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Webasto nasty fuel ??


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Ok topped the fuel up 3 months ago, since then ive rebuilt the webasto's (have a spare or 2 )every week. Now, ive changed filters, ive, created a dedicated fule feed instead of using engine fuel filter, used a pump and big filter set up and polished fuel, if i run webasto from jerry can perfect?? I havent as yet used fuelset type additive..... any thoughts gratefully received. If i use the fuel in the tank the webastos dont even last an hour.

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Ok topped the fuel up 3 months ago, since then ive rebuilt the webasto's (have a spare or 2 )every week. Now, ive changed filters, ive, created a dedicated fule feed instead of using engine fuel filter, used a pump and big filter set up and polished fuel, if i run webasto from jerry can perfect?? I havent as yet used fuelset type additive..... any thoughts gratefully received. If i use the fuel in the tank the webastos dont even last an hour.

 

 

What fuel is in the jerry can?

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if its st90 - white diesel is fine. otherwise get a webasto 2010.

ken

 

 

Quite. This is what I was getting at.

 

Despite the fuel technicians (including a fuel scientist from Shell I was chatting with the other day) who insist red diesel is the same as white except for the dye, there is clearly some sort of difference that buggers up both webbys and bubble stoves.

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Sainsburys finest. I have tonight found previous posts about simmilar.... do i try fuelset/ marine 16? Or pump the lot out and start again. The fuel is so poor its now ruined 2 webasto burner units @ 160.00 a pop.

if its st90 - white diesel is fine. otherwise get a webasto 2010.

ken

ken can you explain 2010 bit please
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Is it possible to run the heater on a different fuel ? Kerosine or paraffin maybe ? A very regular contributor to this type of thread is NMEA & im sure he advocates using one of these alternative fuels . I looked into using them on my eberspacher but havent done so as it seems to be functioning well & i dont want tinker unnecessarily .

If using an alternative fuel rather than diesel is viable it would require a seperate tank & fuel lines etc but i would expect greater reliabilty , cheaper running costs (?) & less servicing possibly & less worry about spiralling parts replacement costs .

As i say , i dont know any of this to a certainty but it might be food for thought

cheers

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there is clearly some sort of difference that buggers up both webbys and bubble stoves.[/quote

 

My Bubble has produced much less of the hard carbon deposit over the last couple of years. It seems very happy with the current fuel on sale at the marinas cheers Bill..

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In amongst the numerous rebuilds of the heater i lost focus on the fact all this stems from the last time i filled the tank up... was ok before. Contemplating pumping the lot out to be honest and starting over but what a waste of time and money...

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The fuel is all the same - it gets pumped down from the refinery / bulk storage depot and is only marked with the dye/tracer when it enters the delivery vehicle.

What happens after that is guesswork though - some retailers have good storage facilities and fast turnover. Others not.

Beyond that it's up to you; mucky tanks, no primary filter, no or dirty filter for the heater. All that leads to trouble.

 

You can say - filled with bravado - "I'll pump it out" - where are you going to pump it to and how will you dispose of it?. Even a small tank of 40 gallons is going to need a lot of jerry cans to store it.....

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I run my Webasto 90 on kerro from 25litre containers, now around the 7000 hours running time since 2008! the unit has never been serviced and still starts and runs 100%

I have both room and hot water stats so heater always runs at max output as opposed to cycling between heat outputs

 

I put this reliability down to kerro and hot running so no carbon build up

 

Ray

Edited by raymondh
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The fuel is all the same - it gets pumped down from the refinery / bulk storage depot and is only marked with the dye/tracer when it enters the delivery vehicle.

What happens after that is guesswork though - some retailers have good storage facilities and fast turnover. Others not.

Beyond that it's up to you; mucky tanks, no primary filter, no or dirty filter for the heater. All that leads to trouble.

 

You can say - filled with bravado - "I'll pump it out" - where are you going to pump it to and how will you dispose of it?. Even a small tank of 40 gallons is going to need a lot of jerry cans to store it.....

Not quite,

 

Sea going vessels have a dispensation. http://www.rya.org.uk/infoadvice/regssafety/reddiesel/Pages/FuelSupplies.aspx It's awkward to get it, our nearest is at Wisbech Yacht Harbour.

