mquiet
Well-Known Member
What are the thoughts on algae X? Good , bad, makes no difference. It has been a debate at our marina and I was wondering what this group thought.
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Have talked to our local polisher, our issue with that is all 3 tanks are under salon floor with limited or no access, unless we remove the entire floor. Quite the predicament.I would have a professional diesel polishing company on board to determine if polishing is helpful or just have the old fuel pumped out by them...
FYI2::: Why would the commercial polisher need access to the tank? There is a fuel and return line already there and accessible in the ER...
Thats what he said, but our tanks are under salon floor, so carpet and all of the couch assembly has to be removed. Might have to do it this way, but really hate to. ThanksNHD I believe the commercial polisher would "prefer" to remove the tank sender so they can insert the pick up hose into the far corners of the tank to get at the sludge or debris that would be "hiding" and would not be sucked up by the tanks own pick up tube. Sure it can be done thru the tanks fittings but the job is not done as well.
Thanks for your insight. I have maintained the "Frank cocktail" as far as additives. I think I will change the primaries to 2 mic and get some diesel 911 and let it run. Thanksbahamabreisus,
First, you can have the saddle tanks polished without access to the senders. The problem is it requires high volume pumps (not high pressure; high volume) and it takes a lot longer and time costs money when you are buying a marine service.
Second, is your concern that you know the saddle tanks have sludge in them or that you are worried because the fuel has been dormant in the saddle tanks for 2+ years? The reason I ask is that if you fueled the saddle tanks with the right additives......Diesel Kleen, biocide, lubricity additive.......the fuel is probably ok. If you did add those additives, and if the Detroits have a secondary filter of 2 microns or less, then I would try to run the fuel out of the saddle tanks rather than immediately calling a fuel polisher. I would add more biocide in shock quantity then add one 1/2 jug of Diesel 9-1-1 to each tank when you fill the saddle tanks, if they are not full now. Get a case of Racors and try to run the fuel out. If the engines do not have adequate secondary filtration, you can add a single Racor and run 2 micron filters in them. The worst thing that can happen is that you plug up a few filters and if that happens fairly quickly, then you probably aren't going to get this done without a fuel polishing service. But, if the normal additives have been in the tanks all this time, I'm betting you can easily run the fuel out by spending a few $$ on Diesel 9-1-1 and Racors instead of a few thousand $$ on a fuel polishing service.
Remember that diesel fuel isn't like gasoline. Diesel may lose a bit of cetane with it sits dormant......might be smoky to fire up and be a bit sluggish to get going, but the engine will burn it because diesel doesn't turn to varnish like gasoline. My science here is just practical experience: I bought a Case backhoe that had been turned over and fell into a dirt pit. It landed on its side and laid there 5 years. I made a deal for it, took a wrecker over to the dirt pit, turned it right side up, and was surprised at how undamaged it was. Let it sit upright over night to get the fluids back where they belonged and put a fresh battery in it the next morning. It fired up after about 15 seconds of cranking, smoked a bunch but ran well enough to dig a ramp in the side of the dirt pit. I drove it up the ramp and then drove it 5 miles home. Bottom line is that the fuel was clean enough and still good enough to run the engine without any problems but smoke. So, don't throw in the towell too quickly.
Third, there is another onboard system that is truly a fuel polishing system. It is made by Parker-Hannifin, the makers of Racor filter systems:
http://www.parker.com/Literature/Racor/Racor_Fuel_Filtration_P510MAM_Fuel_Polisher_RSL0151.pdf
The down side might be the fact that this system requires filter changes.
Good luck with the saddle tanks............
Where can I find Frank's " Cocktail" mix?