Diesel Fuel Life Expectancy

[socaldmax]

Diesels aren't that picky when it comes to fuel. As long as it's clean, they can run on peanut oil, any veggie oil, biofuel, JP8, kerosene, heating oil, anything along those lines. My favorite blend is about 1:25 clean veggie oil/diesel, or 1:10 clean veggie to JP8. The veggie oil is a great lubricant, and in that low of concentration, really doesn't drop power. Straight veggie oil you might see a 10% or 12% power loss.

The ULSD diesel is very low in lubricity, I wish more mfrs would make it better known that we need to add cetane/lubricity/preservatives/biocides to the fuel, especially in the marine environment. Just add your favorite brand of stabilizer/lubricity, keep your fuel filtered and water removed and they'll run just fine.

[socaldmax]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

Install a fuel polishing system and run it regularly, then..... No worries.

Ours is a Reverso fuel polishing module 150 gallons per hour, custom installation run through a huge Separ filter/separator. We run it whenever we run the generator. Relatively small money to solve a potentially big problem.

You'd be surprised what filters out of apparently clean fuel.

Considering you're at the mercy of the fuel dock and how catastrophic a bad load of fuel can be, this sounds like a great idea. Can you give us an idea of what these systems cost? I suppose one could design their own, how many microns is the filter? Is it a muti-stage filtration system, or single?

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by socaldmax

Considering you're at the mercy of the fuel dock and how catastrophic a bad load of fuel can be, this sounds like a great idea. Can you give us an idea of what these systems cost? I suppose one could design their own, how many microns is the filter? Is it a muti-stage filtration system, or single?

I'll do a complete write up, descriptions and pictures on a separate thread within the week. I had a tank with sludge in the bottom 18 months ago and had to scrub the tanks clean. But to do this, I first had to sell the existing 125 gallons (the tank holds 225) to a powerboat at a 66 percent discount, just to get rid of it. Here in Europe diesel costs close to $10 per gallon after the exchange rate is figured in... Ouch. That's when I decided it was better to spend money on an ounce of prevention.

It's a multistage system that feeds into a Racor double 75500max system which has a switchover valve.

[Mr Filter]

Everyone has their own opinion on the fuel and what should be done. Been in the industry for over 25 years dealing with fuel and have to say that an additive will help, but finding the proper additive is the hardest.
With the newer engines the things you did over the years will not work as well and must look at the application more in depth.
First most of the contamination in the fuel is not algae, it is the fuel separating.
This is where stabilizers come into play. I also saw where someone said to use a cetane improver. That is not correct. You want to increase the BTU's to get a better burn along with a cleaner burning engine. This is very important on the new DPF filters on the exhaust of your newer vehicles that is working it way into the marine industry in a few more years.
There are many new changes that are in place and that are coming. What ever you do get the facts before you do anything because it can cost you greatly with the new engines that are coming into the market.