Startron, Soltron, do you believe?

[Quandary]

A long time ago shortly after Queens University developed Soltron enzyme fuel treatment, ( they were once big in advanced engine and fuel development and even sponsored a competitive 250cc. road racing bike for years) I managed to aquire a nice big bottle from a distributor and have been putting it in my boat fuel ever since. I have never liked the biocide idea as I imagine the dead stuff lurking in the bottom of the tank.
Its now finished so I looked for some more, the chandlers these days sell tiny little bottles of 'Startron' for about £20 with a little booklet tied to the neck which describes its properties. It seems to be the same stuff but the label no longer says you have to keep it away from sunlight. If it does everything that Starbrite ( or the university) claim, no one should be without it, and the guff includes lots of testamonials from diesel plant operators in Alaska etc. They say it gives more power, eliminates water, eliminates bug and keeps diesel fuel sweet for a year, (and petrol for two years, so it should also go in my rarely used tender outboard). Most Starbrite products seem to work as claimed. My experience for the 10 or 15 years or so I used it seemed positive but I have no yardstick to measure against other than elimination of filter problems.

My question to those of you who understand fuels, - does it do what they claim or is it snake oil?

 

[morgandlm]

Snake oil or not

Generally the dreaded diesel bug lives in the interface between any free water and the fuel. A biocide in the fuel should kill any bugs and thus prevent them multiplying. If you've got "the bug" though, the crud produced can still block filters even after the addition of biocide because it doesn't make them disappear.

These additives certainly do not "prevent" water but what some of them do is emulsify free water in the fuel so that the water passes through the engine without problem. IMHO the best course of action is to keep the tank clean, minimise the risk of water ingress and install and maintain effective primary and secondary fuel filters. Use of a low dose biocide is then probably still a good idea "just in case". I use some stuff I bought at the boat show after cleaning out my fuel tank some years ago. So far so good.
Morgan

 

[bazobeleza]

I can only speak from personal experience, I tipped a load of bottles of Soltron into my two (750l ) tanks. It appeared to work, the engine sounded sweeter, and appeared to run better with only white smoke at start up. The engine still runs sweetly and appears to have suffered no damage so I will use again when I refill the tanks this year.

I've used a lot of startbrite products over the years, and they've always worked as described, some better than others but usually OK. So I would always give them the benefit of the doubt.

 

[Quandary]

I don't disagree,but my question is about enzyme treatment, I read the PBO article on biocide tests and recall the two they preferred but I prefer prevention to remedial treatment. If the claims are correct enzymes would be part of a preventative regime but with the possible other benefits regarding performance, economy, longevity etc.
If we can disregard biocides just now, can anyone tell me if enzyme treatment does what is claimed or is it a con. that just seems to work.

(To avoid confusion this post was in response to one that has disappeared, or been deleted.)

 

[Quandary]

Sorry, a correction to my original post, enzyme fuel treatment apparently came from Japan: QUB Dept of Mech. Engineering were involved in testing and verifying it for the UK before it was marketed as Soltron and went on to publish research on enzyme treatment for fuels. The racing engines (two strokes) for Greeves etc. were from Dr. Blairs dept of Aeronautical and Mechanical engineering. I got confused because both were going on around the same time.

Enzymes seem to be pretty powerful if they can completely reprocess my personal fuel intake inside 24 hours.

 

[whisper]

Sorry, a correction to my original post, enzyme fuel treatment apparently came from Japan: QUB Dept of Mech. Engineering were involved in testing and verifying it for the UK before it was marketed as Soltron and went on to publish research on enzyme treatment for fuels. The racing engines (two strokes) for Greeves etc. were from Dr. Blairs dept of Aeronautical and Mechanical engineering. I got confused because both were going on around the same time.

Enzymes seem to be pretty powerful if they can completely reprocess my personal fuel intake inside 24 hours.

We used Soltron for approx 4 yrs with the fuel being kept free of the bug. It then arrived, so we changed to treating the fuel with Marine 16 and so far so good, after just one year.

It is recommended that one changes the snake oil regularly as otherwise the bugs can become immune.

 

[BrendanS]

Ok, there is a lot of history here.

Queens University DID NOT develop soltron. They may have done some tests and written reports on it, but did not develop it. It was developed in Japan, and from there on, there seem to have been two companies licensed to market it, and they fiercely deny they both have the same product, yet both decline to provide any proof.

Anyway, one of the Soltron companies (the US one) licensed to Starbrite, and so Startron is actually Soltron.

It works primarily by breaking down the cell wall, and the masses of gummy material the bacteria create which clumps them together. This doesn't test as a powerful biocide, as it doesn't immediately kill the cells. However, it does break down the clumps, and weakens the cell walls so they disrupt with any mechanical force. This allows the clumps and gumminess to become small enough to pass through the filters and burn off in the engines.

