leaving boats standing unused any longer than necessary , which many of us probably do for about  half the year .

Keeping the tank full over winter is said to be a good idea to minimise condensation but I am less certain about that as any biofuel will be liable to deterioration.

So far I have avoided bug issues , but possibly with an element of luck.

 

You can get additives which claim to prolong the storage life of biodiesel, but I am not sure of their effectiveness.

 

Has anyone tried thrm?

 

https://www.siriusmarine.co.uk/OneShot-Diesel-Storage-Pro-Additive.html

Edited by cuthound
To add spaces between merged posts
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