Fuel tank corrosion
Moderator: Jim Walsh
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Rob Hindman
Fuel tank corrosion
While priming the engine(CD-28) after a recent fuel filter change, a milky white liquid came from the tank and appeared in the fuel line. I've been told this is corrosion and I should consider replacing the tank.Everything has been OK since we replaced the fuel in the tank and continue to filter it. Does anyone have any advice or experience with this problem? Thanks, Rob
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Bill DeCamp
Re: Fuel tank corrosion
Rob Hindman wrote: While priming the engine(CD-28) after a recent fuel filter change, a milky white liquid came from the tank and appeared in the fuel line. I've been told this is corrosion and I should consider replacing the tank.Everything has been OK since we replaced the fuel in the tank and continue to filter it. Does anyone have any advice or experience with this problem? Thanks, Rob
Rob that sounds like water in your fuel, that condition is called emulsfication, if you can get a suction devise to draw directly off the bottom of your tank it should show water. I'd clean the tank, the worst thing for diesel injectors and pumps is water! Good luck.
tocoiriverrats@aol.com
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Larry DeMers
Re: Fuel tank corrosion
This is correct I believe. Another way this emulsification happens is when we add tons of "water-absorbing" chemicals to the tank to counteract the water gained in the tank thru condensation. The true effect is not "absorbtion" at all, but simply emulsification, where the water molecule is surrounded with alcohol, which will remove it as a source of food for the microbial life in that water/fuel interface area. Eventually the amount of this milky white substance gets noticeable. It will be removed by a water separator however, but it does tend to plug the filter elements faster too.
I really **HIGHLY** recommend that you guys make up an inexpensive, permanently installed fuel scrubber system, and run it once a month for 2-3 hrs. It will cycle through your tank several times (50gph pump x 3hrs= 150 gal. cleaned), filtering out the microbial life and water, making the water absorbers unneccessary.
This scrubber idea is not new..in fact, there are companies that do this very service at dockside, and charge you $150 plus filters used. What mine consists of is a general purpose replacement diesel fuel pump for a truck (40-50 gph capacity, about $60 from auto parts store), several valves to route the fuel either to the electric fuel pump (can be expensive..I bought mine at a surplus house on the net, at $7-10, compared to $35-40), primary filters and engine, or to the electric fuel pump, filters and return fuel line. The pump is a free-flow design, that allows fuel to flow through it when not powered up, so it is not normally powered up while the engine is fired up..although it certainly could be should the engines lift pump fail. The pump also serves nicely in bleeding the fuel system, as I can turn the pump on and route the fuel to the engine, then open the bleed screws and get rid of any trapped air. The speed that you do this is limited solely by how fast you can loosen and tighten the bleed screw..literally.
I use a 10 micron Racor FG500 separator/filter in series with a Fram 1 micron water sep./filter for scrubbing, then change the Racor to a 2 micron separator/filter element in series with the Fram 1 micron sep./filter for normal use.
The result has been no fuel problems (water or bugs) since starting the scrubbing several times a year.
This is a good add-on to your engine, and one that I have used for 5 years in one form or another.
Cheers!
Larry DeMers
s/v DeLaMer
Cape Dory 30
demers@sgi.com
I really **HIGHLY** recommend that you guys make up an inexpensive, permanently installed fuel scrubber system, and run it once a month for 2-3 hrs. It will cycle through your tank several times (50gph pump x 3hrs= 150 gal. cleaned), filtering out the microbial life and water, making the water absorbers unneccessary.
This scrubber idea is not new..in fact, there are companies that do this very service at dockside, and charge you $150 plus filters used. What mine consists of is a general purpose replacement diesel fuel pump for a truck (40-50 gph capacity, about $60 from auto parts store), several valves to route the fuel either to the electric fuel pump (can be expensive..I bought mine at a surplus house on the net, at $7-10, compared to $35-40), primary filters and engine, or to the electric fuel pump, filters and return fuel line. The pump is a free-flow design, that allows fuel to flow through it when not powered up, so it is not normally powered up while the engine is fired up..although it certainly could be should the engines lift pump fail. The pump also serves nicely in bleeding the fuel system, as I can turn the pump on and route the fuel to the engine, then open the bleed screws and get rid of any trapped air. The speed that you do this is limited solely by how fast you can loosen and tighten the bleed screw..literally.
I use a 10 micron Racor FG500 separator/filter in series with a Fram 1 micron water sep./filter for scrubbing, then change the Racor to a 2 micron separator/filter element in series with the Fram 1 micron sep./filter for normal use.
The result has been no fuel problems (water or bugs) since starting the scrubbing several times a year.
This is a good add-on to your engine, and one that I have used for 5 years in one form or another.
Cheers!
Larry DeMers
s/v DeLaMer
Cape Dory 30
Bill DeCamp wrote:Rob Hindman wrote: While priming the engine(CD-28) after a recent fuel filter change, a milky white liquid came from the tank and appeared in the fuel line. I've been told this is corrosion and I should consider replacing the tank.Everything has been OK since we replaced the fuel in the tank and continue to filter it. Does anyone have any advice or experience with this problem? Thanks, Rob
Rob that sounds like water in your fuel, that condition is called emulsfication, if you can get a suction devise to draw directly off the bottom of your tank it should show water. I'd clean the tank, the worst thing for diesel injectors and pumps is water! Good luck.
demers@sgi.com
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M. R. Bober
Re: Fuel tank corrosion
Larry,
I like your idea about the self scrubber. When we bought RESPITE, she had been on the hard for five years and the fuel was a bit gamey. I hired Petro-Clean to "polish" (their word) the fuel and clean the tank. I don't remember what they charged, but they did a good job.
Thanks for the tip.
Mitchell Bober
RESPITE
CD330
I like your idea about the self scrubber. When we bought RESPITE, she had been on the hard for five years and the fuel was a bit gamey. I hired Petro-Clean to "polish" (their word) the fuel and clean the tank. I don't remember what they charged, but they did a good job.
Thanks for the tip.
Mitchell Bober
RESPITE
CD330