Diesel Bug and Fuel Polishing

[droshky]

There’s a lot of diesel has been sitting on the cut for many months, much more and much longer than usual. Since we’re in a yard, with access to equipment and engineers, what would be the one simple thing to do? Pump out some sludge from the bottom and have a look? Or turn the key and hope for the best? Tank was emptied for a small repair couple of years ago.

[LadyG]

I got some diesel, in containers, and there was a tiny, as in early tadpole bit in one container, I used a coffee filter, this removed it. Added plenty of additive this year so far, one for Webasto, upper cylinder lubricant type (Hydraboost, also hits the bug) and a few months later the Marine16 at standard rate. 

Not going anywhere, yet, except to and fro to the waterpoint, (300 metres!) 

Edited March 28, 2021 by LadyG

[tree monkey]

6 hours ago, droshky said:

There’s a lot of diesel has been sitting on the cut for many months, much more and much longer than usual. Since we’re in a yard, with access to equipment and engineers, what would be the one simple thing to do? Pump out some sludge from the bottom and have a look? Or turn the key and hope for the best? Tank was emptied for a small repair couple of years ago.

Just use a pela type pump to pull a bit out of the bottom, see what condition it is, if clean no worries, if grubby or you find water keep taking it out until clean, you can bung the fuel into a clear container and allow to settle and reuse the clean stuff.

 

If you have one of those flush to the deck diesel fillers make sure the gasket is in a good condition and replace if not.

 

I add marine 16 bug treatment once a year

[droshky]

42 minutes ago, tree monkey said:

Just use a pela type pump to pull a bit out of the bottom, see what condition it is, if clean no worries, if grubby or you find water keep taking it out until clean, you can bung the fuel into a clear container and allow to settle and reuse the clean stuff.

 

If you have one of those flush to the deck diesel fillers make sure the gasket is in a good condition and replace if not.

 

I add marine 16 bug treatment once a year

Thanks very much, monkey, that’s what I was hoping someone would say. As I say, while we’re in a yard, I may well get them to have a look at it, they’ll have the kit. Or I might wait till we get up there after the glorious 12th!

 

Just to be clear, the tank is fairly full. So if we stick a hose gently down to the bottom, that’ll suck up any water and sludge first? Do I need to go carefully, a bit at a time?

Aha! Pela type is a manual suction pump, we’ve got one of those!

[tree monkey]

5 minutes ago, droshky said:

Thanks very much, monkey, that’s what I was hoping someone would say. As I say, while we’re in a yard, I may well get them to have a look at it, they’ll have the kit. Or I might wait till we get up there after the glorious 12th!

 

Just to be clear, the tank is fairly full. So if we stick a hose gently down to the bottom, that’ll suck up any water and sludge first? Do I need to go carefully, a bit at a time?

Aha! Pela type is a manual suction pump, we’ve got one of those!

Unless you plan to move immediately after the job no real need to be gentle, it will settle again, in fact stiring the tank a bit might help to shift some crap, keep a few spare fuel filters just in case

 

I'm no expert though, this is just my routine 

[Cheshire cat]

You might well find that the tube the pela comes with gets blocked by the crap or rust particles from the bottom of the tank. It's useful to have a piece of wire you can isert to relieve the blockage when necessary. First time i tried it on a 20 year old boat I got half a gallon of rubbish from the bottom of the tank. You'll need a couple of gallon containers to let the diesel settle in.

Edited March 29, 2021 by Cheshire cat
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[Tony Brooks]

13 minutes ago, Cheshire cat said:

You might well find that the tube the pela comes with gets blocked by the crap or rust particles from the bottom of the tank. It's useful to have a piece of wire you can isert to relieve the blockage when necessary. First time i tried it on a 20 year old boat I got half a gallon of rubbish from the bottom of the tank. You'll need a couple of gallon containers to let the diesel settle in.

Better still pull the Bowden cable outer from the plastic tube and cobble a length of wider bore pipe in its place. Then the plastic tube may block but its less likely to do so.  FWIW as I don't object too much to a mouth full of diesel so I found that on a typical narrowboat its as easy to syphon the mess out with a wider bore tube. I collected 4 pint  mill cartons to syphon the crud into.

[LadyG]

2 hours ago, Cheshire cat said:

You might well find that the tube the pela comes with gets blocked by the crap or rust particles from the bottom of the tank. It's useful to have a piece of wire you can isert to relieve the blockage when necessary. First time i tried it on a 20 year old boat I got half a gallon of rubbish from the bottom of the tank. You'll need a couple of gallon containers to let the diesel settle in.

I got 3 x  20 l containers from local car wash ideal for the job, I removed 30l of crud from 17 year old boat, duly donated to boatyard furnace.

It took three days messing about to get everything clear and clean. 

Edited March 29, 2021 by LadyG