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It is no longer a "red" issue per se since the reduction in sulphur, but fuel quality makes a difference and varies often due to poor storage, we now have proof positive form a very large sample that the introduction of ULSD red has made a massive difference to the longevity of burners, the incidence of warranty claims related to burners and glow pins are now most unusual. The fact that some people have issues whilst the majority using identical models don't is a good indicator that there is a variable in play which is usually the fuel supply install or quality. Personally I am perfectly happy using FAME free ULSD red to EN590 in my own boats and have no issues. Fuel does vary in quality and I recently had a similar case to the OP on a new install which was wrecking pumps, though it was clearly either a fuel or install issue we replaced three pumps under warranty before resorting to my own 25l temporary test tank with FAME free ULSD red from a known good source, this cured the problem and the owner has a separate tank now and uses fuel from a reliable source. A good indicator of iffy fuel is when it is either difficult or not possible to set the CO & CO2 levels correctly, usually the CO is off the scale. My view is a dedicated small tank with high turnover is a very good option.

Edited by NMEA
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can you explain 2010 bit please

Pressure jet heater, more capable of running on poor fuel, over 2k + circulation pump + install kit good reliable units but a bit big for narrowboats.

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A year or two after getting our boat the Webasto started giving trouble. Same thing happened to lots of boats in the marina.

Faffed around with adding white diesel to the red, which seemed to help.

Then all of a sudden the problem went away.

 

Conclusion: the fuel was possibly stored badly and got contaminated.

Webastos seem to be sensitive to fuel quality.

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A year or two after getting our boat the Webasto started giving trouble. Same thing happened to lots of boats in the marina.

Faffed around with adding white diesel to the red, which seemed to help.

Then all of a sudden the problem went away.

 

Conclusion: the fuel was possibly stored badly and got contaminated.

Webastos seem to be sensitive to fuel quality.

 

I would agree. On a former boat we had a Mikuni, it would fur up pretty readily if there was any water in the diesel so always worth fitting some extra filters.

 

I am with MTB in thinking that red diesel is different. 4 or 5 years ago we were filled up with white diesel not red (long story), we were sure that everything ran better but that is subjective.

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My Bubble has produced much less of the hard carbon deposit over the last couple of years. It seems very happy with the current fuel on sale at the marinas cheers Bill..

Same is true for our Dickinson. Before low sulphur diesel it use to build up a clinker in the burner.

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I would agree. On a former boat we had a Mikuni, it would fur up pretty readily if there was any water in the diesel so always worth fitting some extra filters.

 

I am with MTB in thinking that red diesel is different. 4 or 5 years ago we were filled up with white diesel not red (long story), we were sure that everything ran better but that is subjective.

 

 

Actually the boater friend of mine with the bubble stove finds it runs fine on red diesel from the local fule bote. One day after missing it, we filled a couple of jerry cans with DERV at the local petrol station. Bastard thing would NOT stay alight on it.

 

So we filled a jerry can using a pump from the engine fule tank and bubble stove behave fine again. (Bubble stove has a separate fuel day tank filled using jerry cans.)

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I took delivery of 1000 litres of "red" diesel the other day dye added at point of delivery so up until then it had been white diesel.

My bubble works great on red, white or kero no difference at all, it has to be water in the fuel that is the issue

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I see Fuel-guard are offering their polishing add on free with orders for the 1120 unit: http://www.fuel-guard.co.uk/index.php/decontaminator-1/decontaminator-water-separator-fgd1120.html/

 

Means you can polish the fuel in the tank anytime you like.

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What varies is the amount of water in it. Buy from somebody who sells a lot.

 

Does the water content explain the massive carbon buildup that we experienced, with 5 years of misery, constantly de-coking the bugger and eventually buying a spare burner pot?

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What varies is the amount of water in it. Buy from somebody who sells a lot.

 

 

In that case, too little water in it was the problem for my mate. White diesel from a high turnover petrol station wouldn't burn, red diesel from a low turnover fuel boat works fine.

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In that case, too little water in it was the problem for my mate. White diesel from a high turnover petrol station wouldn't burn, red diesel from a low turnover fuel boat works fine.

 

I know you're a humorous man, Mike, but I'm struggling with that one!

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