Algae-X Magnet and Fuel Filter- anyone familiar?

[SoFloYachtie]

Hey! New here. Recently purchased a '05 Luhrs 38.

Got a good deal on the boat! Some work to do but it is all manageable.

Looking over everything I noticed it has an Algae-X "In-Line Magnetic Fuel Conditioner" and an old fuel filter system by them too. Looked online and it seems they changed their name.. found them now here axi-international.com

And here's the magnet https://axi-international.com/inline...itioners-lg-x/

And here's the closest I could find to the fuel filter.. https://axi-international.com/fps-fx...enance-system/

Anyone have experience with any of these before? Feedback?

Any idea on the mechanical lifetime? Boat sat for a few years.

Thanks for any help.

[Pete7]

Welcome to CF

That is a lot of links to a product for someones first post, you don't by chance work for them do you?

So exactly how does a magnet affect diesel? or is it just a modern version of snake oil?

Pete

[SoFloYachtie]

Originally Posted by Pete7

Welcome to CF

That is a lot of links to a product for someones first post, you don't by chance work for them do you?

So exactly how does a magnet affect diesel? or is it just a modern version of snake oil?

Pete

Nope, just trying to fill in context for anyone reading so they don't have to go and look it up. Did some digging in their website but no maintenance info and i found this forum which is actually active unlike a majority I saw.

And I was hoping for some info on how the magnets work and if they need some some sort of maintenance/refurb after sitting? Same with the filter systems? Don't have experience with either, was just an 'included' with buying the boat, figured i could toss or resell if they don't do anything worthwhile.

any idea what kinda money these go for?

[Pelican_38]

There are a lot of opinions about these devices - most of them say "snake oil". Here are the thoughts of the Fuels Management NCOIC in Iraq (I don't remember his name, but he was smarter than I am so I trusted him). He controlled about a gazillion gallons of fuel oil per month and was pretty well versed.

First, the actual device doesn't require maintenance. Many people take the position that they don't help, but most will grudgingly agree they don't hurt. There's no sense taking one off if it is already installed, but if you replace fuel lines there's probably not a lot of benefit in putting one back in-line.

The way I understood they worked, all bits of goo (a technical term I'm sure) carry positive and negative charges - in fact everything carries both charges. When the goo (asphaltines?) form in a clump it's because all the positives align with the negatives and they clump together into larger and larger masses. The purpose of the magnet is to route the fuel in a circle around the "rare earth magnet" (whatever that is) and it gets all the positive charges aligned in the same direction. That forces the individual components in the clump to repel each other rather than attracting each other and the clump breaks up.

TSGT Whateverhisnamewas took the position that as part of a fuel polishing system, that didn't make sense. You WANT everything in a large mass so the filters can grab the clumps and return clean fuel to the holding tanks. If you break the clump into individual particles that the filters can't catch, then they are returned to the tank and eventually the positives and negatives align and they reform. Ultimately they give the particles a chance to pass through filters only to be reformed large enough to be a problem.

As part of an engine system (where the fuel passes through to be burnt) he said he was not as convinced that it was useless and there was some logic to that. But the acquisition cost was not worth the benefit in his opinion - better filters and more of them were a greater benefit. BTW - they are not cheap devices.

So the theory is solid, but in practice the people I trust say it is of questionable value.

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, SoFlo.

Originally Posted by Pete7

Welcome to CF
So exactly how does a magnet affect diesel? or is it just a modern version of snake oil?

Pete & Pelican pretty much got it right. They're of no practical use, and probably no harm.

[Captain Bill]

Originally Posted by GordMay

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, SoFlo.




Pete & Pelican pretty much got it right. They're of no practical use, and probably no harm.

Actually probably harm. I have had clogs twice in rough seas and both times guess where the clog happened. Yep, in the Algae-x. The material causing the clog had obviously passed up the fuel line to the Algae-x and had the unit not been there it would have likely made it all the way to the Racore where such a small amount of material would have caused no problems at all. My best advice... get rid of them.

[SoFloYachtie]

Originally Posted by Pelican_38

There are a lot of opinions about these devices - most of them say "snake oil". Here are the thoughts of the Fuels Management NCOIC in Iraq (I don't remember his name, but he was smarter than I am so I trusted him). He controlled about a gazillion gallons of fuel oil per month and was pretty well versed.

First, the actual device doesn't require maintenance. Many people take the position that they don't help, but most will grudgingly agree they don't hurt. There's no sense taking one off if it is already installed, but if you replace fuel lines there's probably not a lot of benefit in putting one back in-line.

The way I understood they worked, all bits of goo (a technical term I'm sure) carry positive and negative charges - in fact everything carries both charges. When the goo (asphaltines?) form in a clump it's because all the positives align with the negatives and they clump together into larger and larger masses. The purpose of the magnet is to route the fuel in a circle around the "rare earth magnet" (whatever that is) and it gets all the positive charges aligned in the same direction. That forces the individual components in the clump to repel each other rather than attracting each other and the clump breaks up.