It appears to be effective in doing that, and I'd personally not put it in the snakeoil category, and I'm an avid dispouser of snake oils (and I've had some historic blazing rows on here with distributors of Soltron, so I don't rate it as being effective lightly)

Because it is not a biocide, it is far less likely that cells would become immune to soltron than to biocides.

 

[Quandary]

Brendan
Sorry about the original misinformation, but I did attempt to correct it, though I have considerable respect for the department that did the research. (I was once a student there but in a very different faculty.)
On balance then, you consider that it does what they claim? I am interested as some one with a newish boat with hopefully a clean tank who is reluctant to dose the fuel unnecessarily.

 

[ChiPete]

Surely there's nothing wrong with dosing the tank from new? I speak as a boat-from-new owner who's dosed the diesel on every re-fuel. Surely this strategy will/should prevent the bug from starting the in the first place?

 

[Bilgediver]

Surely there's nothing wrong with dosing the tank from new? I speak as a boat-from-new owner who's dosed the diesel on every re-fuel. Surely this strategy will/should prevent the bug from starting the in the first place?

The bugs are like rabbits but better.....They are usually introduced by taking contaminated fuel . In order to multiply effectively they enjoy living in the interface area between the fuel oil and the water which is always present in the bottom of the tank and comes from the tank breathing and drawing in humid air from which the moisture condenses.

What then happens in many boats is that as the water level increases, quantities of water slurp from time to time into the engine inlet where hopefully most water is trapped in the primary filter however some finds its way to the injectors where it will cause a certain amount of misfire and excessive nozzle wear. Products like Soltron are developed to improve this process by emulsifying the fuel and water . Unfortunately this presents any bugs with a maze of homes to live in as now there are interfaces throughout the tank... The product seems to be have then had this problem addressed by adding the enzymes which eat the bugs. It certainly seems to work however I still feel it is best to address the problem ad get rid of as much water as possible from the bottom of the tank.

 

[BrendanS]

On balance then, you consider that it does what they claim? I am interested as some one with a newish boat with hopefully a clean tank who is reluctant to dose the fuel unnecessarily.

If you ignore all the silly claims about extra power etc, then yes, it does what it claims, in that it is effective in sorting out bug infested fuel tanks, or preventing the problem occuring

 

[blackbeard]

on the general topic of diesel bug and how to avoid it:
I have never heard of diesel bug being a problem in diesel-powered cars.
In this case, of course, we have a relatively small fuel tank and a relatively heavily-used engine, so that the tank regularly receives new diesel; whereas, it seems, in a boat engine the fuel may have been slopping around in the tank for a long time. Indeed, if we take the case of a boat engine doing around 100 hours/year (fairly typical) and a large fuel tank, then the engine may well be using fuel which largely dates from last year (or the year before), and which has had plenty of opportunity to gather water and for the bugs to grow.
Or is it that expensive car diesel already comes with emulsifiers, biocides and whatever to make sure the problem doesn't arise? in which case, if I use the car stuff, I needn't buy Soltron or whatever.
Blackbeard
Car: tank about 45 litres, about 800 litres/year
Boat: tank 25 litres, about 50 litres/year
not had a problem in either

 

[Marsupial]

Fuel treatments

I have been using Fuel Set a similar product to Soltron for the past 15 years, one an old boat and two new boats, ever since a friend had a bad bug infestation that steam cleaning the fuel tank (twice) and treating with biocide did not cure, but dosing with Fuel Set did the trick and there was no return of the problem.

Ever since then all the fuel we buy is dosed and we've had no problems. So these products are not, IMHE snake oil.

 

[Nauti Fox]

Always used Soltron, never had the bug.
Whether that's the Soltron or I've been lucky I don't know, but I'll continue using it.

 

[alahol2]

Always used Soltron, never had the bug.
Whether that's the Soltron or I've been lucky I don't know, but I'll continue using it.

Startron
Ditto

 

[mitchc]

I Hope Soltron does work!!

I'm about to double dose our fuel tanks, as I have the dreaded bug.
I don't think it's too bad yet as engines still perform fine, but noticed it when changing the primary filters earlier in the year.
I got my Sotron from ASAP supplies....

Wish me luck!

 

[ianj99]

Before treating my tanks with Soltron, I pump the contents through a large inline filter into fuel cans and then back to the tank through the filter again to filter out as much of the gunge as possible and reduce the clogging rate of the engine filters. Messy and takes a while but the fuel in one tank was noticeably murky.

Any car spares shop can supply a filter - ask for an inline one. I bought the biggest one they had with 8mm inlet and outlet to fit the hose from the fuel transfer pump for £15, but Rover 200/400/25/45 diesel ones have similar sized connections and cost about £7.

 

[whisper]

If you ignore all the silly claims about extra power etc, then yes, it does what it claims, in that it is effective in sorting out bug infested fuel tanks, or preventing the problem occuring

Well it didn't do that in our case Brendan. Didn't get a full on slimey sludge type of infestation that gummed up the works but certainly had a few strange amoebic type of critters in our primary filter.