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Red Diesel - Colour


WJM

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I drew off some diesel from the bottom of the tank recently. As expected, there was a layer of 'gunk'. But it has settled for a few days now and I notice that the stuff at the top is, how shall I say... less 'red wine' and more 'Gazpacho soup'. Is there something wrong?

 

I should mention - I dose every fill very heavily with Marine 16.

 

IMG_4614.jpg

Edited by WJM
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Don't panic -

The dye is only there as an indicator and IME can vary - as I have noticed. It's the invisible tracers in the fuel that The Revenue use to prosecute you - if you've been naughty!!

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10 minutes ago, WJM said:

Thanks for the replies. The tank was last cleaned about 400 engine hours ago. White diesel is transparent so I was expecting the red to be similar. What I have here is very opaque.

 

Interesting assumption you made there.

White wine is transparent, do you expect red wine to be?

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3 minutes ago, zenataomm said:

Interesting assumption you made there.

White wine is transparent, do you expect red wine to be?

Ok, let me try again. If you shine a torch through red wine, light will travel through it. If you shine a torch through tomato soup it won't. What should red diesel be like?

 

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38 minutes ago, WJM said:

Thanks for the replies. The tank was last cleaned about 400 engine hours ago. White diesel is transparent so I was expecting the red to be similar. What I have here is very opaque.

 

Red diesel should be transparent. If yours is opaque, it has a suspension of something in it.....but maybe you are confusing the opaqueness coming from looking through the plastic. Have you poured some in a glass or glass bottle and looked at it? Dunno if the marine 16 would make it opaque though. Can you pour some in a glass and take a pic? If it is opaque leave it for a few days or a week and take another pic to see if anything is settling out.

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Red (all)  diesel goes cloudy when it contains a lot of dissolved water.  Since Marine 16 is supposed (inter alia ) to help your diesel dissolve water (so there is no water/fuel interface for the bug to live at) I am not surprised by the colour.  However, if when examined  in a clear glass container, the fuel the sample  shown by the OP does not appear bright I would not put it  into an engine that was going to stand unused for any length of time.  A continuous runner, or a heater, yes.

In the immortal words of the Bergius company  " Oil having fine sediment in suspension has a dull appearance, but clean oil is brilliant even though dark in colour."

 

N

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4 minutes ago, BEngo said:

Red (all)  diesel goes cloudy when it contains a lot of dissolved water.  Since Marine 16 is supposed (inter alia ) to help your diesel dissolve water (so there is no water/fuel interface for the bug to live at) I am not surprised by the colour.  However, if when examined  in a clear glass container, the fuel the sample  shown by the OP does not appear bright I would not put it  into an engine that was going to stand unused for any length of time.  A continuous runner, or a heater, yes.

In the immortal words of the Bergius company  " Oil having fine sediment in suspension has a dull appearance, but clean oil is brilliant even though dark in colour."

 

N

I think you have the the wrong way round Marine 16 is a demulsifier, it is FuelSet that is an emulsifier.  So with Marine 16 you should exepct to find water in the bottom of that tank if it is doing its job and separating the water out.

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6 minutes ago, john6767 said:

I think you have the the wrong way round Marine 16 is a demulsifier, it is FuelSet that is an emulsifier.  So with Marine 16 you should exepct to find water in the bottom of that tank if it is doing its job and separating the water out.

As far as I can see, it’s neither. It’s a biocide. The instructions appear to instruct you to use a separate water separator. 

http://www.marine16.co.uk/acatalog/Battle of the Diesel Bug.pdf

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I thought Marine16 was a biocide or is it their complete that also has a emulsifying agent? Happy to be corrected...

As for the OP, when did you last fill up? Have all your diesel users been okay running so far? If yes, I would just carefully pop it back into the tank through a filter of some kind, disposing of the last litre or so of gunk.

If you decant a sample into a see through container and you are not happy with the contents, you then have to make the decision of what to do with a tank of fuel as I can only presume it will look like that throughout.

Just my thoughts

Edited by Paringa
Crikey you lot are quick...
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4 minutes ago, Paringa said:

As for the OP, when did you last fill up? Have all your diesel users been okay running so far? If yes, I would just carefully pop it back into the tank through a filter of some kind, disposing of the last litre or so of gunk.

 

Last filled up in January. Plenty of engine hours since and the diesel stove is running normally. 

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23 minutes ago, MartynG said:

Marine 16 make more than one fuel treatment product.

http://www.marine16.co.uk/

 

.

Yes there are multiple products, I was not specific, it was Deisel Fuel Complete that I was saying is a demulsifier.  Isn’t that the most common one available in boat yards and what people use as a regular treatment.

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2 minutes ago, MartynG said:

I have used marine 16 diesel fuel complete and it does make any water drop out .

It certainly doesn't make the fuel cloudy.

I found that I got a lot more water in the bottom of the fuel tank when using I, so I believe it does what it says, but you need to clean the bottom of the tank more often than when you use FuelSet.  That was my analysis anyway.

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1 minute ago, john6767 said:

you need to clean the bottom of the tank more often than when you use FuelSet.  

True.

I have obtained some new fuel treatment  for this year - which works like fuel set . I have not added  any fuel so haven't used it yet.

20180113.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

 

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10 hours ago, MartynG said:

True.

I have obtained some new fuel treatment  for this year - which works like fuel set . I have not added  any fuel so haven't used it yet.

20180113.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

 

What has made you switch from Marine 16?

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