TSGT Whateverhisnamewas took the position that as part of a fuel polishing system, that didn't make sense. You WANT everything in a large mass so the filters can grab the clumps and return clean fuel to the holding tanks. If you break the clump into individual particles that the filters can't catch, then they are returned to the tank and eventually the positives and negatives align and they reform. Ultimately they give the particles a chance to pass through filters only to be reformed large enough to be a problem.

As part of an engine system (where the fuel passes through to be burnt) he said he was not as convinced that it was useless and there was some logic to that. But the acquisition cost was not worth the benefit in his opinion - better filters and more of them were a greater benefit. BTW - they are not cheap devices.

So the theory is solid, but in practice the people I trust say it is of questionable value.

Thank you for the input!! .. Makes a good bit of sense.. even with my minuscule amount of chemistry knowledge.

With that... I guess i'll hold on to the magnet for now. unless i hear other opinions or run into a fuel line issue.. they seem in good shape no outer wear or cracking so i'm hoping that is not for a long while.


Oh and also...
How many zero's are there in a gazillion?

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by Captain Bill

Actually probably harm. I have had clogs twice in rough seas and both times guess where the clog happened. Yep, in the Algae-x. The material causing the clog had obviously passed up the fuel line to the Algae-x and had the unit not been there it would have likely made it all the way to the Racore where such a small amount of material would have caused no problems at all. My best advice... get rid of them.

I stand corrected. Thanks!

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by SoFloYachtie

... Oh and also...
How many zero's are there in a gazillion?

A guy named Greg provides a definition for a gazillion. He claims that "gaz" is actually latin for earthly edge. Assuming this to mean the earths circumference in greek miles, which he claims to be 28,810, he defines a gazillion as 1 followed by 28,810 sets of zeroes.

Thus:

A gazillion = 10^86,430

He even bothers to write this out in full ➥ https://gregology.net/reference/gazillion/

[boatpoker]

Your first clue that these are snake oil devices is the name "Algae-X".
It is quite simply impossible for algae to grow in the presence of diesel.

[Pelican_38]

I've seen one of the devices taken apart. There is a very large passageway for fuel - like, thumb size. I saw no other filter or screen in the device, so I have a hard time believing that this passageway could clog with debris unless it was many years worth of metal stuck to the magnets. But that's just my experience.

And from a mathematical and technical perspective, there are an arse-load of zeros in a gazillion...prolly half a jillion zeros.

[Kiwi Dave]

I can not believe that these magnetic fuel devices work apart from separating one from his/her money. We put people through MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scans all the time which have magnetic fields in orders of magnitude higher than any solid magnet with no problems at all.
1.25 T – magnetic flux density at the surface of a neodymium magnet
1 T to 2.4 T – coil gap of a typical loudspeaker magnet
1.5 T to 3 T – strength of medical magnetic resonance imaging systems in practice, experimentally up to 17 T[12]
4 T – strength of the superconducting magnet built around the CMS detector at CERN[13]
8 T – the strength of LHC magnets

[Lepke]

If you have mild steel tanks like I do, the magnet stops many tiny rust particles before the Racors. I can't say if the magnet does anything else, but the fuel additive does kill growth in the tanks. I use another product now, but my current boat sat 6 years w/o any mothballing. Algae-x did clear the tanks of organisms and made the old fuel burn.

[Stu Jackson]

Originally Posted by Lepke

If you have mild steel tanks like I do, the magnet stops many tiny rust particles before the Racors. I can't say if the magnet does anything else, but the fuel additive does kill growth in the tanks. I use another product now, but my current boat sat 6 years w/o any mothballing. Algae-x did clear the tanks of organisms and made the old fuel burn.

Uhm, how did you KNOW that to be the case?

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by Pete7

So exactly how does a magnet affect diesel? or is it just a modern version of snake oil?



Pete

Back in the 70’s during the oil embargo there were many things sold promising better fuel economy, like intake Vornado’s and fuel line magnets, there were thousands sold and very , very many people were convinced that they gave better fuel economy.
The fuel line magnet was supposed to align the fuel molecules increasing the power to the fuel. More powerful fuel means less has to be burned.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel...device#Magnets

However consider this, CAFE or corporate average fuel economy standards used to mean something and if manufacturers didn’t meet them, they paid fines and lots of money was collected in these fines.
If a magnet on a fuel line or a gadget that spun the air through the carburetor made any difference at all, they would be fitted at the factory.

However people still swear by these things.

Best story I have on this type of thing is I met a Woman who claimed that her SUV got much better mileage on the first half a tank, cause she could go more days on the first half than the last half.
Her solution was to fill up when the tank was half full, and she got better mileage that way